First: It is about God-given talents

There is the delightful ambiguity of the word “talent”—simply a word for money in Greek, but a word whose English translation also refers to innate abilities. And the next thing we think of is the threesome of “time, talent and treasure”.

There is the incredible increase of ten talents and four talents doubling in their value due to the commitment and industry of the faithful slaves. However, one of the slaves buried his talent. The master was so angry that he called him ‘wicked, lazy and worthless’ cast the unfortunate slave and thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This description of a place we often relate to hell.

And there is the impulse that many readers of Scripture have absorbed over the years to assume that any parable with a king, a landowner, or a man on a journey leaving slaves behind is automatically a parable about Jesus/God that addresses what to do for the second coming.

So, this interpretation often leads to a sermon about spiritual gifts, stewardship and giving including tithing.

Everyone will agree that in the final judgement, we will be asked how we made use of our time, talents and treasures.

 

Second: It is about how we understand God

If in our interpretation that here, the master represents God or Jesus Christ, we might have a hard time reconciling how the master was described here:  a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he did not scatter seed (v. 24) which the Master actually confirmed in verse 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?

Does this description of a “hash man who reap where he did not sow, and gather where he did not scatter” the characteristic of a God known to the Israelites, to the believers in Jesus’ time and to the believers today?

For this particular slave, he acted based on his knowledge who his master was. He acted out of fear. In acting out of fear, he lost his creativity. Unlike the two other slaves, they did not act out of fear. They felt positive about their master for the trust they were given and they acted with responsibility and creativity resulting to a very productive use of their talents.

This way of interpretation makes us think of God with two extremes: a punishing God and a God of mercy, a God who gives and takes, a God who is fearsome and a God who is friendly, a God of judgment and a God of grace…

Similar to the third slave, sometimes, some of us only see one aspect of God. A God of strict justice.

Some, through fear, may think they can get along simply by avoiding committing mistakes. In this case, by returning to God what they have received. For example: the gift of speech: God gave me the gift of speech but the more I speak the more mistakes I make, so better to keep my mouth shut.

But those who know God and follow God have the freedom to live in creative and productive ways like the first two slaves. They sought to carry out ‘what God wants” in an enterprising, even risk-taking practice of their faith. Hence, they stood to receive the invitation to “Enter into the joy of your master.” (vv. 21, 23)

 

Third: It is a condemnation of ruling system in Jesus time

It is not a parable which can be taken like a doctor’s prescription of how we all need to use our time, talent, and treasure well. There are so many sources of advice, reminders, even quotable quotes that emphasize the proper use of the three T’s. But our world today has learned to judge a person by how much time, talent and treasure one owns quantitatively. A rich person can be said to be successful even if his or her wealth comes from exploitation of others or by stealing from others and from government coffers.

How about talents and knowledge that can be bought so that these can be used to further one’s selfish interest? The spin doctors utilised by governments and corporations to propagate lies and fake news. Like paid bloggers, trolls and so-called keyboard warriors?

This parable is a story that describes how the economic system works (in Jesus’ time) when absentee landlords “give” money to servants, only to demand back a hefty return.

It is about a capitalistic model where the objective of any form of investment is to gain super profits at the expense of workers and consumers.

It is a descriptive parable of someone who refused to participate in that process, where absentee landowners and their slave-master were the link between Jewish farmers (peasantry) and the Roman Empire.

That servant—deemed “lazy” and unfaithful by the Empire—pays a heavy price for refusing to be part of exploitation. Burying the dirty money symbolised his opposition to the further enrichment of the master who “reaps where he did not sow, gathered seeds where he did not scatter seed.” The master-slave is fearsome because he sows terror and uses violence against to those who are not loyal and disobedient.

What if we think of Jesus as the third slave? Jesus came to preach, teach and begin to build God’s kingdom. God’s reign represents the end of all injustices, all forms of exploitation, of oppressive economic arrangements. He refused to participate in the exploitative ruling system of his time. He did not lend to its continuation. The result: He was hated, punished and put to death, similar to the fate of the “lazy, wicked and worthless slave.”

Jesus did not amass wealth nor preached about entrepreneurship or getting economically or materially rich. He preached about God’s reign and kingdom values. He lost not a minute in his 3-year ministry. Every day for him was a day to be lived in the service and worship of God – where service and worship has no separation, when loving God is by loving God’s people.

As we commemorate NAIDOC Week, let us listen again to the First Nations Peoples story and find resonance to the story of the so-called wicked and lazy slave. British colonialists were harsh and wanted to reap where did not sow and gather where they did not scatter seeds. They enslaved the First Peoples and made them work the Whiteman’s fields planted on the land of the First peoples. They resisted and were turned into criminals who need to be shackled and punished.

This land has never been ceded, the sovereignty of the First Peoples should be recognized. We can never be at peace until this historical injustice is not addressed in favour of the First people for it is they whose lands had been taken away, enslaved and had been made to suffer because they rejected colonialism and did not want to be a part of its exploitation and oppression.

The journey to God’s reign is for us to recognize the First People’s sovereignty and their original custodianship of the land we now live on, work and worship. Jesus the Christ, the rejected and suffering servant is surely walking with them in their journey.

 

A Prayer for NAIDOC 2020 – Always Was, Always Will Be

Stu McMillan, National Consultant Covenanting

Assembly Resourcing Unit, Uniting Church in Australia

Loving Creator God,

We rejoice in the beauty of this ancient land and her waters.

We marvel at the awesome way they have been formed.

We give thanks for her First Nations Peoples,

their stories of creation sung by countless Ancestors.

It is right, Loving Mystery that we name the dispossession, violence and bloodshed,

which First Peoples endured at the hands of Second Peoples.

We ask your forgiveness, and their forgiveness, on behalf of our forebears.

We pray for your healing of this land and her Peoples.

We pray that love will make a new way, a harmony way, the way of Jesus.

Holy God,

Today we are grateful, and we celebrate this nation’s true history,

beginning long before time.

The First People of this ancient land who gave them birth,

who gives them life – Mother Earth.

We honour them and share their joy.

You, Wisdom, call us body, call us one,

To walk together, people from many lands,

under this same golden sun, together

First Nations Peoples and all of us who have since come.

Together there is a new song to be sung,

as old as time.

Hear the yidaki, hear the bilma,

the Ancestors call.

Wisdom, help us to listen, to follow, to learn, to grow.

In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.

[Yidaki is the Yolŋu word for digeridoo as bilma is for clap stick]