At first hearing, Jesus’ parable about servants and talents may seem to focus on how two of the servants were faithful stewards of their master’s financial resources while the third servant buried the talent he had been given. I think Jesus’ parable has a richer meaning than investment of financial resources. I think Jesus’ parable is about the investment of our lives. To appreciate Jesus’ parable about the investment of our lives, it is important to realize three things about the servants and talents in this parable.
- A talent was equivalent to more than 20 years of a laborer’s wages.
- Each servant was entrusted with the number of talents the master believed the servant could manage effectively.
- The master gave no specific instruction regarding how the talents were to be used during the master’s absence but one translation states that the master “handed over” his property to his servants which implies they are expected to do something with it. In fact, the parable implies they are to do with the master’s property what he would have done based on what the master would have done during his time of absence.
It is upon the master’s return that we discover the real meaning of the parable about investing our lives. Two of the servants present a faithful report about how they have doubled the value of the talents which the master had entrusted to them. To each of these servants the master shares the same message, “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”
Notice that the master did not tell these two servants that he is pleased because they have doubled the master’s resources. What the master praises is how they have been trustworthy in investing their lives for the master. It is because of the investment of their lives that the master invites the servants to enter into his joy.
A different report was presented by the servant who had been entrusted with one talent. This servant had chosen to bury the talent that the master had given him. Instead of presenting a faithful report about how he had invested the talent he had been given, this servant made fearful excuses as he brushed the dirt off the talent he had buried and said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping here you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”
Hearing the servant’s fearful excuses, the master orders the unfaithful servant’s talent be taken away and given to the servant who had 10 talents and orders that the worthless servant be cast into outer darkness.
At first hearing, it may seem like Jesus’ parable about the servants and talents is about the servants’ investment of the master’s financial resources, but I believe there is a deeper meaning to this parable as Jesus taught about the value of investing our lives in the joy of the master, whether we have been entrusted with 5 talents, 2 talents, or 1 talent.
Buddy was a 1 talent servant. He did not have much in the way of resources, but he invested all the resources he had in living his life. Buddy lived in the same poorer section of a southern California town where there was a dead-end street called Ohio Street. David and Deborah Smoot lived on this street with the two-year-old son while David was attending medical school. On Ohio Street, there was a bright blue house which had pieces of old cars scattered like junkyard art around it. Two old sofas, with rusty springs and foam stuffing bursting out of them, decorated the front porch. Dogs, cats and people of every size, shape, and color were constantly coming and going.
In the middle of all this lived Buddy. He was 12 years old and the youngest of eight children. His family made a scant living by delivering truckloads of newspapers to the carriers who would then deliver them to houses. It meant hours of backbreaking work and Buddy was needed as an extra pair of hands. Newspaper hauling and bullies who regularly beat him up had taken their toll on his formal education. Buddy was overweight and wore tattered white T-shirts, green work pants, and sneakers. He was always filthy. The only possessions Buddy had were a Boy Scout uniform that a local church had given him and a funny old bike that Buddy had assembled from leftover parts.. It had a dirt-bike frame, knobby small back tire, a front wheel from a 10- speed and goose neck handlebars. Buddy was convinced that the combination of all those bikes make it the “fastest wheels” in town.
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Deborah was afraid of Buddy, but then she was afraid of almost everyone on Ohio Street. As summer came to southern California, she had to overcome being scared or stay indoors and suffocate. On 100-degree days, she would take her small son out into their tiny lawn and fill his plastic wading pool. It was on one of those days they formally met Buddy. He zoomed up on his hybrid bicycle and shouted, “Hi little fella…Hey, lady, what’s the little fella’s name?” Hesitantly Deborah told him, and from that point on, Buddy would stop by several times a day on his bike to have a conversation over the fence.
One day Buddy got off his bike and came inside the fence to play ball with Owen. Deborah had been warned about Buddy, but she was alone in the miserable heat with a bored two-year-old, and she was grateful for anyone who would throw a ball to him. Other than having to remind Buddy not to use a certain four-letter word when the ball flew over the fence, and having to watch him lift his T-shirt to wipe his constantly running nose, she began to appreciate Buddy. For all the raw deals life had handed him, he was an outgoing youngster and seemed genuinely devoted to Owen.
Summer ended and school began. Deborah thought that Buddy’s visits would stop, but he kept coming around to visit Owen. One day, Buddy told Deborah that he wanted to be a jet pilot and asked if she thought someone who was not a very good reader could be a jet pilot. “Of course you can. You can be anything you want to be,” Deborah said in her best Sunday School teacher’s voice. That was all Buddy needed to hear.. Racing to his bike, he grabbed his book and asked if she would listen to him read so he could get better at it and be a jet pilot.
As Christmas approached, Buddy shared a not so preposterous dream. The only thing he wanted was a western shirt, a genuine one with snaps instead of buttons. It cost $12.95 at a local department store. Deborah wanted to buy it for him, but at the time it seemed an impossible obstacle on their meager budget. Christmas came and went. Buddy did not get his shirt. Owen’s third birthday party was coming up, April 1. Buddy was intensely interested in all the planning. Were they going to have a party with cake and ice cream and balloons? What present were they going to buy? Deborah offhandedly told Buddy that they had planned on buying Owen a red tricycle, but the cheapest one they could find was $45.. This was more than
they could spend so they would get Owen another present.
On April 1, at 7:30 a.m., a knock came at the back door, and there stood Buddy, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Happy birthday! Happy birthday, Owen!” In the driveway topped with a huge black bow that Deborah was sure Buddy had swiped from the local cemetery was Buddy’s crazy, wonderful beloved bike with its dirt-bike frame, a knobby small back tire, a front wheel from a 10-speed, and goose neck handlebars. It was painted bright red.
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Buddy scooped Owen up in his arms and lifted him onto the seat.. Owen’s feet dangled high above the pedals, but Buddy held him there, spouting on with confidence, “What do you think little guy? Here she is, your very own red bike! Just as soon as we get her some training wheels she’ll be perfect for ya.” Deborah stood in the driveway staring in disbelief as she saw Buddy multiplying the talent with which he had been entrusted. This 12 year-old-boy had spray-painted his only earthly possession and was giving it eagerly to a three-year-old friend.
At first sight, Jesus’ parable about the three servants and talents may seem to be a lesson on money, but it has a much deeper meaning. It is really a story about people like Deborah, Owen, and Buddy. It is a story about people like you and me. Jesus’ parable is an invitation to understand that life is a gift we are called to invest wisely as we live in the joy of our Lord.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Investing Your Life
by Pastor Marc Brown
November 19, 2023
Accompanying Scriptures: Matthew 25:14-30
Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for November 19, 2023
Scripture Lesson Matthew 25:14-30
The Good News “Investing Your Life”
Music “Lord, Be Glorified” by Bob Kilpatrick
Prayer
Blessing
Closing Music “Prayer for Unity” by Kevin Keil
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