Over the years, as I've talked with financial planners, I've learned that there are basically three things you need in order to be successful at investing:
- First, you need time - even small amounts of money turn into large amounts given enough time, so every financial planner I've ever spoken to always stresses the importance of time...
- Second, you an appropriate vehicle to invest in - that is, you really shouldn't stuff your money in a mattress, like folks did in the old days; and people get into trouble when they choose an inappropriate vehicle, like stocks for a short term investment or a money market fund for a long term investment...
- But the third thing you need is the hardest thing of all - you need to actually invest, even if it's a small amount. And this is the thing that always drives financial planners crazy! They can't get people to actually commit to making the investment, even if it's just a small thing like $50 a month...(one of the people I know made the comment to me that he has clients who make $50K and clients who make $500K a year. If he doesn't get it first, it's all spent; it doesn't matter what people make...)
And today's parable is a classic case of a failure to invest. Jesus sets up a story in which three slaves are all given huge opportunities. They all apparently have skill and experience in managing investments, because they're each given an amount "according to their ability." And they all have a lot to work with. A "talent" was equivalent to 6000 days pay for a day laborer. So even one talent was worth about $700K today.
Moreover, the master attaches no strings to how they're to invest these talents. They can use their judgment and use any vehicle or opportunity they can find. And, trips in those days could last for months or years. So the master would be gone for quite a while. They had plenty of time.
So the first two go off and did what they were supposed to do, and they doubled the money. But the third one stuffed the money in a mattress - that is, he literally dug a hole in the ground and hid the money until the master came back.
In spite of the fact that he had time, and he had opportunity, he failed to invest. But his biggest mistake wasn't that he failed to invest the money. His biggest mistake was that he failed to invest himself in the project.
He didn't take his job seriously. Perhaps he didn't feel he had "that much money" because it was less than the other two. And he was completely wrong about the master. In the end, the master wasn't going to be "harsh" if he lost the money. Indeed, the master didn't lose any principal and he made plenty of return from the other two.
Instead, the master casts the third slave into the outer darkness because the slave is "wicked and lazy." That is, he didn't care. And he didn't invest himself, not just the money. And because he didn't invest himself in the opportunity the master gave him, the third slave missed out on the joy of:
- Personal growth and accomplishment - the first two come forward, and you get the sense that they're proud of what they've done and thankful for the opportunity to be part of something bigger than they could have been part of without the opportunity the master gave them...
- Making a difference for the whole household - if the master has this much money, it's a big household with lots of people, and even though the first two made the master richer, they also made life better for everybody in the household by what they did...
- The Master - you get the sense that the master is holding a big party, and the first two now get to be the guests of honor, and celebrate the generosity and the opportunity the master gave them...
So really, Jesus told this parable not to give us financial advice per se. Rather, like many of the earlier parables, Jesus wants to impress upon us the great opportunity of God's love and grace in our lives. And Jesus is using this parable to call us not to miss out on the opportunity to invest ourselves in the opportunities God gives us.
When we invest ourselves in God's opportunities, we're not earning God's love and acceptance. And we're not doing it as fire insurance against being thrown into outer darkness! But like the first two slaves, when we invest ourselves in God's opportunities we enter into the joy of:
- Being part of something bigger than ourselves - of being part of God's coming kingdom in the world. And we grow into being part of God's kingdom in the world when we invest ourselves in our relationship with God ... (and you can't do that by just "showing up"; you can only do that by actively investing yourself in the process...)
- Making a difference in the lives of others - spiritual growth is supposed to be personal, but it isn't supposed to be private. When we invest ourselves in worship, and learning and caring for others, we make it possible for others to deepen their appreciation of God's presence and love in their lives ... (which is why Jesus always connects love of God with love of neighbor...)
- God himself - that is, investing ourselves in God's opportunities is maybe the best way to give praise and thanks to God simply for God's goodness. As we're about to celebrate Thanksgiving, we should be particularly aware that thankfulness isn't so much about what you say as what you do. And when we invest ourselves in what God has given us, that is, in and of itself, a way of thanking and praising God...
In today's bulletin, there's an insert entitled "Why do we Participate?" Often, when we talk about participating at church, we really need people to fill jobs that need to be done. And while that's always true, it's not really why we ask for participation.
In that insert, I've asked us all to consider our participation as a way of considering our investment in being part of what God is doing in our lives. How is it that our investment of our very selves helps us to grow in relationship to God and to one another? And what are the activities and events that are worth investing ourselves in?
Those aren't just rhetorical questions. I think they're the questions today's parable calls us to answer in very concrete and practical ways. For it's through investing ourselves in the opportunities God gives us that we grow spiritually. It's through investing ourselves in the opportunities God gives us that we help others experience the kingdom of God as a real and living force in their lives. And it's through investing ourselves in the opportunities God gives us that we give praise and thanks to God, who seeks to include all of us in the joy of his kingdom.
Amen.
