talents, parables, and Wall-E

For it 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. 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. --St. Matthew, chapter 25.  Jesus' parable of the talents.

On Tuesdays, a group of us gathers to reflect on the meaning of Jesus' words.  We are not biblical scholars, but we are faithful listeners, hoping for God to speak to us in and through scripture.  Right now we are asking the question; 'What does Jesus mean by 'kingdom of God or heaven'?  

We're reading these parable from the gospel of Matthew 25.  These are end game stories, while Jesus spends his last week in Jerusalem with his disciples.  He challenges his critics, the religious rulers of Israel.  In the three parables found in Matthew 25, he challenges a basic assumption:  that a Jewish pedigree prepares one for a life with God that transcends death.  And that no other people, ethnic group, or community shares in God's blessings and favor the way Israel does. We know that Matthew's Jesus is oriented to Israel, but opens up the possibility of God's blessing for the Gentile world.  In Matthew 10, the mission seems to be exclusive to the lost sheep of Israel.  But in Matthew 28, the mission is to make disciples of all ethnos, all nations, all tribes, all races, all people groups.  

So first, faith without fruit is a dead faith.  And second, faith resides not in one's ethnicity but in one's willingness to accept that God the creator is present in Jesus for the purpose of saving the world from death and destruction.

He seems to say that faith requires action consistent with one's context.  If you are called to bear the light for the wedding feast, be prepared.  You will not be welcomed into the party, if you are not ready when the bridegroom comes.  In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, YHWH (GOD) is the bridegroom and Israel the bride.  But the bridesmaids are divided between the prepared and unprepared.  If Matthew's community was increasingly of gentile composition, could it be that the Jewish Christians were not as attentive to the mission as their gentile peers?  Were they less attuned to God's saving actions because they were oriented to the past? 

In the parable of the talents, Jesus suggests that the master makes a financial investment with his slaves, according to their ability.  This may mean that the master does not give the slaves more than they are capable of managing.  Second, when the master comes to claim what is his, he rejoices when the first two slaves saw five and two talents turn into 10 and 4.  (Remember when Jesus turned five loaves and two fish into enough for all to be fed?)  Talents, like bread and fish, are not meant to be hidden or buried or kept.  They are meant to be spent, invested, used for the purpose for which God created them.  All that is expected of disciples is that we use what God gives us.  God multiplies investments we make with that which God entrusts to us.  When we risk loss for God's sake, we gain everything.  When we fail to act because we do not trust God, we lose everything.  The third slave says that he does nothing with the talent because the master reeps where he has not sown and gathers where he has not scattered.  What if this is the way Jewish Christians thought of Gentile Christians?  They were benefiting from God's gifts, without the seed of Abraham within them.  Therefore, God was "harvesting" among the gentiles, in which the seed of faith had not been sown long ago. 

Finally, we read these last parables not as predictive judgments that damn unfaithful people to hell. Even though Jesus talks about banishment and weeping and gnashing of teeth (eternal torment?)  What if these parables were not prescriptive or predictive but were persuasive?  What if these were warnings, red flags, opportunities for repentance?  What if these were indictments meant to transform hearts and minds?  What if Jesus was NOT condemning people for unfaithfulness, but inciting them to consider an alternative way of embodying faith as His people?

One such postmodern parable is the Disney Pixar film Wall-E.  It is a post-apocalyptic world.  People have abandoned the over-used, polluted Earth and taken up residence in a space colony.  A corporation has made this possible.  They left behind robots to clean up the mess and restore the planet to life-sustaining beauty.  When Wall- E, the last remaining robot, finds a plant, it sets in motion a chain of events that lead to a new future.  In a bit of irony, a robot named "Eve" is sent to Earth to determine if sustainability has been achieved.  But, the corporate plan is not to return to Earth anymore.  It is more profitable to keep overfed consumers in a space colony.  So, Eve is supposed to destroy Wall-E and the plant.  Instead, an impossible relationship between two robots reveals a new emerging reality.  Robots can love, but humans cannot.  The film is an indictment on our culture's worst expressions; obesity, impersonal computing, addictions to screens and videos, lethargy and an allergic reaction to physical work/movement, health, inability to sustain relationships.   It is NOT a prediction of our future, but a persuasive argument for  stewardship of the earth, of our bodies, and of our relationships.  In the end, there is a new beginning...Sound familiar?

Back to Jesus' parable:  God gives us what we have.  When we exercise those gifts, they multiply.  When we don't, we are as good as dead.  (He did bury the one talent in the ground like a dead body).  Faith in God that is activated by an attentive awareness of God's presence in Jesus, by a willingness to become last and put all others first, by a willingness to share with those whose needs are greater than one's own, is a faith that is Christ-like.