“What is Your Spiritual Perception”
Matthew 25:14-30
We are continuing through the Gospel According to Matthew and in chapter 25, if any of you have a “red letter” Bible, you will notice that this chapter is mostly printed in red ink. Jesus is continuing to respond to the questions the disciples asked Him after He told them the temple of Jerusalem was going to be destroyed.
Step back for a moment. What Jesus told His disciples was pretty amazing. It would be like someone telling you that the White House was going to be destroyed. Wouldn’t the first question out of your mouth be, “When?” and then wouldn’t you want to know who was going to be in charge afterwards?
Remember, the disciples joined Jesus in His quest thinking He was the Messiah but also thinking the Messiah was going to become a king of the Jewish nation and conquer all of the nations that had been oppressing them. This was the first time in three years Jesus had even come close to talking about fighting or destruction. Then Jesus told them this destruction would happen in their lifetime.
He also answered their second question, that the final age would come, but that only the Father knew when. Jesus had no clue, the angels didn’t know. Therefore, the disciples would need to be ready and be prepared.
Two thousand years later, we still need to be ready and prepared.
We need to live life in a way that demonstrates we are ready for Jesus to come again and set up His kingdom, any time, any day. Luckily Jesus did not leave us without instructions on “how” to be ready.
Last week we began chapter 25 with Jesus sharing the parable of the ten bridesmaids and what it meant to be ready. This week Jesus offers a parable of what it looks like to be in a constant state of readiness.
According to Jesus, every day is charged with significance. Who we talk with, what we say, how we approach relationships, all of this has meaning.
So what does it look like practically?
Jesus provides us with a short story of the kingdom of heaven and what it’s like.
The parable begins with a man getting ready to go on a journey. He chooses to divide his wealth amongst his servants. Actually, in the ancient world this was a common practice. Often the safest and smartest thing you could do with your money while you were away was to divide it among selected slaves, who could be trusted and ask them to do their best with it.
I am using the New International Version of the Bible and it reads that the man gave his servants “bags of gold.” Some translations have the word “talents.” Which is nice, but not well translated. The word “talents” in this context is a Greek word meaning “money.” Most of us don’t have a knowledge of Greek and often translate that word for the English word, “talent” which means something entirely different. It has to do with a skill or unique gift you may have, like singing, playing the piano or riding a unicycle.
I have heard many a sermon where we are called to use such talent’s for the Lord. Which I agree with as a statement, but that is not what Matthew 25:15 is referring to. Jesus was talking about a very large sum of money. In fact, a talent was a sum of money that would have equaled decades of a day laborer’s earnings to collect. We will go with the bags of gold translation, realizing it means a lot of money. The man gives one servant five bags of gold, another servant, two bags of gold and a third servant he gives one bag of gold. We are told that each servant was given the amount according to his ability. Based on that comment we can surmise that each man had different abilities because each of them received a different amount of money. The man then goes on his journey.
Notice how the three servants respond. We read that the first two servants at once begin to put their money to work.
Which sounds realistic because they received more money they must have had more ability. By doing so they each doubled their amount of money. Amazing! The third servant however, digs a hole in the ground and hides the master’s money.
Then after a LONG time, the master returns and settles up his accounts with the servants. The servant with the five bags of gold comes to the master and presents him with five more bags of gold. The master responds with,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
The servant with the two bags of gold comes to the master and presents him with two more bags of gold. The master responds with the exact same comment,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Then we come to the servant who was given one bag of gold, verse 24,
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man,
Okay, this is an interesting statement. Where did the servant come up with this view of the master? Is there anything so far in the parable that would indicate that the master was a hard man or difficult boss? From what I have read he seems like a nice guy.
But according to this servant he thinks the master is a tough guy because, he
“harvests(ing) where he (you) has (have) not sown and gathers(ing) where he (you) has (have) not scattered seed. So the servant(I) was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
Next, the master must have been talking to some guard or someone and tells them to take the bag of gold from the servant and give it to the servant who had ten bags.
That’s not the end of it, the master then explains, verse 29,
For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
It gets even worse, verse 30,
And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
What an ending! Jesus was a wonderful storyteller. He had a way of telling a story, getting you wrapped up in what was happening and then, boom! A surprise ending.
Who saw this coming?
For many of us in this room, we have heard this story before and some of us may have thought, hey that third guy, well, he’s the jerk, he deserves what he gets.
But there may be some of us that also wonder, what is it with this master? He was a successful businessman, what’s one bag of gold to him? And this servant, well he expressed his fear, maybe he was timid and scared of taking risks, and now he is going to get punished forever for it?
Rest assured, Jesus was trying to make a point. His stories were significant and created in a way that would make people think. The question is, what is Jesus trying to make us think?
Again, it comes back to the point of contextualization. Jesus wasn’t telling the 21st century American a parable designed to make them think, although we should. He was speaking to 1st Century Jewish men and women.
A lot of times we come to stories in the Bible and we bring with us our perception of what stories should be like, based on the literature and books we have read, and based on the values we see as significant. Our values are tolerance and everyone has their hang ups but everyone can become a winner. This story doesn’t work like that. It’s because Jesus is not an American. Think about it. Jesus is telling a story where the Roman government is in charge and honor and shame are prevalent deciding factors. This is very different from our mindset.
This may not be easy to do, but we need to ignore our opinion and come at this parable with some basic questions.
First, Who’s talking?
Jesus.
Based on what you know of Jesus, is He the type of person who goes with the status quo, and thinks that those who are in power are the good guys and those who are servants are the bad guys?
No, of course not. In fact, if Jesus saw leaders, shirking their responsibility He did not have any problem saying something about it. In fact, we have seen this same Jesus bend over backwards for those individuals who had been used and abused by the powers to be. Jesus was gracious and compassionate beyond comparison and someone each of us should want to emulate.
But what is Jesus’ mission? These stories are all about what He is doing in Jerusalem.
His mission was to announce God’s kingdom and bring God’s reign into the world.
First to the people of Israel, God’s covenant people, then to the Gentiles. Looking at who Jesus was and what role He was playing in God’s story, Israel, throughout Scriptures, is the ultimate gifted servant. For whatever reason, God chose this enslaved group of people in Egypt, took them from slavery, provided for them through the wilderness, even though they complain through the entire thing. He gives them the laws and Torah with wisdom and eventually brings them to the Promised Land. God’s whole point in doing this was to have a people group that was so close to Him that they would have the ability to be priests to all the other nations. Or in God’s words to Abraham, they would become a “blessing” to the nations. However, that’s not what happened.
Jesus is now in Jerusalem experiencing the harsh reality that the Jewish leaders had really messed up.
In Jesus’ mind, Israel had been given the ultimate gift, a zillion bags of gold. Instead of being a blessing to the nations, the Jewish temple had become a hotbed of tribal nationalism. The actual treasury in the temple is going to fund a rebellion against Rome. They are going to wage war on the nations instead of blessing them.
What has Jesus been up to?
He’s been forming a “New Covenant” people. A group of people who bless their enemies, instead of killing them. A group of people who work at spreading peace and who love their neighbor as themselves. People who are becoming a blessing to the nations. This new group of believers would become what God had designed His people to do, to reflect His image and become a blessing to others.
Jesus did not come to earth, live, die and rise up from the dead so that people could sit back and say, “Got my ticket, I know where I’m going when I die.” The whole point of this Bible Story is that humans become what God made them to be, which is a blessing to others.
Now, with that setting, we look at this story that Jesus is telling about what it is like to be a part of His kingdom. We have a master, who is going on a journey. Okay, He has just described the gap between the answer for the first question, the destruction of the temple, and the development of the Son of God returning to set up His kingdom, whenever that is supposed to happen. So, be ready in the meantime.
In the meantime, it’s like a master is giving out resources to his servants. Jesus provides us with three examples. The master hands out bags of gold.
Notice, not everyone gets the same amount. One gets five, one gets two and one gets one, based on their ability. Jesus is demonstrating that in His kingdom there is no one size fits all. In God’s kingdom there are lots of different people with lots of different stories, backgrounds and capabilities. Each person is expected to be productive in the degree that they are able. There is no comparison. You have your story, your abilities, use them to the best that you can.
What does this parable say about the master?
This master really knows his servants. He has intimate knowledge of each servant. He knows that the servant with five bags is fully capable of handling that amount of money. He has not given him too great a demand or too little a demand. But the person with two, no way could he handle five, that would ruin him.
There is an intricate awareness of the master who has thought through and has given exactly what each servant is capable of handling.
The servants go out and we see a pattern develop.
The first guy gains 100% return! Excellent!
The second guy also gains 100% return! Excellent again!
Notice, does the second guy make as much as the first guy? No. Will that matter to the master? No, because that is not what this is all about.
The pattern changes with the third guy. Something is going on with this guy because rather than gaining 100% return, he digs a hole and hides it. Interestingly enough, the word “hide” is used seldom in Jesus’ teachings. The only other time Jesus has used this word is in His sermon on the mount when He describes how our light should shine like a city on a hill.
We should let our light shine but we should never “hide” it under a basket. Here we have someone given this amazing resource and responsibility and what did he do with it? He hid it.
Let’s look at this thing called a talent. In this parable, it is a resource, money, that opens opportunities for you to do things that you couldn’t do otherwise. Think about what you do with your money. There are things we “need” , the cost of living, that we have to pay for, and then if there is anything left over, we have a choice. You can save it, spend it, do whatever is on your heart. Jesus actually said something about that once. It shows where our values are when we have extra money. Do we think about others’ well being or do we think about our own well being? But this guy, it’s not sure what he’s thinking about, he doesn’t make the most of anything.
Notice, how much time passes? Do these guys earn 100% in a week, in a month? We are told it is “a long time.” The guy hiding the bag of gold wasn’t just having a bad week or month or even year. Our true self is revealed over a long period of time. Two of the servants were faithful and productive. Yet, for a long period of time the third servant sits on it and does nothing. Whatever is motivating him, it is clear his values are not the same as his master values.
Because then the master finally returns. He brings in his servants to settle up accounts and the servant with five extra bags of gold and the guy with the two extra bags of gold receive an identical response,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
The master makes no comparison. It was each servant according to his ability. Both received the same accolade yet each had not made the same amount. For the master it didn’t matter. They had improved on what they had been given. This master was not expecting the same return from each servant, he was more encouraged that each servant had responded with what they were capable of. The master realized that the servants had been faithful in a little bit so he was willing to give them more to be faithful in. At the end of his statement he offers his servants to come and share in his happiness. Not only does this master know his servants intimately, he also wants to share with them his happiness. Apparently it wasn’t about the master making a lot of profit. His joy comes from his servants becoming what they are capable of doing. Notice later, the master doesn’t take the money they made, he gives it to them. So it wasn’t even about the master making money, it was about developing people. He invites the first two servants to come and join him in the joy. This guy sounds like a great person to be working for, don’t you think?
Then we get to the third servant. What does he think of the master? We read that he told the master that he knew him to be a hard man, in other words, a rock, unmoving, stubborn. If we stop for a moment, what do we begin to think? I wonder, “Where did this guy come up with this description? That’s not the master I have seen up to this point? Are we talking about the same person?” Well according to this servant he sees that the master is, verse 24, a man who is
“harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.”
This is a metaphor meaning that the man is so successful that even when he puts in just a little effort, he manages to be successful. So, this servant has made a character assumption about the master, that because he was successful, he was obviously a hard man and seemed to be successful whether it looked like he had worked for it or not. Because of this perception, the servant was afraid, so he knew that by hiding the bag of gold, he would know that he could make sure he could give it back to him.
Here we have that insecure person who feels like he has to be a perfectionist and feels too much pressure with this truly successful boss. What we want to happen is for the master to put his arm around the servant and say something like, “It’s okay buddy, come on, I’m not trying to pressure you, I just want you to do your best. So let’s try this again.” That is how we want this to end. However, it doesn’t end that way. Why?
Because Jesus is not writing for 21st Century Americans. In Jesus’ parable people are their behavior. He has set up caricatures, archetypes. In this parable Jesus has set up this guy, in an honor and shame culture, where his generous and delightful employer has given him a gift. Somehow, he has bought into this extremely distorted narrative of who this man is. The servant says he is afraid but that is not true. Actually he has attributed something evil towards the master. If he had been afraid, he could have at least made something by doing what the master suggested and putting the money in the bank. The master realizes that the servant had assumed evil of him and by hiding the money he had more of an evil intent in his mind. In an honor shame society this servant was actually saying, “What I think of you is what I did with your money, which is nothing.” The servant’s actions speak louder than his words.
The master then tells his servants to take the third man’s bag of gold and give it to the servant with five bags of gold. Wow! The servant’s actually get to keep their profits. This isn’t about making money for this master, it’s about developing people. The master then says in verse 29,
“For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Here Jesus is using an aphorism. He is using economics as a metaphor for spiritual perception. So there is something about how people perceive Jesus. There are people in our world, maybe you know someone, who hates Jesus, or they hate God. They have a story in their head about who Jesus is. Something may have happened in their life where God was a jerk, or a perfectionist.
Maybe this person has actually met some self righteous Christians before and that’s their perception. Jesus is saying that once you have that perception in your mind of who the Master is, no matter what a anyone says or does or whatever Jesus says and does, it only feeds that narrative in your mind.
How many of you have been in a relationship with someone and you run into a conflict with them and they have a belief about you which is not true, but no matter what you say or do, you are unable to change their perception? They have a way of twisting everything you say that supports their view but it’s not what is true.
This is what Jesus is getting at here. This guy is so locked in his distorted version of the master that he can’t get out of it.
But for those who are open and willing to see just how generous Jesus is and how He is open to having people becoming everything He has created them to be, all of a sudden that becomes compelling to you, and the more you experience Jesus the more compelling He becomes, and then we find ourselves sitting here every week, we can’t wait to come and hear more stories about Jesus. Because He is so amazing.
So those who have more are given more. So it’s this inverse proportion of Spiritual perception. Those who have openness begin sharing in the master’s story, but this guy, he can’t get out of his head and he ends up in darkness. This darkness is a metaphor, used in this parable as an image of a person’s existence that chooses to distance themselves from Jesus. It’s an image of loss and isolation.
Check in time.
What does this parable have to do with us today?
It’s about perception. Jesus is describing two types of people. Those who see Him for who He really is, by looking at His behavior, His generosity and how He celebrates what people can become. Then there is the person who has another portrait of the master, that is stuck in his head, and has become his reality. That the master is a jerk, he is out to get me. It’s about the surprise pop quiz at the end and I didn’t do the right thing, and now here I am punished forever.
Notice Jesus’ character, He gives each person the dignity to choose how to respond to Him. Because when people choose to recognize Jesus’ grace, they become so human and so alive.
Notice it doesn’t matter about your performance, it doesn’t matter if you produce five or you produce two. What matters is recognizing who the master is and that He invites us to share His joy, and we become who He has made us to be.
Now I have no idea what kind of week you all had before you arrived in church this morning. But this isn’t about us using our talents for Jesus, this is about us having a life and being human. And each of us is unique with unique resources and connections with different people in our lives and we have choices.
We can take the narrative, that life is hard for me, God’s a jerk, He’s out to get me, for whatever reason. We all know where that goes, into isolation and darkness.
Or we can be open to the surprising reality of who Jesus is and despite the difficulties He is actually making me more human. He won’t give me anything I am not capable of and He desires that I follow Him, to love my neighbor as myself, and to be generous and to take care of the people in our town that Jesus would care for were He here.
What is our spiritual perception? Do we believe He is trapping us, trying to catch us up? Or do we believe He is for us and with us and wants us to succeed?
So this week, when we find ourselves in difficult situations, which way do we think,
This is a trap?
Or this is where Jesus will come alongside and show me the way?
Let’s pray.
