One of the legends in my family is that my great-grandfather, Pop Bryant, responded to the Great Depression by taking what little money he had, sticking it into Mason jars and burying it in the front yard. The banks had failed. Nobody trusted the banks. So Pop started digging holes.
My dad doesn’t remember this. He says the Great Depression was so bad that Pop didn’t have any money to bury. He’s probably right, but I remember as a young child being told this. It was especially intriguing because the rumor among the great grandkids was that Pop had never found all the money he’d hid in the ground and so if we just dug in the right place we’d uncover a jar of money.
I thought about that this week when I was listening to a news program. The newscaster was talking to Mark Haines, a financial reporter, about how people should invest their money given the uncertain state of our economy. Haines said, “Dig holes in the back yard and double bag the money to keep the water out.”[i] My mind went right back to my Pop and how so many people responded when the economy failed in the 1930s. When they lacked confidence that the system worked, they reacted the way most of us would. They drew back, held on to what they had, refused to take on any more risk. It’s a natural instinct.
I also thought about this because of the Bible story that we have for today. There’s some hole-digging going on in this story, too.
Jesus is in the midst of telling his scary parables. Chapter 25 of the gospel of Matthew is full of these scary parables. Before the one we read there is the cautionary tale about the bridesmaids waiting on the groom. This is the one Peter preached on last week. They’re waiting in the dark. Five of the bridesmaids are foolish and don’t bring any oil to light their lamps. Five are prepared. The word comes down the line that the groom is on the way and the five who are prepared go to meet him, but the foolish ones have to head out to find a 7-11 so they can stock up on oil. (This is the Alex Joyner translation, by the way.) When they get back, the door is locked and the foolish ones are left out in the cold despite their desperate knocking on the door. It’s a scary parable because I know that usually I’m not prepared.
The parable that comes after the one we read is the story of the last judgment when Jesus divides those who come before him based on how they treated him in life. To some he says, “You took care of me. You clothed me when I was naked. You fed me when I was hungry. You visited me in prison.”
The ones who are recognized say, “When did that happen?”
Jesus says, “Whenever you did it for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.” You see where this is going, don’t you? The next group didn’t do any of these things and they get sent into the outer darkness because they weren’t looking for Jesus in the poor. That’s a scary parable because I know there are many times when I haven’t looked at the people I meet every day as if I were looking at Christ.
Then there’s this parable about a man who goes away on a long trip and gives each of his servants a large amount of money, based on their ability. One gets five talents, one gets two, and one gets only one. He’s gone for a long time and during that time the first slave trades with the money he’s been given, invests in a few mutual funds and some real estate and he doubles his money. The second one buys some shares some credit default swaps and doubles his money. And the third one…well, he goes off and, (here’s the hole-digging), he digs a hole and buries the one talent he’s been given.
The master comes back and…well, you know the pattern by now. Some are prepared and some are not. Some see Christ in the poor and some don’t. Some take what they’ve been given and do something with it and others…don’t. Like the foolish bridesmaids and the goats of the other parables, the last servant ends up in the dark, on the outside, in a place where the hottest hits on the soundtrack are wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I have always wanted to take up for the last servant, though. Surely it must have made sense for him to try to hold on to what he had been given. The servants were given their money, each according to his ability. So when the master gave him the least amount of money, it must have seemed like a vote of no-confidence. “If the master doesn’t trust me with as much money as the others, then maybe I’m not that competent. Maybe the master doesn’t think much of me and he likes me less than the others. They have room for error, but I don’t.”
So, of course, he digs a hole. There’s too much at stake. He doesn’t know what the master is going to do. Better to at least give the master back what he had given out rather than risk falling further in his estimation. What else do you do when you don’t feel confident in yourself? If it’s all up to you and you don’t think you’re up to it – you play it safe. You dig a hole. You hope that what little you have will get you through. You don’t expect to grow and expand your lot in life.
When it’s all up to you and you don’t think you’re up to it…how often have I been there? That’s what makes these parables scary. They demand faithfulness and far too often I know that what is required is more than I’ve got.
Have you ever had trouble being faithful? Have you ever doubted that you have what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Do you hear these parables and get a little nervous? Do you hear the demands of the gospel and feel a little worried? Do you hear the call of God and wonder if God has dialed the wrong number? Do you see the eyes of Jesus looking at you and look over your shoulder because surely he must be looking at somebody else? Do you feel the Spirit moving and hesitate to jump on for the ride?
Faithful? Faithful? What silly notion…what sudden impulse…what grand delusion…what arrogant sentiment…what could possess us to think that we could be the faithful disciples that Jesus is calling? Has Jesus not looked at us? Has Jesus not seen what shoddy material he’s working with? Faithful? Brothers and sisters, do we have it in us to be faithful?
Or will we always be the foolish ones, the goats, the servants who dig a hole to store what little dignity we can muster so that at least we won’t lose that? This is no way to live and it is not the good news that Jesus intends. The master of the story recognizes it to. Faithfulness must be more than a hole in the ground to keep a few small tokens.
If you think that these parables from chapter 25 of Matthew are scary…keep reading. Chapter 26 is worse. The first disciples…the ones who were seated at Jesus’ feet as he told these parables…who saw his eyes as he looked at them…who watched his back as they followed him…these disciples who had every reason to be faithful…begin to fall away. The plot to kill Jesus thickens. A group of powerful leaders plan his arrest and death. A woman comes to him while he sits at the table of a leper and breaks a costly bottle of perfume over his head and no one recognizes that she is anointing him in the same way that one would anoint a dead body.
They gather together in a house for a Passover meal and Jesus says that one of these disciples will betray him and that all of them will desert him. Peter…it had to be Peter…protests. “No, Lord, I would never desert you.”
Jesus says, “Peter, you will deny me three times before the rooster crows at dawn.
“No,” Peter says. And they all say it together, “Even if we must die with you, we would never deny you.” But later, when they go up to a lonely garden to pray, Peter can’t even stay awake to watch.
Jesus is arrested. The trial is rigged. The die is cast. It will end in death. The disciples melt away and Peter spends his vigil in the courtyard doing exactly what he swore he would never do…even if I must die with you!…he denies Jesus three times. The rooster crows. The cross awaits. Those who swore to be faithful are nowhere to be seen.
If this is so…If what it takes to be faithful is something that not even the first disciples could seem to muster, then what hope is there for you and me who have trouble even caring for what little we have?
Our hope is in the second servant. The first servant is the super competent one. He’s like the kid in class who’s always got the right answer. He’s like the person who always knows exactly the right thing to say. He’s like the person who always seems to be in the right place at the right time to make a way for himself. So, it’s hard to relate to the first servant. Besides…he’s been give five talents. The master knows what he can do and…sure enough…he does it.
The second servant, though. This is the servant who is in the middle. Not as competent as the first one. He’s not given as much as the first one. He could doubt himself, too. He could pull back and not put his gifts at risk. He could spend the time while the master is away hoarding the money…shrinking back from the world…digging a hole in which to place it. But he doesn’t.
What the second servant does is to continue to operate as if he is the most competent person on the staff. He may not have as much to work with as the first servant, but he can do something with what he’s got. He can double what he’s been given. He can trust that what he has is enough. He can believe that it’s not all up to him…he has what he has because he has been entrusted with it by a master who knows what he can do. He’s not alone…he has the master’s confidence, too. The same was true for the last servant, too, but he lives out of fear and not out of trust.
These are days when we are being asked to do some radically counter-cultural things. We can face these uncertain days by pulling in and shrinking back and closing ourselves off to the world. We can live out of fear. Or we can remember that Jesus responded to the fear of the world by opening his arms. He offered his back to the scourge and his face to those who would spit upon him. He offered his life, trusting that God would do more with his death than he could do by holding himself back from the worst that the world could do to him.
I got a phone call yesterday from someone who has been sensing some changes in his life. He's in a high power career and he’s been very successful at it. I’m sure is very good at what he does. But something is not quite right in his life. Something is changing. Something is tugging at him. He’s started to feel a call to ministry.
It’s a crazy thing to do. He’s got a good job. He’s got a house. He’s married and his wife is thinking of going back to school. All of this and the economy is doing whatever it is that it is doing.
But he’s been given a gift…more like a fire to tend to. He feels it burning and he doesn’t know what to do with it. He could shut it up inside of himself. He could bury it in a hole where it would die for lack of oxygen, perhaps taking him with it. Or he could trust that God is still speaking in his life…that God is still speaking in his world…that God is not through with him or with this old earth yet. He can walk forward in faith into a new future, exploring this calling and taking seriously the words of Jesus that we find our lives by losing them. That there is a reward in this life for those who will give up what they are holding dear in order to follow the kingdom.
So what are you shutting up? Where have you been digging holes? How are you living out of fear instead of trusting that God has something for us to do? Times of great distress are also times of great opportunity. Where are we going to go with God? Is it to the joy of our master – or is it to the darkness of wailing and gnashing of teeth and the deep regrets of having squandered the gifts that we have been given? The adventure is on. Are you coming? Thanks be to God.
Matthew 25:14-30 (NRSV)
"For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
“The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
“After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.'
“His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
“And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.'
“His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
“Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'
“But his master replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents.
“For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'“
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