God's Gold: Do We Know What It Looks Like?

Matthew 25:14-30

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

OK, so that's a pretty well-known parable, to be sure. But I was reminded again as I read it that Jesus talks "money" an awful lot.

Now it's a well known fact that many of Jesus' parables involve money and business, but of course we "know better" than to misunderstand that, right? Jesus isn't really fixated on finance.

...Right?

Well, Jesus isn't. That's for sure. And when we talk starkly about bags of money, we're less likely to confuse the point. True.

But I think when we're all honest about it, We do get this parable wrong. What do I mean? Well, let's talk about how we use our time and talents.

Not to toot my horn, because I'm not a spring chicken either, but I've been tutoring a child on Monday afternoons over the past few years. I do so with my high-school son. Why? Because, I'll confess, I hope to introduce his life to those who are needy and plant seeds of concern.

But to get to the point, there is something nearly all the other tutors have in common. They're women. Women of all ages. And one (very elderly) man.

Why only women? I'll tell you why: because men misread that parable. We men too often think that we must invest our talents and abilities well. There's no big return on investment (money-wise) when we tutor. So we men don't show up. We're too busy working on important things.

This may seem unfair to the men who work downtown during the afternoons, but many of the women we see at tutoring are college students. Wheaton College is co-ed. Nuff said.

So we (men, in particular) seem to be taking those bags of gold a wee bit too literally. And I think Jesus knew we would. Why? He took steps to clarify his point. Look at the next parable he tells.

Matthew 25:31-46

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

After I finished reading that next parable, I was struck by an ironic twist, and it is this: people who were busy caring for the poor? That, financially speaking, was a waste of time. Spend time with prisoners and the sick? Great way to reduce your income. Inviting the stranger in? Hospitality sucks your resources in time and money. All the stuff these people were doing? It wasn't making them richer. It was making them poorer.

And God called it a great investment.

So with this latter parable in mind, let us return to the former parable and ask the question: What exactly does God's gold look like?

In light of the 2nd parable, the answer is easy. God's gold is people. And there is no better way to turn a fast buck (we speak here in God's language, mind you) with people than to help the poor and sick. To visit the prisoner.

Because when people suffer, God's gold is suffering.

One final thought to add to the pile. My commentary added clarity to the bad steward's words. Returning God's gold back to him, the man said, "See, here is what belongs to you." In Jewish financial transactions, these words imply that "I'm am no longer responsible for this."

Wow. The man had never wanted the gold in the first place. Didn't want it. Didn't use it well. Returned it with evident relief. Free of the burden.

Unwanted. A burden. A hindrance. Isn't that how the wealthy sometimes treat the poor? I think it is. Once again, politics creeps in. A whole wing of politics is devoted to keeping the poor away. Away from our faces. Away from our money. Away from our country. Away from needed healthcare.

These are sobering words. God has left us with gold. He's waiting to see what we'll do with it. And here is what we've done. We've buried it. In the ghetto. In the prisons. And we wish God's gold would go away.

But there will be a day of reckoning, my friends, and if our attitudes about God's gold don't change, things will not go well for us. Is it too late to learn to recognize and love God's gold? To invest in it? Make it prosper?

Speaking for myself, I hope not.