Market Volatility and Faith's Value

REFLECTIONS
November 16, 2008

Any of us who have not been in a cave for the last eighteen months are acutely aware of the strange financial climate we live in at this point in time. With bank failures and corporate bankruptcies announced on a weekly basis it is a nervous time for workers and retirees alike. While historians and economists report that this financial fallout does not approach the Great Depression of 1929-1938, our fears are not calmed for that was a very long time ago, and this is happening to us, now. The parable of the Talents is in Matthew 25:14-30, and in Luke 19:11-27. Though very similar in style and pattern, Matthew's is set in a section near the end of the book which deals with eschatology, or final things. Matthew writes that the work Jesus modeled for those who followed him was one which called for accountability. The parable says the master called the workers and gave one of them five talents, another he gave two, and the last, one talent. In modern terms the talent's value even today is quite great. For one talent is the rough equivalent of thirty years wages. We are told the first worker turned the five talents into ten. That is one hundred fifty years of wage into three hundred years in terms of value. Likewise, the one with two talents doubled it to four and the last worker returned only the one given. He was afraid to lose what he had been given so instead he buried the thirty years of wage.

It is easy to look at this text and see only judgment. However, that would keep us from understanding the grace inherent in the original trust of the master giving so generously to his workers. Think of it. If all we have and all we are is a gift of grace from God, why not invest ourselves in making some return on that generosity? If this parable is less about judgment and more about grace then the value factor becomes heightened by our personal choices as followers of Jesus. Simply put, the question becomes one of either or. Do we hide in fear of the end of days and hide the values God sees in us, either literally or figuratively in the ground, or do we live fully and wildly toward the love Jesus taught and spoke of knowing full well there is great risk?

We know the early church believed Jesus would return soon and judge all of creation for faithfulness or lack of therein; hence, the note of harshness at the end of the passage. Although the passage deals with money, we know it's really about the true currency of life, namely faith. Jesus spoke often about money, however, not in such a way to glorify it, but rather how important it is not to let it interfere with one's relationship with God. Remember the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking what he must do beyond following the commandments, and how sad he was when Jesus said sell all you have and give the money to the poor then follow me. Jesus was neither for or against money. his chief interest was faithfulness. The story of the lost coin, where the poor widow searches all over her house for the coin of very small value has merit according to Jesus not because of the monetary value, but because of commitment and determination. For it was all she had speaks volumes about the market value of her faith.

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601