Sermon: Doing the Impossible

Matthew 25:14-30

Doing the Impossible

James Sledge                                                                             November 16, 2014

Most congregations have a story or two about doing the impossible. There’s the congregation formed in the midst of the Great Depression, when everyone said it was a terrible time to try to start a church. But a group of people felt God’s call and saw the need for a congregation, and somehow, despite the difficult times and financial hardships, a congregation was born and thrived.

There’s the congregation that felt called to begin a comprehensive ministry to the poor in their community. They dreamed of converting an unused store near their church into a facility with job training, food pantry, health clinic, and after school tutoring. The rent on the building was well beyond the church’s small budget, and they did not have sufficient volunteers. But the church leadership decided to do it anyway, trusting that they would find the money and volunteers. And despite all the obstacles a new ministry was born and thrived.

There’s the famous story of the youth group at Spring Valley Presbyterian in Columbia, SC, gathered for a Super Bowl party. A seminary intern offered a prayer asking that as they enjoyed their Super Bowl festivities and food, they might be mindful of those who had nothing to eat. Some youth decided they wanted to do more than be mindful, but what could a youth group do in the face of a problem so big as hunger? Nonetheless they contacted other local youth groups, and at the next Super Bowl they collect nearly $6000 for hunger relief. The Souper Bowl of Caring was born and thrived. Since 1990 it has collected more than $100,000,000 for hunger, including over $8,000,000 this year alone.

There are countless such stories. Some who have been around at FCPC for a long time may well know some such stories from this congregation that I’ve not heard, and I’d love for you to share them with me.

Of course, there are plenty of times in plenty of congregations when someone said a provocative prayer or someone pointed out a pressing need, and nothing happened. There is much that works against doing the impossible. Fear of failing afflicts many of us, and churches can be particularly paralyzed by this fear. Money, of the lack thereof, often seems an insurmountable obstacle, and worries about money feed into the fear of failing. In our day, many congregations worry about surviving. Almost every US denomination is experiencing significant numerical decline, and the millennial generation is more disconnected from the church than any in recent history. A lot of church people are worried, and congregations worried about survival tend to get cautious and timid and rarely risk the impossible.

The congregation for whom Matthew writes his gospel was surely worried about survival. These were Jews who followed the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. But life as not all that easy for Jewish Christian in the latter part of the 1^st century.  The Romans had destroyed Jerusalem and its spectacular Temple a few years earlier. And while this did fulfill Jesus’ words about the Temple’s destruction, it also threw Judaism into turmoil.

The loss of the Temple put an end to priestly form of Judaism focused on sacrifices and offerings at the Temple. Rabbinical, synagogue Judaism, the movement begun by the reform minded Pharisees, became dominant. Trouble was, as rabbinical Judaism became the norm, the Jewish followers of Jesus, who also called the synagogue home, found themselves labeled heretics. They were told to keep quiet about Jesus if they wanted to remain members of the synagogue, and they did want to remain members there.

It is for these Christians that Matthew recalls today’s parable. It is a favorite of  mine, and it may also be one of the more misunderstood, often treated like a fable whose moral is, “Use your talents wisely.”

Of course for Matthew’s congregation, a talent was simply a huge sum of money, about fifteen years’ wages for the typical worker. In the parable a master entrusts his slaves with five, two, and one talent respectively. If we want to update this for our day and use a modest annual salary of $20,000, the master entrusts his slaves with $1.5 million, $600,000, and $300,000.

Now imagine that you had a boss, a harsh and difficult boss, who said to you, “Here’s a million dollars of my money. Take care of it until I get back.” What would you do?

How many of you would rush out and invest it in some high risk venture that might make a fortune, but might just as well lose everything? How many of you would put it someplace safe, perhaps federally insured? After all, even at today’s low interest rates, a little income is better than having to tell the boss, “I lost your money.”

If you chose a safe money market, CD, or savings account, congratulations, you chose the same thing as the slave with the one talent. Yes, I know the parable speaks of investing with the bankers, but remember, there were no banks as we know them today. Not to mention that the law of Moses prohibited lending money at interest. And so it’s likely that every Jewish Christian in Matthew’s congregation who heard this parable would have done exactly what the third slave did, the only truly safe thing to do, and hidden the money.

But for some crazy reason, two of the slaves go out and wheel and deal with their master’s money, and both of them double what he gave them. How many of you know of a good investment that will let me double my money fairly quickly? (If you do, please speak with me right after the service.) Maybe a better question: If you were a member of our church Session, this congregation’s ruling council, would you recommend putting the church’s holdings into risky investments that might double our money?

Today’s parable is one of a cluster of teachings that speak directly to how Jesus’ followers are to live and act in that intervening period between Easter and Christ’s return. They speak to Matthew’s congregation, which is tempted to go underground, to hole up and wait and play it safe. And they speak to congregations of our time, direct heirs of Matthew’s congregation, who know all about being careful and playing it safe. To Matthew’s congregation, and to us, Jesus says, “Take big chances! Do the impossible!”

Of course Jesus isn’t speaking of just any big chance or impossibility. He is speaking of the gospel treasure entrusted to us and of our call to help show the world God’s kingdom, that new reality present in Jesus, and in us when we live by its ways.

So, where is Jesus calling us to take big risks and do the impossible? Where is he calling us to step out in faith, trusting that when we are faithful to his call, when we allow the Spirit to work through us, when we risk ourselves for the gospel, impossible things do happen?