The Parable of the Talents

            The most important thing you need to know about the parable you just heard from Matthew’s gospel, the parable of the talents, is that the third servant, the one who buried his treasure in the ground, did exactly what he was supposed to do. In the ancient world, there was no federal insurance for banks. Investing money back then was an even bigger risk than it is today. And the safest, most reliable way to ensure you did not lose your money was to bury it. The servant who buried his master’s treasure didn’t just play it safe; he played it smart, and he played it right. His master had just given him a talent, the equivalent of at least fifteen years’ worth of wages, more money than most people would ever see at one time in those days. So he buries it, just like he’s supposed to do.

Discipleship Growth

            Two months ago, way back on August 25^th, we met Moses together for the first time. Some of us, naturally, had met Moses before, in Sunday School, maybe, or in our devotions, or from another preacher’s sermons. But August 25^th was the first time that you and I met him together. He was just a baby back then, a little child at the mercy of his dedicated mother and sister, a boy threatened by a vicious Pharaoh. Since then we’ve watched Moses’ life go by, scene after scene: at the burning bush, before the throne of Pharaoh, crossing through the Red Sea, receiving the manna, striking the rock, hearing the Ten Commandments, standing in the breach, and beholding God’s glory from the cleft of a rock. Now, at the last, we find ourselves saddened by Moses’ death, at the edge of the Promised Land.