By Graham Tate
This sermon is based on Matthew 25:14-30
An audio version of this sermon is available here.
Open my lips O Lord and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. AMEN.
Today’s Gospel reading comes from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew in which there are several parables back to back. Jesus is preaching these parables right before the Passion begins and each one has a palpable sense of urgency. Just last week we heard the parable of the ten virgins with their lamps and oil waiting for the coming of the bridegroom, representing the waiting for the coming of Christ. There is an eschatological theme running through these parables and the reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
Today we hear of a rich man who goes on a journey. Before he departs, he leaves behind some of his riches, which as we know are in the form of talents. To each servant he gives a specific amount of talents. Each servant is entrusted with a great amount of money and each in turn makes his own choices on what to do upon receiving the talents. As we heard, two servants go out immediately and multiply them. One servant, however, decides to bury the talent that is given to him because, as he says, he fears the master.
What is it that separates the first two servants with the third one who simply buries his talent? The first two do not fear. They recognize that they have an opportunity, through the talents, to do something, to try and make the most of what is given to them. The separation between the servants rests ultimately in trust. While the third servant fears the master, the first two very clearly trust him and do not fear.
There was a great Christian in Germany in the first half of the 20th century by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a man of the modern era who really embodied what it meant to trust in the will of God. He also lived with an understanding of the urgency of the Christian life.
He was a young pastor who was very much the symbol of German resistance to Hitler and the Nazi power. At a time when the Nazi state was at its height both in power and popularity, the outspoken Bonhoeffer was standing firm against the state’s overtaking of the German Protestant Church. Understanding the risk of imprisonment and even death, Dietrich Bonhoeffer trusted in God.
He decided to found a seminary, even though it was illegal at the time. The seminarians were interested in pursuing the ministry in the Confessing Church. He modeled it on a sort of monastic lifestyle. He and the seminarians would wake in the morning and the very first thing that they would do is Morning Prayer. In fact, he wouldn’t allow the students to talk to each other before the service because he wanted the first utterances of the day to be toward God. During this time Bonhoeffer wrote Nachfolge which translates to “following”, we know it by the name of The Cost of Discipleship. This book is all about just that, what it means to follow Christ. There is no mapped out program that Jesus lays out for us. No, instead we are called to trust in God’s will and follow. It is about relationship with Christ and following him. It is about trust and risk.
Eventually Bonhoeffer was imprisoned at the hands of the Gestapo. Prison is a place of despair and hopelessness. Remarkably, however, it is while Bonhoeffer was in prison that his trust in the will of God intensified. Throughout Bonhoeffer’s life, he lived with a great sense of urgency. He witnessed a very real need for urgent living in the midst of Germany’s darkest times.
Bonhoeffer understood that faith can only be faith if it is actively lived out. If we hear the words of the Gospel today, we hear Christ saying, “have trust, follow me”. As Bonhoeffer and the first two servants in the parable did, we have to live with urgency; that is, we must live each day for Christ alone. Hoarding the talents or burying the talents is no life at all. Bonhoeffer showed us that faith manifests itself through our actions as long as we listen and trust.
How do we hoard or bury the talents? Do we bury the talents when we rely on complacency and safe comfort? Do we bury the talents when we fear the unknown of the future? Do we bury the talents when we worry about others’ opinions of us? Do we bury the talents when we go a full day without a conscious intentional moment with the Lord? When the third servant buried the talent, he was sure that that was enough. He wasn’t willing to go any farther than that. Do we bury the talent when we hear the will of God but only answer as far as we are willing to go? Jesus is calling us to discipleship. Discipleship demands that we trust in Christ and follow him, not on our own terms but rather to the cross and death. Only then can we have true life.
Bonhoeffer understood the call to, “take up your cross and follow me”. It must be understood that in this act of following, this discipleship, we have to surrender our selves and our wills to Christ. Through this surrender the talents will be multiplied. The talents in this parable are not the objects of focus; rather they are the fruits of the actions of the servants. Just as a good tree will bear good fruit, trusting in our Lord’s will and following and living for him will yield a multiplying of the talents.
Eventually, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was shipped to a concentration camp with other enemies of the state and died a martyr just before the Allies reached the camp. He showed us through his actions how to truly follow Christ and carry the cross. The Way of the cross, as we know, is narrow and includes suffering, but leads ultimately to true life in Christ. The early Christians called themselves, Followers of The Way.
Have the courage and trust to follow Christ.
AMEN.
This sermon is based on Matthew 25:14-30
An audio version of this sermon is available here.
Open my lips O Lord and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. AMEN.
Today’s Gospel reading comes from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew in which there are several parables back to back. Jesus is preaching these parables right before the Passion begins and each one has a palpable sense of urgency. Just last week we heard the parable of the ten virgins with their lamps and oil waiting for the coming of the bridegroom, representing the waiting for the coming of Christ. There is an eschatological theme running through these parables and the reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
Today we hear of a rich man who goes on a journey. Before he departs, he leaves behind some of his riches, which as we know are in the form of talents. To each servant he gives a specific amount of talents. Each servant is entrusted with a great amount of money and each in turn makes his own choices on what to do upon receiving the talents. As we heard, two servants go out immediately and multiply them. One servant, however, decides to bury the talent that is given to him because, as he says, he fears the master.
What is it that separates the first two servants with the third one who simply buries his talent? The first two do not fear. They recognize that they have an opportunity, through the talents, to do something, to try and make the most of what is given to them. The separation between the servants rests ultimately in trust. While the third servant fears the master, the first two very clearly trust him and do not fear.
There was a great Christian in Germany in the first half of the 20th century by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a man of the modern era who really embodied what it meant to trust in the will of God. He also lived with an understanding of the urgency of the Christian life.
He was a young pastor who was very much the symbol of German resistance to Hitler and the Nazi power. At a time when the Nazi state was at its height both in power and popularity, the outspoken Bonhoeffer was standing firm against the state’s overtaking of the German Protestant Church. Understanding the risk of imprisonment and even death, Dietrich Bonhoeffer trusted in God.
He decided to found a seminary, even though it was illegal at the time. The seminarians were interested in pursuing the ministry in the Confessing Church. He modeled it on a sort of monastic lifestyle. He and the seminarians would wake in the morning and the very first thing that they would do is Morning Prayer. In fact, he wouldn’t allow the students to talk to each other before the service because he wanted the first utterances of the day to be toward God. During this time Bonhoeffer wrote Nachfolge which translates to “following”, we know it by the name of The Cost of Discipleship. This book is all about just that, what it means to follow Christ. There is no mapped out program that Jesus lays out for us. No, instead we are called to trust in God’s will and follow. It is about relationship with Christ and following him. It is about trust and risk.
Eventually Bonhoeffer was imprisoned at the hands of the Gestapo. Prison is a place of despair and hopelessness. Remarkably, however, it is while Bonhoeffer was in prison that his trust in the will of God intensified. Throughout Bonhoeffer’s life, he lived with a great sense of urgency. He witnessed a very real need for urgent living in the midst of Germany’s darkest times.
Bonhoeffer understood that faith can only be faith if it is actively lived out. If we hear the words of the Gospel today, we hear Christ saying, “have trust, follow me”. As Bonhoeffer and the first two servants in the parable did, we have to live with urgency; that is, we must live each day for Christ alone. Hoarding the talents or burying the talents is no life at all. Bonhoeffer showed us that faith manifests itself through our actions as long as we listen and trust.
How do we hoard or bury the talents? Do we bury the talents when we rely on complacency and safe comfort? Do we bury the talents when we fear the unknown of the future? Do we bury the talents when we worry about others’ opinions of us? Do we bury the talents when we go a full day without a conscious intentional moment with the Lord? When the third servant buried the talent, he was sure that that was enough. He wasn’t willing to go any farther than that. Do we bury the talent when we hear the will of God but only answer as far as we are willing to go? Jesus is calling us to discipleship. Discipleship demands that we trust in Christ and follow him, not on our own terms but rather to the cross and death. Only then can we have true life.
Bonhoeffer understood the call to, “take up your cross and follow me”. It must be understood that in this act of following, this discipleship, we have to surrender our selves and our wills to Christ. Through this surrender the talents will be multiplied. The talents in this parable are not the objects of focus; rather they are the fruits of the actions of the servants. Just as a good tree will bear good fruit, trusting in our Lord’s will and following and living for him will yield a multiplying of the talents.
Eventually, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was shipped to a concentration camp with other enemies of the state and died a martyr just before the Allies reached the camp. He showed us through his actions how to truly follow Christ and carry the cross. The Way of the cross, as we know, is narrow and includes suffering, but leads ultimately to true life in Christ. The early Christians called themselves, Followers of The Way.
Have the courage and trust to follow Christ.
AMEN.
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