“SOMETIMES 5 + 5 = 11”
MATTHEW 25:14-30
14 "For it is as if a man, going on
a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;
15 to one he gave five talents, to
another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
16 The one who had received the five
talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents.
17 In the same way, the one who had
the two talents made two more talents.
18 But the one who had received the
one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 After a long time the master of
those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
20 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.'
21 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.'
22 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.'
23 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.'
24 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;
25 so I was afraid, and I went and
hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'
26 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?
27 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.
28 So take the talent from him, and
give it to the one with the ten talents.
29 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.
30 As for this worthless slave, throw
him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
When
I was in seminary I used to play a lot of tennis. It really was one of my passions in life.
Every Saturday morning we gathered at the tennis courts to practice and play. Now I’m a little ashamed to say
admit it, but I had a bit of a reputation back then. When it came to winning, I guess I had a killer instinct. If my opponent
was out of position I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of it. If my opponent hit a lob that was a little short I didn’t
think twice about making him run for cover with a smashing overhead. All of this
is why I was sometimes referred to as…the sinister minister.
Now
it’s been years since I picked up a tennis racquet. In fact, I’m
sure I couldn’t hit a topspin lob or a passing shot down the line these days if my life depended on it. That’s because the old saying is true. You either use it or loose it.
That’s the way a lot of things work in life. If you don’t use it, you’ll eventually loose it. If you’re a musician
and you don’t practice you’ll eventually loose the ability to play the piano or the violin or the flute. If you
speak a foreign language and you don’t Sprechen Sie Deutsch or Parlez Vous Francaise every now and then or you’ll
loose the ability to communicate in that language. If you don’t keep your mind active you’ll loose your ability
to remember things.
You
could end up like the elderly couple who were watching television one evening. All
of a sudden the husband got up to go into the kitchen. “While you’re
in there,” the wife said, “would you get me a dish of ice cream?”
“Okay,” the husband replied. “Make it vanilla,”
the wife said, “and you better write it down. You know how bad your memory
is these days.” “I don’t need to write it down,” the
husband insisted. “Are you sure?” the wife asked. “I also want
chocolate syrup on it.” “I don’t need to write it down,” the husband insisted again. “Yes, but
I also want strawberries with it,” the wife said. “Look,” the
husband said a little indignantly, “I told you I won’t forget.” With
that the husband disappeared into the kitchen and was gone for quite a while. Just
when the wife began to wonder what was taking him so long he reappeared carrying a tray with scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee
and orange juice on it. The wife shook her head in disbelief and asked, “Where’s
the toast?”
Use
it or loose it. The same thing can be said when it comes to God’s blessings.
If you don’t use them, you’re going to loose them. That’s what happened in the parable Jesus told the disciples
a few days before he was arrested and taken to the Cross. It’s called the
Parable of the Talents. Now without rehashing the entire parable this is what
we know. The first slave took the five talents he received and made five more
for his master. The second slave took the two talents he received and made two
more for his master. The third slave, on the other hand, decided to play it safe. He took his talent and buried it. When the master returned the first two slaves received
words of praise. He says to each of them, “Well done good and faithful servants….enter into the joy of your master.” The third slave though got a tongue lashing and a lecture. The master called him a wicked and lazy slave. Then the parable
takes a twist that makes some people uncomfortable. The one talent that the third slave received is taken away from him and
given to the first slave who already has ten talents. In doing that the master
utters this ominous warning. The master says, “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.”
In other
words: Use it or loose it! You see as far as God is concerned 5 + 5 doesn’t
always equal 10. Sometimes it equals 11.
Now,
that bothers some people because it doesn’t seem fair. It’s not the way things are supposed to work in our politically
correct world. You don’t take from the poor and give to the rich. You take from the rich and give to the poor.
You try to work it out so that everyone ends up with the same number of talents. That attitude is what led author Robert Wilson to write a book called Politically
Correct Parables. In his book this isn’t the Parable of the Talents. It’s
the Parable of the Differently Abled Slave Persons and the parable has a very different ending. After being cheated the one-talent enslaved person decided to do something about it. “She immediately
went to the ACLU and filed a lawsuit against the capitalist for sexual harassment. She
eventually won a settlement of eight talents and used part of the money to buy her freedom.
She used the remaining talents, still a large sum, to set up a consulting practice specializing in helping risk-averse
enslaved persons maximize their investment returns.” (Politically Correct Parables pp. 49-50)
Like it or not, that’s not the way it works when
it comes to God’s blessings. In the parable the master doesn’t give each of the slaves the same number of talents. He gives to each according to his ability and when the third slave doesn’t do
anything with his talent the master takes it away from him. The master gives
it to the slave who has already shown that he knows how to use it and wants to use it.
When
it comes to God’s blessings it’s similar to something Abraham Lincoln did during the early part of the Civil War.
As the war went on, the president became increasingly frustrated with his generals; particularly General George B. McClellan. Despite having a much larger army than his Confederate opponents McClellan refused
to take the offensive. Finally Lincoln decided enough was enough. He wrote the general a letter. The later consisted of a single
sentence. In the letter the president wrote, “If you don’t want to
use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while. Yours respectfully, A. Lincoln.”
In other
words, use it or loose it. That’s the way it works when it comes to God’s blessings. God gives those blessings
to you and then waits to see how you use them. If you put those blessings to
good use then God is going to give you even more blessings. It makes sense. God is going to give those blessings to those who use them to multiply and magnify
the love that comes from above. That’s why the parable ends with the bold
statement, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance…”
That’s
what happened many years ago to a man named Donald Tippet. He saw God’s
blessings to him multiplied in ways that he could never have imagined. It didn’t
start out that way though. It actually started back in the early 1940’s
with a robbery at the YMCA that he worked at on the lower east side of New York City. The robbery was committed by two boys who had a long history of delinquency and crime. On their way out of the building they saw Donald Tippet at the telephone switchboard. Afraid that he was going to call the police they attacked him. They hit him with brass knuckles and a tire jack. Then, thinking
he was dead they stuffed him behind a radiator near the pool. Later that evening
Olympic swimmer Gertrude Ederle walked by the radiator and screamed when she found herself standing in a pool of blood. Tippet was rushed to the hospital where he lingered between life and death for several
days. Eventually he survived, but one eye had been so badly damaged it couldn’t
be saved. Because he survived though he was able to identify his attackers and
they were arrested. When the boys appeared in court however, Tippet surprised them along with the lawyers and the judge. Instead of looking for revenge Donald Tippet asked that they be put in his custody. Why? Because he said he believed in them and wanted to help them change. Well, one of the boys didn’t change and was soon arrested for another crime. The other boy though was deeply affected by that unexpected blessing.
Eventually, he went on to college and medical school and not surprisingly, he became an eye surgeon. Donald Tippet’s life also took an unexpected turn after that fateful night in the YMCA. He went back to school as well and became a bishop in the United
Methodist Church; Bishop Donald Tippet of
San Francisco.
When
you put the blessings that God gives you to good use, God will continue to bless you in ways that you can’t even begin
to imagine. Not only that but you’ll experience the greatest blessing of all.
It’s the blessing that says to you after everything is said and done, “Well done good and faithful servant…Enter
into the joy of your master.” Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
November 13, 2005
