Kirk and I keep getting a particular phone call. Actually, Kirk is getting it, because it comes through on an American phone number we have that rings through to his mobile phone here. Because we’re living here, but still have business to conduct in the States, we have an American phone number so that people can phone us without having to dial an international number. Mostly on this phone number, Kirk gets scam phone calls.
There is one phone call that keeps coming in. A recorded female voice says, “I am reaching out to you today because your company …” — and usually by then Kirk has hung up. The voice is loud enough that I can hear it across the room.
The words “reaching out” jump out at me. They make me think about the importance of reaching out — and I think that’s why hearing them from a scam phone call seems wrong.
Reaching out is something we are called to do, especially in these times. Even as Covid-19 restrictions mean we can’t see people or be around people in ways that we are used to, we still have to find ways to reach out. And what might be even harder: it is also a time for reaching out to God.
One of our readings today was from the Apostle Paul writing to a new church in the city of Thessalonika. There is strife and contention between different groups in the city; all is not easy for these new Christians. They want to know when Jesus will come again: will it be soon? And Paul is telling them that it is not for us to know when Jesus will come — when the day of the Lord will be. Jesus had told his disciples the same thing, that they were not to know. Instead, he said, and Paul repeats, stay awake, live faithfully, look to the salvation that Christ offers to us.
And Paul tells the Thessalonians that as we live in such times, encourage one another and build up each other. Put on the armor of Christ — meaning protect yourself with faith and love and the hope of salvation. These are like a shield and a helmet as you live in these times, waiting for you know not what or when. Encourage one another, and be protected by faith in Christ.
And as the Thessalonians are wondering when Christ will come again, and Paul says we do not know, he also says that it will be like labor pains coming on a pregnant woman — that is what the world will be like.
The world seems to be in labor pains now. Odd events are happening, biblical events. Sudden changes in fortune. Uncertainty. So, Paul says, stay awake. Encourage one another. And as I said a few weeks ago for Harvest, reach out to one another.
And reach out to God. That’s the hardest thing to do in these times, perhaps — reaching out to God. What do we say? Where is God in these times? Do we even believe in God?
And that’s where I come to the Gospel reading for today, what is called the Parable of the Talents. It is about a man who entrusts his property to three servants before he goes on a journey. A talent is a rather large unit of money. To one servant he gives five talents, to another he gives two talents, and to a third he gives one talent. The first two servants invest the talents and double their money. The third goes and buries the one talent in the ground so that it will be safe.
And when the master returns, each servant gives to the master all the money, including — for the first two servants — the earnings. The master commends the first two, who had invested their money, and says, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” But the master condemns the third servant who had hidden his one talent in the ground.
Before I get to why the master does this, let me say a few things. I have said this before about this parable. This story is not really about money. Money is just used as a way to teach something, because people like money. Nor is the story about the gifts and skills that God gives us, because of the word talent. A “talent” was simply a unit of money.
Instead, to find out what the story is about, listen to the reason the third servant gives for why he buried the money. He says to the master, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”
The story raises the question, “What is your attitude toward God?” If we consider God to be harsh, a taskmaster, then we will hunker down, spiritually speaking, and keep from God our joy, our devotion, our commitment. And that attitude will spread to all of life, to all that we do. All the blessings, all the grace that God might shower upon us, we will, in effect, bury in the ground, out of sight, giving them no chance to bear fruit in our own life or anyone else’s.
The other way, symbolized by the first two servants, is to reach out to God. All the blessings, all the grace, that God might shower upon us, we will say thank you, and we will step forth, protected with “the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation,” as Paul says.
But one other thing, especially for these times in which we live. What if life is hard? What if we are confused by events? What if the uncertainty of these times weighs upon us?
We still reach out to God. God can take it. We reach out and ask, Why? We reach out and protest. We reach out and ask for guidance. An answer might not arrive in quite the way we want or expect — one never quite knows what to expect, really, in dealing with God — but the connection is there, and that makes all the difference, in the end. We have not turned away and hidden our face — which might be easier at first, but cuts us off from life and from the source of all true sustenance.
God is constantly and always reaching out to us, through time and space, and forever. God reached out to the human race in the person of Jesus Christ. And Jesus promised to his followers that the Holy Spirit would be with them — God reaching out to bless, protect, and guide all those who follow Christ. God’s grace and power are with us to help us live life, and God calls on us to have the courage to accept this invitation.
I am reminded of a prayer, which I will end with:
“Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.”