RISKY BUSINESS

Matthew 25:14-30.  
  

 If you are looking for an example of the importance of context to the way we read and hear Scripture this parable is hard to beat.  In today’s volatile market we see alternative futures pass before our eyes on a weekly basis.  The market is UP 400 points and we are going to take the trip we’ve been talking about.  But before you’ve compared rates and dates the market’s down again and the brochures go back in the drawer.  Wednesday the market goes down more than 3 points and the guy in this parable who protected the principle looks like the essence of a prudent investor.  The other guys were lucky.  Even in the first century you couldn’t time the market for guaranteed returns, especially 100% returns.  If you consider that between the three of them they managed the entire portfolio then the modest cash position seems responsible.  So, why the harsh words at the end of the story?  Why is he called wicked and lazy when, in today’s context, he seems prudent and wise?

 A seminary professor once told a preaching class (and I apologize for the colorful language if it offends you) “One of the things you want to do in trying to sift out what a text might mean at any given time is to pay attention to the part of the text that pisses you off.”  Or, in other words, if you try to read Scripture as conventional wisdom you’re likely to miss something significant.  The Gospel is anything but conventional wisdom although plenty of it is wise.  It is constantly getting under our skin and creating an itch that needs scratching….challenging our assumptions about just about everything so that we can then start reevaluating and doing some things differently. 

 So if we dig deeper into this parable, now that we have been rather ticked off by the investor’s seemingly shabby treatment of one of his managers,  we might discover the rather audacious character of the investor.  He doesn’t just give some of his assets to the three managers.  It’s everything.  It is the sum total of who he is, his values and what he has worked for all his life. He leaves the keys to the Prius, the PIN number for the bank accounts and the combination on the locks.  It is an audacious act of trust on the investor’s part and an awesome responsibility for the managers. What would you do?

 Now here is another interesting little tidbit that we wouldn’t necessarily know in our context:  According to Eduard Schweizer (not to be confused with Albert) a law of that day read that “whoever immediately buries property entrusted to him is no longer liable because he has taken the safest course conceivable.”  In other words, the action of the third manager was not so much an act of prudence but an abdication of responsibility.  What he did because he was afraid rather than energized, is to walk away.  He  refused to deal with the challenge and responsibility.  He let his fear of what might happen keep him from acting at all.  And that’s what upsets the land owner, the investor.  The third manager didn’t even try.  He didn’t trust the relationship. 

 Have you ever done that?  Have you ever NOT done something because you were more afraid of something bad happening than excited about the possibility of something good happening?  Be honest!  Frankly, I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times I’ve done that.  I still have some regrets about the road not taken at certain significant intersections in my life.  We can’t always control outcomes so the way some of us deal with that much of the time is to just not do anything that doesn’t have a guaranteed return.  And Jesus suggests in this parable that this way of living is sort of like being dead. 
 One final thing we might want to notice about this parable.  It comes near the end of Matthew’s Gospel and near the time that Jesus enters Jerusalem for the final showdown with the institutions of both church and state.  Contrary to what some of us were taught nothing was foreordained.  Jesus could have played it safe.  But he was willing to risk everything, including his life, for a vision of how life could and should be lived.  Is anything becoming clearer about this parable?  Has it gotten under your skin yet?  Is there a place or a circumstance in your life in which you are basically just playing it safe when something bigger or more meaningful or more creative is calling you to risk what you have for what could be?  Not a trip to Disney World but something that taps into the essence of who you are and what is good and holy and beautiful and just. [30 seconds to reflect].  We may not like the idea of Deborah gaining fame as a strategic military leader but in a time when women’s roles were defined she was at least a risk taker.

 I think this parable has a great deal to say to us as individuals about what kind of life we are created for.  But today we hear it in the context of our lives as followers of Jesus…a collective body of those who struggle to live his vision of what matters.  It was addressed to communities in the first century as well.   This may raise some other questions for us as a church.
When I was growing up nobody really told me that being a Christian was supposed to be a high-risk venture.   If anything I heard just the opposite.  Some people seemed to go to church because it was a place where nothing changed or as a way of polishing up the resume and securing their place in the right social circles.  Others believed certain things and did certain things out of a conviction that this was the way they could secure their happiness and comfort in the afterlife.  Not surprisingly, congregations themselves have often worked hard to distance themselves from the controversial issues of the day .  Why?  Because they won’t risk anyone getting mad and leaving with the money.  You may be shocked to learn that it still happens.  In fact, in my work with churches through the years I’ve discovered that many if not most are so concerned about their own survival…with protecting was IS… that they never dare to risk anything in the service of some larger vision.  What does this parable say the church?

 I checked back through my files over the years and this particular text always comes up in November, about the time most congregations are talking about the budget for the next year.  And the way it usually works is that we add up all the things we have to do:  keep the heat on, pay the staff, tune the pianos and plow the snow.  Some churches stop there.  Others go on to make commitments to address needs beyond themselves through mission and outreach and I’m proud that MPC is one of those and has never balanced the budget by eliminating mission.  And then they see if there is anything left for programs that nurture faith, reach out to the community, and make core values live.  There isn’t usually too much left for those things or for increasing mission and outreach because heaven forbid we do anything risky or dip into the endowment fund to do something daring and meaningful.  For the most part it is easy and natural to play it safe, to not risk what we have for a vision of anything greater.
 I wonder what would happen if we, collectively, took this parable seriously?  I think maybe its time to ask that question.  What next big thing might God be calling us to do?  And I’m not talking about property maintenance.  We’ve developed a well deserved reputation for our openness and warmth, for the way we encourage the questions that move us beyond dogmatic theology into a more experiential faith.  Others have looked to us for help in leaving with integrity within creation.  We are continuing to go deeper spiritually.  MPC is also a safe and comfortable place to be when we need to regain our footing, and tend the wounds that life has inflicted, and find a kind of peace that only God can give.  But is that all we are called to be and do?   Have we reached the point where the only thing left for us to do is protect what we have?  What big dream, what audacious goal consistent with God’s vision for the world and for our lives might God be entrusting to our bold and creative stewardship.   What would you be willing to risk to make it happen?  What should we collectively be willing to risk? 

 In this parable Jesus invites us to be his disciples, by loving the world as he loved it, to trade safe for adventurous, to move beyond fear to vision.  He challenges us to expand the horizons of our responsibility, to be bold and brave and reach high and care deeply.  Anything less, according to this parable,  is just burying our gifts in the sand and walking away.  And that hardly sounds like the life we could be living.
 

Mary Gaut 

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