I don’t do scary movies. The wicked witch getting melted is about as scary as I am willing to go. But according to experts those who do like scary movies find that watching them takes their minds off of the things that really are scary. And that list is long: I’m afraid that this virus will get people that I care about sick, I’m afraid that the economy won’t recover after the prolonged shut down. I’m afraid that racism will continue to infect our country. I’m afraid that political divisions will prevent our dealing with national problems. I’m afraid that people have gotten out of the habit of going to church. I’m afraid that crime and violence in Chicago will only get worse. I’m afraid that the health of our neighborhood will suffer as the result of Mercy closing. And that’s not even to mention the things I’m afraid of about personally. Your own list will be as long or longer, I’m sure. The widespread presence of fear made me sit up and take notice at the reaction of the servant who had received one talent. He told his master, “Out of fear I went off and buried you talent in the ground. Here it is back.” Fear kept him from taking any action. He wanted to stay safe. Was that so unreasonable?
We should not be distracted by many of the details in the Parable the Talents. The point is a simple one: Do Something. Don’t let fear keep you from acting. Take a chance. Dare. The first two servants did and they were praised. The third didn’t and he was condemned. Jesus frequently used images of money to challenge us to think about what we value most. He talked about a treasure in a field, a pearl of great price, the coin of Caesar. The word talent in the parable is in that tradition – if Jesus were giving the same parable today he would say “a million bucks.” A man going on a journey gave his servants five million, two million, one million bucks. Thus the challenge in the parable: you’ve been given something really valuable – what are you going to do about it? What are the valuables of our lives? Family – but we don’t just have a family we have to do family. It takes generosity and forgiveness and acceptance for family to shine like a precious jewel. Friends – our friends are valuable to us. We don’t just have friends we’ve got to do friends. We treasure our friends by going to the movies, hanging out, grilling shrimp on the barbee. Health is a value but not something we have, something we do: Watch what we eat, exercise, rest.
As valuable as these thing are they are not what lives behind the parable of the talents. The really valuable thing for Jesus is our relationship with God, is our faith. As the parable demonstrates, faith is not something we have, something to hold onto, but it is something we do, something that spurs us to action. The danger to faith, at least according to this parable, is a fear that keeps us from action. Let’s see if we can name some of those fears so that we can then imagine where we are being called to invest our faith, where God is calling us.
We are fearful about the other – particularly the other who doesn’t look like me or talk like me or worship like me. All of those isms that our out there – racism, sexism, ageism – all the phobias that are out there – homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia – spring up because the other is, well, other, not like me. And because others are not like me I fear them. The first investment we have to make with our faith is recognizing that every person that we meet is just like me in being a child of God. Every person we meet is made in God’s image and likeness. Every person we meet has a family resemblance to Jesus. Truth to tell, there is no “other,” only friends we haven’t met yet. When we invest in getting to know others that makes the value of our faith grow.
We are fearful because we imagine that we’re not good enough. God is pretty big and we are pretty small and what could God possibly want with the likes of me. How can I invest in myself when I have messed up so many times? Won’t it make me a hypocrite is I start to share my faith when I don’t always walk the walk? There is a story about the great conductor Arturo Toscanini. He had led the orchestra through sixty rehearsals of Bellini’s Norma. He wanted it done right. At the dress rehearsal he put down the baton and said “the concert is cancelled.’ Why? “The music is too great, it’s beyond human powers. I can’t do it.” We are afraid that God is too great so why bother even trying to live a gospel life. We can’t do it. The orchestra prevailed upon Toscanini to stage Norma. It was the performance of a lifetime – still available on recordings. Maybe he didn’t measure up to the music but what he was able to do is glorious.
We are fearful of God – or more particularly what God might ask of us. God wants me to invest all that I am, my very soul – my memory, understanding, my entire will. I fear there won’t be anything left for me. In a William Morris story a boy and girl are looking for their hearts’ desire, the well at world’s end. They had many adventures and eventually meet the Old Man of the Earth who knows the way. Show us how to get to the well at world’s end, they asked him. He rolled a stone off of a large whole in the ground. That is the way, he said. They peered into the darkness and were afraid. “But there are no stairs.” “You have to throw yourself in,” said the old man. “That is the only way.”