SUNDAY SERMON: The risk of discipleship

By Rev. Stephen Baldwin,

NT: Matthew 25.14-30

Back several years ago, I filled out a financial survey to figure out how comfortable I was taking risks. It went from green up at the top, for people who jump out of airplanes and off of bridges, to red at the bottom, for people who keep their money under the bed or in the basement freezer. I’m sure yall know where you’d be in that range…in terms of your comfort in taking risks…and I didn’t need a survey to tell me I was deep in the red with the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge. 

In this week’s story, Jesus is challenging my risk-averse nature. He tells a story about taking a risk, while himself taking a risk. You see, when he told this parable, he had left the safety of his small hometown to go to the big city of Jerusalem. His advisors told him not to go, but he went anyway. He caused a scene at town hall. He got into a fight with the moneychangers in the temple. The authorities were watching his every move. He was taking a huge risk just being there, especially acting like he was. And that’s when he tells today’s parable. 

A rich man goes on a long trip. Before he goes, he leaves three employees the equivalent of millions of dollars each. Two of them invest the money. In the stock market and new businesses. After a few years, they both double their money! A third employee, who was red on the risk survey, literally buried the money in the backyard. Because he knew that if the man came back and he couldn’t give him every penny…his life would be over. 

Jesus continues the parable by telling the people that when the man comes back, he’s proud of the two men who took a big risk. And he’s disgusted by the man who refused to risk losing his money. He calls him wicked and lazy, takes the money back, and gives it to the other two. 

Ouch, huh? Why is Jesus so harsh? The man who buried the money in the backyard was not a bad man; he was a cautious man. If this parable had been about stewardship, the cautious man wouldn’t have been treated as harshly as he was. But this parable isn’t about stewardship or finances. It’s about discipleship. It’s about spiritual living. It’s about being a follower of Jesus, and if you’re in…you have to be all in. You have to be willing to take risks.  

Think about a time recently when you took a risk. Or maybe it wasn’t so recent. Maybe it’s been a while. 

Maybe you spoke up when you normally would’ve kept quiet. Maybe you pursued a promotion. Maybe you responded to a call God placed on your life years ago. 

How did that feel? Did your heart race? Did your palms sweat? Did you get a pit in your stomach? Taking a risk is hard! Our minds and bodies guard against it! We are built to play it safe. Believe me, I know. 

But what if, and follow me for a minute here, what if the greatest risk…is to never take risks? To care deeply, to love fully, to invest wholeheartedly, means we must take risks sometimes. Not all the time. But sometimes. Not for everything. But for the right thing. 

This is the parable of the talents. And while a “talent” was a unit of money back in the day, it’s also a gift. A skill. An ability. Given from God. And God gives us talents so we can use them. God gives us light so we can spread it. God gives us love so we can share it. Jesus says the two who took a risk were rewarded because they dared to use what they’d been given. They didn’t just use a little bit. They didn’t hold some back and share some. They went all in! They used what they’d been given for good. 

Let me ask you a question. Has someone ever paid for your meal at the drive thru? Or sent you an anonymous gift? Or stepped up to help you in a time of great need? 

My experience of that kind of thing is that when it happens, it compels us to pay it forward. I feel the need to do something similar for someone else and help them through their need. Would you agree? 

Goodness compels goodness. Kindness breeds kindness. Love leads to more love. When someone takes a risk for you, it compels you to take a risk for them. 

When Jesus tells this parable, he is taking a risk by being in the city. He took a risk on each one of his disciples. They took a risk following him. He took the ultimate risk giving his life for them and for us and for people he would never meet. He took a risk on us. 

Will we take a risk on him? It means risking our talents. It means giving of what we’ve been given. Not in part. But in full. With our whole hearts. 

George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright said it best when he said, “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

Jesus doesn’t call us to take foolish or dangerous risks. But he does call us to discipleship. And to follow him, truly follow him, is the greatest risk we will ever take. Amen.