We've Always Done It That Way

Jesus said, “It [the kingdom of heaven] is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘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.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘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.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘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.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

--Matthew 25: 14-30

Do you know the last 6 words of a dying church?  "We’ve always done it that way!"  You’d be surprised how many times church folks say that.  Once when I was in seminary I was having a conversation with a classmate who worked at a huge, prominent parish in New York City.  When I asked about the fact that they did not allow women to serve at the altar in any capacity, refused to use any of the new liturgical resources from the wider Episcopal Church, and had no ministries focusing on incorporating kids and young adults into the life of the church my friend said, “Well, they’ve always done it that way.”  That church, even though it was huge and had tons of money, was a dying church.  That’s because dying churches aren’t necessarily the ones with older populations, or the ones that don’t have money, but they’re the ones that do nothing with the gifts God has given them, the ones who see an opportunity to do something fresh and new and turn it down, giving in to the fear of any kind of change.  They repeat their mantra:  we've always done it that way.  

 An artist's rendering of the Parable of the Talents

It was true in Jesus’ day, just as it is now.  We call the above story the Parable of the Talents, and it only appears in Matthew’s Gospel, perhaps because Matthew was a tax collector and would’ve used such a term himself.  When we say talent in this context we don’t mean what we would mean today—things that folks show off on America's Got Talent.  Instead, a talent represented a large amount of something.  The Greek word used is talanton, which was said to be equal to about 113 pounds.  In the parable the word refers to a large sum of money, in which case it would have been equal to 15 years’ wages for a day laborer.  Obviously Jesus is talking about a huge sum of money when he describes the master in the parable entrusting one servant with five talents, another two, and another one. The first two servants both invest their talents, doubling their amount, and they are rewarded.  The third does nothing with what his master gives him.  He doesn’t invest it, he takes no risk at all, and while the master does still get his original talent back, he chastises the servant for not being more proactive with what had been given to him.

The third servant was a victim of the same mentality as those who live by the code of ‘we’ve always done it that way.' It's about fear, particularly the fear of doing something new, of taking any kind of risk  Scholars like William Barclay have said that the third servant represents the scribes and Pharisees, those in Jesus’ time who had been given the gift of God’s law but had sought to hoard it, to hold onto it.  Even when Jesus, the living embodiment of the law, was standing right in front of them and inviting them into new ways of being, they still refused.  "We're good," they said, "because we've always done it that way!"  They, like that servant, refused to take a risk for fear of losing what they already had, and when the opportunity for change came, they dug their heels in and refused. The chastisement of the servant's attitude in the parable is thus Jesus’ own chastisement of those fearful attitudes, attitudes that he experienced from those who squandered the gifts given to them by God.

 The talents in this parable may not have been a reference to talents in our modern sense, but they are certainly gifts.  So this parable speaks a very real truth, that God gives each of us gifts and entrusts us to be active with those gifts.  The amount is not reflective of any personal value—notice that the master does not speak more highly of the servant who made 10 talents than he does the one who made four.  Thus, what matters is what one does with the gift(s).  The first two servants did something with what was given to them.  They didn’t know what was going to happen.  Certainly it was a frightening risk, but they stepped out in faith, and look what happened.  The third servant, however, took no such risk, just kept doing what he’d been doing, didn’t try doing something new, and look what happened.

The only way to keep a gift is to put it to good use, to work with it.  That’s what Jesus means when he says “For all those who have more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”  If we do nothing with what God is giving us, it’s as if we never had it to begin with.  Sometimes it’s risky, but stepping out in faith and doing something with the “talent” God has given us is always worth it.  That’s true for individuals and for larger church communities.  This weekend at our annual convention in the Diocese of North Carolina our bishops spoke about the gift God is giving us to create and become beloved community, which is scary because it often means coming to grips with hard truths of our past and deciding to be something we’ve never been before.  Furthermore, on a national level, a resolution will be put forth at this summer's General Convention, setting out a new relationship of full communion between Episcopalians and United Methodists, which will mean the two denominations can share clergy and work together on common mission.  While it could mean some change for our two denominations, it is also a gift that God is giving us to explore new ways of being the Church in our time.  

One might ask, “Why change at all?  We’re fine just the way we are!”  Sadly, that’s the attitude of the third servant, and of the scribes and Pharisees.  It’s always easier to just keep doing what we’re doing, to give in to our fears of the unknown. Jesus understood this.  He understood that fear is the corrosive thread that runs through every fiber of our being.  It can cripple us.  But Jesus also knew what it looks like when people take the gifts that God has given them and step out in faith, risking something big for something good.  Every one of us who goes to church on Sunday is sitting in a space that exists because someone, somewhere way back when, decided not to live by the code of 'We've always done it that way!' and stepped out in faith to do something with the new thing that God was putting in their hands.

So I wonder, what is the new thing that God is giving to you right now?  What “talent” has been placed in your hands and on your heart?  What will you do with it?  Will you bury it, sit on it, discard it because it’s new and scary and you have never done anything like it before?  Or will you cultivate it, invest it, nurture it, and let it grow into something wonderful?  And what of our respective church communities?  What new way of being is God inviting them into?  Whatever it is God is giving us, may we have the grace to do something with it, and the courage to step out into something new, even if we’ve always done it that way!