Lazy and wicked

 

The Parable of the Talents

In Matthew 21 Jesus makes a dramatic entrance to the holy place of the Temple. He overturns the tables of the money changers and the sellers of the sacrificial doves. Earlier as his ministry begins Jesus is led through three symbolic temptations by the adversary but refuses the bribe offered. Jesus the teacher and the embodiment of wisdom will walk the way of integrity.  He warns against gathering treasure, trying to serve God and wealth, and seeking first what he calls the Kingdom. Unlike the earthly authorities this Basilea is all about generosity and service, inclusion, and celebration. This gospel is named for Matthew, the tax collector, someone who has betrayed the community to collaborate with the Romans taxing the people and lining his own pockets.

This sleazy character alongside other no hopers, frauds and failures becomes a disciple and the church which gathers together stories and sayings about Jesus the wisdom teacher takes him as their patron.

That is why I want to offer another view of this parable, just as last week I linked the story of the foolish bridal attenders with the disciples who fail to watch and pray but are restored after the resurrection and are anointed with the oil of the Spirit.

The traditional reading is that the two go getting risk takers who enter the joy of the Lord are the kind of active engaged church people that God likes, good workers who win promotion entering the joy of their Lord. This is contrasted with the lazy, seemingly resentful disciple who hoards the money in a hole in the ground. Even the name ‘talent’ has a positive ring about it. We reward talented passionate people and hold them up as dazzling role models to the dull and dutiful, the drifters and disappointing.

But what if the wicked slothful and evil slave was the one in the right? What if the slave were correct in his assessment of the Master, the Kyrios that his wealth, prestige, and influence were at the expense of the poor?  The action of the slave in burying the silver, (a talent was about 15 years of wages) could be seen as a way of honouring the command to give to Ceasar that which belongs to him and to God, what belongs to God. Certainty the slave is punished, thrown out into the place of cursing and regret but of course this is exactly the punishment given to Jesus. Could Matthew the repentant tax collector, the object of hate and derision be commending the corruption of this unpleasant Lord?

My task is to get you to think again about this parable and not take the easy way out.  Matthew’s gospel often compares and contrasts different responses by individuals and groups to deep hidden wisdom. Parables are not meant to be moral stories with an easy answer but stories that twist and turn.

Jesus was regarded as evil, a traitor, too lazy to observe the ritual laws. He upset the religious people and praised integrity against entitled people seeking to bribe their way into God’s favour. Jesus was cast out and went to the place of shame and punishment to offer hope to people like us, foolish failures, doubters and drifters from which he fashions disciples.  He was buried like treasure in a field.  He commended turning within rather than an open demonstration of piety.

Friends in Christ

Does your life need some overturning like the temple tables? Its all too easy as we know to drift along and never question.  Perhaps the fact that those who call themselves Christians are becoming a small minority is quite a gift to us. It invites to ask what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus who was put to death as a blasphemer, a bad influence, and as a corrupting influence by getting people to think for themselves and teaching us to respect only integrity and compassion.