Sermon All Age Service Sunday 19/11/2023 – Matthew 25:14-30

A couple of years ago I happened to be in one of those sessions that included a moment of the often so-dreaded interaction with the person sitting next to you. We had to share with the person sitting next to us what we thought our gifts were. Does that sound a bit uncomfortable? Well, to make things even worse, I was sitting next to my father-in-law, and even though we get along really well, it was quite uncomfortable to be put on the spot like that and share what I thought my gifts were, perhaps especially with a person that knew me quite well, and I feared he might have his own views on what I thought were my gifts.

Yet, having this conversation with people around us is actually very important. People around us are often better than us in seeing what we are good at, without them we may simply not be aware what our gifts are.  

Our reading from Matthew’s Gospel this morning is also about gifts: The Parable of the Talents.

This is one of the stories Jesus tells about the kingdom of heaven he has come to bring, to which is referred about fifty times in Matthew’s Gospel alone. And, here, towards the end of Matthew’s Gospel, a number of parables focus on the time between Jesus’ going away after his death, resurrection, and ascension, and his return at the end of time. And with this story Jesus is saying that he leaves his followers, the church, with talents.

The big question, then, in trying to understand the parable is what Jesus here means with talents.

What is the talent? Originally a large amount of money. Roughly about twenty times the annual salary of the average worker. The kind of money only the very rich and royalty had. Since the word talent in our language is, because of this parable, so closely linked with our own natural abilities, some Bible translations now use ‘bags of gold’. Because that is what a talent was. As Jesus compares the Good News of the Kingdom and the life of the Kingdom to a treasure hidden in a field and a pearl of great value (Mt. 13:44-46), here he compares it to talents to emphasise its immense value. 

Jesus gives this great treasure, this Good News of his Kingdom, to his followers. Even though he promises to be with them, and with us, and to help us, he leaves them to build the Kingdom, to be faithful to it even against all odds, until he will come again and bring his Kingdom in full.

But Jesus’ Kingdom has a plan to transform and change our whole lives. Everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God to us, and we are called to become part of the Kingdom of Jesus with our whole person and live the Kingdom in our daily life. We are to be servants in Jesus’ Kingdom, with our particular gifts and talents, with our particular callings, hobbies, and passions.  

One commentator points out that it is worth noticing that the first two slaves in the parable don’t claim their talents for themselves. They simply go to the master and say, here are the five talents you have given to me, see I have made five more. They never considered these talents as their own, and neither do they treat the fruit of their work as their own. It is all a gift that never really belonged to themselves, and they simply offer it back to their master, to Jesus.

And the person in the parable that is condemned at the end is condemned not because he did something wrong, but because he did absolutely nothing with the Good News of Jesus’ Kingdom and with the life in the Kingdom that Jesus had offered. The calling for all of us is to accept the Good News of Jesus, and let it change us, but what we do exactly – how we bring Jesus’ Kingdom in this world – depends on God’s particular gifts and calling to us.

Every person here this morning is themselves a wonderful gift, and between us we have and share so many gifts. These gifts can be very diverse, some can even be very unusual.

And some of us may not be aware of all the gifts that we share with each other, or, even if we are, may need the encouragement of others to become aware of them and to grow in them, and in any case, all of us appreciate some encouragement.

So, can I challenge you this week to tell one person what you think is a real gift they possess and share with you or others? It can be something seemingly small or normal, such as, I always feel like I can tell you anything, I like how you always have time for a conversation, I like how we can spend time together without having to talk, I always feel safe with you around, I’ve noticed how you’re always the first to offer help, or to make a cup of tea, or how you check on me with a phone call.

These are all signs in our community and in our lives, of people who are faithful to Jesus’ kingdom, and do not only believe the words of the Kingdom, but also live, with all their many and diverse gifts, the life of the kingdom.

Amen.