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Readings:
Zephaniah 1:7;12-end
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
Preacher:
Colin Turner, Reader, Parish of Myland
When I first read the Gospel reading for today the credit crisis and
banking turmoil were at their height and I couldn’t help but wonder
how it would read if the investments mentioned hadn’t quite gone
according to plan.
Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five
talents went at once and put his talents to work by investing them
in bank shares which due to loans losses eventually lost 80% of
their value so that he was left with only one talent.
So
also, the man who had two talents put them on deposit with a bank
that eventually went bust so that he had was left with no talents at
all.
But
the man who had received only one talent, went off, put them under
his mattress and so hid his masters money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled
accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents
reported his loss to his master. His master replied, well done good
and faithful servant, whilst I regret the loss of four talents, you
have provided me with losses I can offset against my tax bill.
The
man who had received two talents also came, “Master”, he said, you
entrusted me with two talents and I lost both of them due to the
financial crisis. His master replied, well done good and faithful
servant, whilst I regret the loss of the two talents, we can claim
them back under the deposit protection scheme.
Then the man who had received one talent arrived. “Master”, he said,
I was aware of the potential risk of investing in the current
climate so I kept the talent safe for your return, here it is
master.
To
which his Master replied. Wait for it! Let me get this straight,
you are telling me that I have neither a profit I can bank nor a
loss I can offset, nor interest on my money? Yes the servant
replied. Then the Master said. “You wicked lazy servant....”
Which just goes to show, no matter what we do in life, the ending is
always going to be the same.
Now
this parable is not about money at all, it is about what we do with
what has been entrusted to us. Traditionally this parable is used to
remind Christians that the good news of salvation through Jesus
Christ is for all and should be shared and not kept to ourselves. So
today, we are going to focus for a while on trust, the trust we
instinctively give to others and the trust that God places in us.
In
our society, trust is central to the way that people relate to each
other, without trust, much of what we do or expect is fraught with
uncertainty. If trust is on the good side of a coin, on the opposite
side, is mistrust, insecurity, deceit and so on.
I
couldn’t resist the temptation to rewrite the parable in the light
of recent events in the hope of making some amusement from it, but
the events themselves are far from amusing. How can it be we ask
ourselves, that all the banks and building societies we thought were
looking after our savings, were in fact, collectively lending that
money out recklessly. How we ask could our council be so stupid as
to put our money, money needed to pay for our local services, on
deposit at a risky bank in Iceland. Why, we ask ourselves did no
one stop this all happening?
Those who dislike free markets, blame it all on the free market.
Those who dislike managed economies, blame it on too much government
interference.
Our
problem is who to listen to and who to trust.
Trust is one of the cornerstones of a stable society. We trust
others in all sorts of ways all of the time.
We
trust that people will do what they have promised, that our water
will be clean, that our electricity and gas will be available and
safe. We trust that everyone using the roads are following the same
highway code, and that they will stop at lights and zebra crossings,
stay in lane, keep their eyes on the road.
We
trust that when our children are in the care of others, schools,
churches, football clubs, guides, scouts and so on that they will be
cared for and as safe as if they were still in our care.
We
trust that when we watch our televisions and read our papers, that
news is being presented to us in as truthful a way as is possible,
that facts have been verified before they are given to us as facts,
that views expressed have some factual basis or are explained as
being views only, and so on.
We
trust that people we are prepared to call our friends relate to us
because of some mutual like, need or interest and that they have no
ulterior or sinister motive in being with us.
We
trust that those who say they love us, warts and all, do indeed mean
our warts and not theirs!
Trust then is something that we all have to offer to others in our
relationships, in our business transactions and for our safety.
Trust when satisfied instils confidence. The good experiences build
up, the trust is justified and our confidence increases.
But, we know don’t we that when a trust has been broken, the hurt
and disillusionment that follows is hard to overcome and takes a
lifetime to forget completely.
So
should we trust? And how completely? Should we trust:
Our
Doctor, who tells us it’s nothing to worry about?
Our
Politicians, who tell us that it can all be fixed without pain?
Our
Bank Manager, who claims our money is safe with them?
We
really ought to be able to trust all such with confidence but in
reality many individuals in our society live by different standards
to our own. In fact we might find it hard to call them standards at
all.
Gordon Brown was quoted as saying recently that the crisis had
reminded him that markets must have morals. I found this quite
interesting and a little disturbing. The implication was that the
market could be adjusted to produce more moral behaviour. But it is
people that should have morals. Moral people working together using
their morals in the market will produce a moral market, not the
other way around.
Perhaps we are sliding into politics, but surely the most
significant fact that Jesus teaches us is that society changes for
the better if the individuals in it change for the better.
So,
if we find ourselves now living in a society where we feel unsure at
placing our trust in the very institutions we thought secure and
honest and reliable, what can we do about it? Is there anything we
can do about it? I believe there is.
1
Are we trustworthy ourselves?
Are
we living our life as Christians in accordance with Christ’s
teaching? Fortunately, Jesus did not leave us with a little red
book of do’s and don’ts but we all have a pretty good idea of what I
mean when I say that:
Do
we live at peace with each other?
Do
we forgive those who offend or hurt us?
Do
we give the impression that material things are highly important to
us?
Are
we supportive of others, with our time and our resources?
Are
we other centred rather than self centred and so on.
In
other words, since we expect our banks and our hospitals and our
care services to do what it says on the tin, so to speak, do we,
when we face the world as church, live up to Christ’s expectation of
us?
2
Are we passing on to others the blessing that God has granted us?
My
daily bible readings at present are written by someone with a
missionary zeal, a word I use deliberately, because we like to think
that only those with a missionary title have to do that work.
Whereas we are all entrusted with the responsibility to pass on the
good news.
Now
this does not mean standing on street corners with a megaphone or
shipping ourselves off to some distant place, but it does mean
relating to others from the basis of our lifestyle, our believes,
our faith.
As
the financial turmoil continues, and the days or doom and gloom seem
to go on and on, we need more and more to be able to share our good
news.
We
might point out that our lives are not based upon material things or
our position in society, or the amount of influence we can command.
All these are worldly but many do not know what to do without them
or who to turn to when things fall apart.
What sort of gospel do we share, do we join in the general feeling
of depression and despair or do we offer a hope and a confidence
that does not look at the waves but at our saviour Jesus Christ. Our
trust and confidence must be in the Lord.
The
worldly is but passing.
Zeph 1 13 – Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished.
– 18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
The
gospel of hope is everlasting.
1
Thess 5 9 – For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to
receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The
Politicians may have the big opportunities to spread their message
and the media may have the means to reach into millions of homes,
but we have the vision and the presence of Christ and the Holy
Spirit to touch people’s lives, not in some grand and general
gesture but to meet them where they are, where they are hurting and
right where their need is.
We
have been entrusted with the gift of salvation, it is the gift for
life, a life line to those who are sinking, in debt or despair or
disillusionment that the things they thought meaningful and secure
have failed. But we know another way, their mind is on earthly
things, but our citizenship is in heaven.
The
problem with the third servant wasn’t that he did not succeed, but
that he did not try. If we have been blessed with the treasured gift
of life and salvation, we will be asked to explain if we do not
share it with others.
Let
us then be good stewards of that with which we have been entrusted,
be studious in knowing what is required of us, diligent in prayer
and keen to share with others the certainty of the hope that is
ours. So that when we are asked to account for what WE did with the
talents that were entrusted to us, we may be confident that our
master’s reply will be, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
Amen.
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