Reflection on Matthew 25:14-30

 

For generations it was the family’s Thanksgiving tradition to box up the massive amounts of leftovers from the family meal and deliver them to those in the neighborhood who they knew were alone for the holiday.  The children would excitedly run meals up to the doors of neighbors in the waning afternoon sun, proud to be a part of such a giving tradition, and those who received the meals felt truly blessed, not only by the food but by the smiles from the children handing them this special meal.

For years and years this was the unquestioned holiday tradition, until the day that someone in the family questioned it.  “Why do we head out into the cold to do this?” asked a new addition to the family, a new son-in-law.  “My family relaxes Thanksgiving afternoon, watches football, and enjoys leftovers the next few days.  Why do we ruin our relaxing day to do this?  Who else does this sort of thing?  Why do we give up all of this great food that the good Lord has given us?”

Of course, grandma was dedicated to the tradition, and the kids loved it.  The tradition would continue as long as she survived.  But, a rift started to ripple through the family as they wondered if the tradition, which survived generations upon generations would last beyond the current generation.  Would the day of thanksgiving be only about “thanks” and have nothing to do with “giving?”  Was the family on the cusp of burying their gifts?

The image of burying a gift, of course, comes straight from the Bible.  It is in the story of the talents in which a man entrusts his property and wealth to his servants.  To one servant he gives five talents (a talent being a weight of money).  To another he gives two talents.  And, to another he gives one talent.  He gives the wealth according to what he thinks each servant will be able to do with it…what he thinks each servant will be able to create with it while he is gone.

The first servant produces five more talents by the time the man returns.  He is commended and rewarded.  The second servant produces two more talents by the time the man returns.  He too is commended and rewarded.  But, the third servant buries his talent in the ground and has nothing but the original talent to offer his master in return.

And, that is where idea comes from: burying your gifts.  The family feared that future generations would bury their gifts, producing no goodness for their neighbors in return.  The family feared that Thanksgiving would produce no sense of “giving” to future generations of children, and the tradition of goodness and love would be lost.

Sometimes, I think that people’s idea of stewardship embraces too tightly the idea of burying.  How many times have you had a great idea that would help your neighbors, whether in a church or a community organization, and there is always that one person who says, “I don’t know if we should be spending money right now.  Aren’t we supposed to be good stewards of what we have been given?”  Their assumption, of course, is that stewardship is all about saving and burying.  But, that actually is not what biblical stewardship is all about.

In Genesis, when God tells humans to steward all that has been given them in creation, it is paired up with the injunction to “be fruitful and multiply.”  The idea is that what we have been given is to be used to continue what God has started.  What we have been given is to be used appropriately to promote God’s life and God’s love. 

Jesus continues with this very notion when he warns, “Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit,” and continues, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:17-20). 

The basic, plain understanding behind this text is that trees bear fruit.  And, fruit is to be used to both grow more trees and to offer food to other creatures.  “You will know them by their fruits,” Jesus says.  You will know someone by how they do or do not prosper others.  You will know someone by the life and love that they do or do not provide to others.  But, what happens when God’s gift of life and love is buried?

A teen pointed out to me a few years ago in confirmation class that if your gift is not money, but a gift that resides in your body, like singing or dancing, or painting or healing, that if you bury your talent you are actually burying yourself. 

I have to admit that I was blown away by that idea.  Are you blown away by that idea?  Now, I had thought about what it meant to bury my talent before; like burying my guitar playing.  If I buried my guitar playing, then it would not be helpful to anyone or bring joy to God in any way. 

But, I had never thought about the fact that burying my guitar playing is actually burying a part of me.  It is digging a grave for me.  It is digging a grave for a premature death, stifling not only my gift, but also me. 

That is a mind-blowing idea, is it not?  I am so thankful that teen did not bury their wisdom, because their wisdom has been so life-giving to me.

A lot of things make sense when you think of it that way.  Fine actors who end up burying themselves and their talent under illegal substances now make so much more sense to me.  If you bury yourself, you become worthless.  You become a “worthless slave” as the Bible story says (Matthew 25:30).  Now, understand, this is not a moral judgment; it is just the simple truth.  If you are dead and buried, you can help no one.

People who become bitter after the stresses of life have become way too much, who bury their love so as to protect their own hearts make so much more sense to me.  If you bury yourself, you become worthless, as the Bible story says.  This is not a moral judgment; it is just the simple truth.

Those who have used their gifts to only support themselves and improve themselves make so much more sense to me.  If you bury yourself, you become worthless, as the Bible story says.  This is not a moral judgment; it is just the simple truth.

We were created to be trees that are fruitful.  We were created to be servants who use their gifts to create and prosper life, and show love.  In fact, the Greek word used to describe what the two good servants did with their talents is ποιέω, which literally means “to create” or “to produce.”  From the beginning of creation, we were put on this earth by God to help create.  We were put on this earth to produce more life and more love from the gifts we have been given by God.  We were not created to bury our gifts.

But, sometimes we do.  Sometimes, we bury what we have been given.  Sometimes, we have been discouraged in the use of our gifts, and we bury them.  Sometimes, we are tricked out of our gifts, and they become buried.  Sometimes, our gifts are taken away from us either through theft or through poor health, and they end up dead and in the ground.  Sometimes, we have no intention of burying our gifts, but they end up in the ground anyway.

In just the next chapter of Matthew, Peter will bury the gift of knowing Jesus and deny him three times.  In just a couple of chapters, the people will nail God’s gift of goodness and love to the cross, and will bury his lifeless body in the ground, in a cold tomb of death.  Sometimes, we bury what we have been given by God.

Thank you God that when you are buried, you are not like trash that decomposes; rather, you are like a seed that springs to new life. 

God’s gift of life and love for the world, Jesus Christ, cannot stay buried for long.  Like a sapling springing up through the ashes of a burned forest, Jesus rose to life, breaking free from burial and death.  Jesus is God’s life and love!  Jesus cannot be buried for long!  Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). 

So, this Thanksgiving, let us pray that we and our gifts not remain buried.  Let us pray that Jesus lift us out of the ground, into new life.  Let us also pray that Jesus help us remember the “giving” part of Thanksgiving.  And, let us pray that Jesus will share some good fruit plucked from our branches and given to others, that all might give thanks to God. 

The family never stopped, by the way.  To this day, the family still boxes up their leftovers and gives them to lonely neighbors on Thanksgiving.  Guess who heads up the project now that Grandma is gone: the son-in-law.  After a couple of years of participating, he grew to love “giving” on Thanksgiving.  If at all possible, Jesus does not let our talents stay buried for long.