In that time and culture, one who buried money that belonged to another was not held liable if anything happened to it. According to the teachers of the Law, that person took the safest possible course of action by burying it. No deposit insurance existed then, neither was any investment return guaranteed.

In a society where the money supply was limited and inflation nonexistent, to protect accumulated wealth from risk of loss, especially theft, people often buried it. But that also kept the money from any possible investment earnings, or making any other money by using it.

Notice that all three servants were given a tremendous opportunity to do something with an extraordinarily large amount of money. The Master has dealt extravagantly with them, according to their ability, Matthew tells us. Clearly, the Master expected something in return from each, and even the servant with seemingly the least ability gets the equivalent of fifteen to twenty years daily wages (depending on how you figure it). This Master is obscenely wealthy and overwhelmingly generous; all he expects is their best efforts with what he has given them.

This story of Jesus turns, of course, on the settling of accounts with the Master upon his return. The first two servants are eager to show the master what they have done with his generosity. Realizing the opportunity that they have been given, they have made the most of it-they return an amount equal to that which the Master entrusted them.

As you can imagine, the Master praised them "Well done, good and trustworthy servant!" he promoted them "I will put you in charge of many things, because you have been trustworthy in a few things," and he invited them into his joy because of their efforts.

But the third servant-the third servant returns only that which was given him-nothing less, but nothing more, either. Why does the third servant not do as the others have done? Because he is afraid of the Master.

For some reason, and the text doesn't say why, the third servant has it in his head that, deep-down inside, the Master isn't a kind person. So he takes the safest route-the only way to deal with this Master is to ensure the security of your position. Don't take any risks with what the Master has given you. Better safe than sorry. Conserve it. "So what if it earns nothing? Better that than do something that might lose it." The third servant's fear of the Master's wrath freezes him to inaction, and blinds him from seeing the Master's obvious love for him. If the Master didn't love him, he would give him nothing-instead he has given him more than he could possibly imagine.

That is the difference between these servants-two enjoy the Master and his gracious gift, and faithfully use it, create with it, and return it with gratitude; the other fears the Master, and while accepting the gift, buries it, desiring only the ease and personal security of keeping it safe, never attempting to freely use it, as was intended by its Giver.

From what we have seen of this Master, it's hard to imagine that one would think of him as harsh, reaping where he did not sow, gathering where he did not scatter. Maybe it's true, maybe that's how this Master became insanely wealthy.

But it's hard to reconcile that image with the image of One who would turn around and give money away so easily, so extravagantly, especially to someone who might not do much with it all.

Maybe the image of the Master being harsh comes from jealous people, people seeking to tear him down because they do not have possess such power or generosity. It's possible that this third servant holds contempt for his Master because he is so afraid of him, of what he might do to him.

Here in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us three parables about the coming day of the Lord. Clearly, in this middle story, we and Matthew's listeners are to understand that the Master represents God. We also see in the parable that the servants hold differing images of God.

What image do we hold onto as our image of God? What picture and type of God comes forward when you think about God? Close your eyes and see. What image of God did we grow up with?

Jesuit theologian Gerald Hughes writes about growing up with an image of God that resembled "Good old uncle George,"

Like the image of "Good old Uncle George," the third servant in the parable thought of his Master as harsh, as one who reaps where he did not sow and gathers where he did not scatter, a vengeful and strict task-master. "If that's how you see me," says the Master (in essence), "then why didn't you think that I would expect, at minimum, interest on my money?" And so the third servant got the Master he expected, and missed seeing the Master who actually blessed him beyond belief-if only he could have recognized him, if only he could have seen that Master, as the other two servants saw him.

Just as children unconsciously become like their parents, whom they adore because they are their parents, so, too, do we become like the image of God that we adore. If we fear God, and are afraid to take any chances or make any mistakes because God might zap us, then like the third servant we are frozen to inaction.

In our fear we do nothing with the gifts that God has already given us-our very lives and all that sustains us. If all we have is an image of God that's quick to judge and punish us for our sins, might we not also be quick to judge and punish others who sin, or punish ourselves for our own sins, real or imagined? So we concentrate and focus on sins instead of seeking Christ in the face of others, of those in need.

Forgiving others and extending God's grace to others is hard work. Far easier to claim Jesus as our personal savior, and to relax safe and secure in the knowledge that we're going to heaven, and leave it at that. So we bury God's gift of grace and forgiveness, instead of using it to double or triple the amount of grace and forgiveness at work in the world.

Grace and forgiveness are the true gifts of God that keep on giving. Like the extravagant Master, God trusts us with this task of sharing God's good gifts with a world in desperate need of them.

We might even wish to adopt a new image of God, to ask Jesus to heal our image of God so that we might experience God in a new way-as an extravagantly wealthy and overwhelmingly generous God of love who blesses us and expects of us our best and fearless efforts, using the gifts with which we have been given. And the more we become like this image of God we adore, the more we can extend God's hospitality, God's inclusive grace, and God's radical forgiveness to all.

Even the apostle Paul sees the need for a new image: "For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," he writes in today's epistle. Paul challenges the old image of God as only a vengeful and angry deity by offering us a new image of God revealed in Jesus, the crucified and Risen One, who loves us and justifies us all by the free gift of God's grace.

For if we learn to adore the God who loves and forgives us and all others- unconditionally, without exception-then we can with confidence go into the world and work to see that all others hear the open invitation to come and sit and feast at God's table, and one day, along with them, enter into the joy of our Master, as good and trustworthy servants.

The Rev'd Timothy M. Dombek
ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
301 Piney Mountain Road
Greenville, SC 29609-3035
(864) 244-6358
timothy@stjamesgreenville.org

Copyright © 2002 Timothy M. Dombek All Rights Reserved.