There’s something about this story that rubs us the wrong way. We’ve just heard the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus reminds us that blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. In this story, the meek get thrown out into the darkness and the rich seem to get richer. This master who goes away on a journey doesn’t seem to work very hard. He seems to have people who do all the work for him. He reaps where he doesn’t sow and gathers where he doesn’t scatter. He’s the 1%! What can we possibly learn from this cruel and selfish master?

         The rich master goes away and entrusts his wealth to his servants. To one he gives five talents (a talent is a large bar of silver worth a considerable amount of money.) To another servant he gives two talents and to another he gives one. The servants who were given five and two talents invest the money and double it. The servant who was given one talent buries it in a field and keeps it safe but earns no interest. The master deals harshly with him. What gives? I think this story describes business to this day. Any investment firm would do the same with its money managers if they did nothing with the resources entrusted to them.

         The hard word comes when Jesus says, “to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have in abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” This sounds odd coming from the mouth of Jesus. We have come to expect him to stand up for the poor and the weak. He is always removing burdens from the backs of the poor and unsettling the rich in their place of privilege.

         Maybe we have to set aside the story about money and look at what the servant is being chastised for. Nobody lost any money. There’s plenty of money at the end of the story. The servant hid the money because he was afraid of what might happen if it were lost. It never really was his. He would never enjoy what it could buy. It would mean nothing to him for his master to have more or less money. The servant is called worthless and lazy and wicked because of his fear. He is more anxious about failure than he is about success. He is only thinking about what might happen to him, rather than thinking about how to obey his master.

         This is the message of the story for us. It’s not about the money. We are anxious about money. I think this is why Jesus talks about money so much. The parable isn’t about money so much as our anxiety. Jesus is warning us what happens when we let our worries dictate our actions. Instead, we should be letting our faith guide our actions. This story reminds us that the good news is more than comfort. The good news compels us to take risks. In fact, we are led to take risks that are bound to make us uncomfortable. This goes against many of the motivations that draw us to Christian community. We join a church to hear words of comfort. We want to raise our families the right way. We want to hear words that will help us make sense of the confusing world around us. The last thing we want is to find more unease and tension and stress.

         The comfortable lie we tell ourselves is that God loves us and protects us. God wouldn’t do anything to harm us or burden us. The words of Jesus make us sit up! Surely we won’t be cast into the darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth! In truth God does love us and sometimes God’s love compels us to follow uncomfortable paths and uncertain outcomes.

         The fault of the lazy servant was his unwillingness to risk. He took the safe route with his master’s money. In those days, if you hid something by burying it, you would not be at fault if it were lost. The servant took the safest route he could. He risked nothing of himself (even if it meant a loss or lack of gain by his master.) This is where we have to stretch ourselves a little further. What are we willing to risk of ourselves?

         Many of the sacrifices we make are for others or for our work. We may risk looking foolish to others. We make sacrifices for our children we might not dare for ourselves (but in a way those sacrifices can still be self-serving.)

         Jesus challenges us to think bigger. Jesus challenges us to think about God’s will for the whole world. God wants to reconcile the whole world to God and to reconcile us all to one another. It is a big job. It will take everything we have to give. It was worth everything to Jesus. It was worth everything to the disciples. In this day and at this time we are being called to think about our own commitment to God’s work. What are we willing to risk? What do we have to learn to risk? What are we afraid to lose?

         We know what happens when we live in fear. We become hemmed in and isolated from our neighbors and our best selves. Our lives become less. We are in darkness. When we take that frightening step to welcome the stranger or reach out to someone in need – we may fail – and we may discover new friends and new strength. When we have courage our lives grow larger. Jesus is always inviting us into a newer, larger life. We are being invited to enter in God’s joy at the work of loving the world.

          As we continue to worry about our economy, we are forced to make choices between what we want and what we need. Suffering is not shared equally across the land. The unemployed do without. Young people defer their future. The poor do without services. Our church suffers because we are all stretched too thin. Beyond the political morass we need to find a way where we work together to build something different – something that is not bankrupt and something that respects the dignity of every citizen.

         You could say that Jesus proposes a job program. He tells a parable about a vineyard owner who goes out to hire day laborers. He gets some workers started and agrees to pay them a fair wage. He needs more workers. He goes out later in the day and again at the end of the day. The last workers only work about an hour. As the day is ending, he lines up the workers and begins to pay the last workers first. He gives them a full days wage. The first workers expect more, but he gives them only the regular daily wage and they grumble.

         This is the twist of the parable. The vineyard owner is not a fair businessman by our standards. We expect equal pay for equal work. In this case, we expect that those who work less should get less. It’s funny how outraged we are about someone getting something we think they don’t deserve. In the end the landowner justifies his actions by saying the he chooses to be generous. It’s his money. He can do what he wants with it.

         This is not a lesson in economics or job creation. Jesus says that this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. Our interest is in how God imagines a different world for us. We are very familiar with the cutthroat ways of business. Profit and making the most of our money is the way of the world. The way of the kingdom of God is much different. The vision at the end is a world where everyone gets what they need no matter what they were able to produce. It may be a lousy way to run a business, but it is based on different values.

         God does not care about our efficiency. God does not measure our value by what we can make or earn. God does not look at our financial assets or our earning potential. God looks at our hearts and our souls. God measures what we do, as an expression of what we truly believe. And even if we can only believe a little bit, God welcomes us to the work and will reward us all just the same.

         The parable of the generous landowner tells us about how God rewards us and it also helps us to look at our priorities. We’re disturbed by the outcome of this parable because it touches us at a very important part of our thinking. Jesus is talking about money. We’re obsessed with our position in the rat race. We want to know how we measure up against our neighbors. Are we doing better or worse than others? Is someone getting away with something and getting more than their share? Are we getting tricked out of something we are entitled to? God would have us step out of this vicious cycle and imagine the world a new way.

         We are not the only people to complain about our lot in the world. The people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. “If only we were still slaves in Egypt!” they said. “At least we had meat!” I wonder how good it really was. Before coming out into the wilderness, the people suffered greatly toiling for Pharaoh. We are apt to look at the past and remember only the good that happened and we quickly forget the unpleasant things. The truth is that moving to a new place, especially a new vision given to us by God; is often a difficult journey. God often calls us to a place we cannot yet imagine. God often calls us to something we have to discover along the way. We find that the journey is not just a place. We must become new people to live in the new place into which God is inviting us.

         The people were hungry. God caused something to fall on the

ground that could be made into bread. They looked at it and said, “What is it?” or Manna? And that’s what they called it. There was only enough for the day. In their anxiety, they would have liked more – but they didn’t need more. This is the lesson they needed to learn so that could stop being slaves and become free people choosing to live by the rules given by God. This is the lesson they needed to learn so that they could live in the Promised Land – not in the old anxiety but living with new joy and generosity and hope.

         This is the lesson for us. God did not create us to toil for a wage. God created us to live in freedom and joy. God did not create us so that we would be only worth what we can earn. God created each of us as a wonderful and beloved child. God does not call us to strive for the accumulation of wealth so that we can work our way out of anxiety. God calls us to live in faith and to learn to be content with what we need for each day and to trust that God will provide what we need for tomorrow.

         Finally, God does not call us as separate people to be in competition. We need one another and we are given to each other. The uneven suffering of the poor is not the will of God. Therefore, our work is to be the people who help to provide the needs of our neighbors each day. When each day comes to a close it is God’s will that everyone have enough. That is a good day’s work.

          The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl of great value. The kingdom of heaven is like a net. Jesus offers us a whole list of parables today. Over and over Jesus points to some ordinary thing or action and describes how it is like God working in the world. It is as if Jesus is walking along and finding the kingdom of heaven under every rock and bush.

         I wonder if we have our favorites. Which of the five offered today resonate with your life situation? The mustard seed speaks of miraculous growth. The yeast describes the pervasive reach of the good news. The hidden treasure and the pearl describe how valuable the good news is, and what it’s worth to try and get. The net describes how God will one day sort us all out and see us as we are.

         Which parables encourage you? Which ones make you uneasy? Jesus gives us words of comfort and encouragement. Sometimes he urges us to go places we are afraid to go. How we feel about these words says a lot about what is important to us.

         This may seem to be a very subjective way to interpret scripture. We are schooled in objective analysis and we might want to dissect the passage to understand the intended meaning. Jesus also offers us a way into his thinking. At the end of the passage, he asks the disciples, “Have you understood all this?” I always smile to myself when I hear them answer yes, because I know it will only be a few more verses before they are completely in the dark again.

         Then Jesus says, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Jesus says that the disciples are like hosts who bring the best wine from their cellar and the freshest ingredients for dinner. We who understand combine what is new and what is old.

         There are many interpretations of this. Some interpreters say that this is the combining of our Jewish heritage with our Christian heritage. Some interpreters see this as Jesus re-imagining the rabbinic practice of halaka and haggada. Halaka is the study of the law and haggada is the interpretation and application of the law. Jesus takes the conversation beyond traditional Jewish teaching and imagines a whole new revelation – a new kingdom of heaven. Perhaps Jesus is even imagining that the good news doesn’t stop with his words. Others go on to re-proclaim the message. Jesus is pointing to the preaching and teaching of the apostles, and maybe even the authors of Matthew and the gospels.

         We always have the challenge of carrying on our traditions and of proclaiming the good news in our present context. Jesus has offered us many pictures of the kingdom of God. These are our treasures. Jesus has also encouraged us to bring out something new. The kingdom of heaven is present with us now. Jesus could see examples of this in almost anything.

         I offer a suggestion. What do you see around you? What is an image of the kingdom of God? What do you see that can describe how God is working in the world right now? What facet or truth about God’s will is important to you? What do you know about how God works, or how God loves, that is most meaningful to you. Now use your imagination. What can you see around you that describes this truth?

         It may be difficult to exercise our imaginations in this way. We are used to church being defined ritual in a specific building. We also know that God is bigger than our building and our prayer book. God is also not constrained by antiquity. God works today within all the challenges we worry about. God loves the world even with wars and terror and famine. God works in us even as we have anxiety and unpaid bills. God works to transform us even when we don’t notice.

         Today I am asking us to notice. God is at work. God can repeat what we know and God can do what we have yet to imagine. As we open our imagination, we are more ready to see the living God who has loved us forever.