A PENNY TO MY NAME
Idina Menzel, a singer and actress better known as the voice of Elsa in Frozen, wrote a song called “Penny” a few years back. The song reflects the life of someone asking for help, because she apparently does everything wrong and takes everything the wrong way. The refrain sounds like a prayer one prays when you are afraid that you’ve messed up your life a and the life of others. It says:
“God if you're listening would you have a message sent?
Cause I need to be a better lover, brother, and a friend.
God if you're listening would you come up with some change?
Cause I wake up every morning with a penny to my name.”
A PENNY
A penny… that one coin that is so worthless that if it falls on the ground, we usually don’t make the effort to pick it up. Waking up every morning with a penny to our name maybe means that you don’t have what you even need to get out of bed.
I thought about this song when I was reflecting on the passage for this morning. I especially thought about this poor guy that receives one talent.
The parable is very familiar. A man is going on a journey, and summons his slaves and entrust property to them. He gives five talents to one, two to another, and one to the third. The interesting part that I had not noticed before is that observation at the end of this part of the parable. It says that they were given the talents “according to their abilities.”
When I read this… I thought about the guy that received just one talent. The man gave them money according to their abilities. How do you think this man that received just one talent felt? He sees that one receives five. Then the other receives two… and then he receives one. Really? He must have thought. Just one talent?
Then, he probably starts thinking further. “He gave me just one talent… He does not trust me! Besides… what can I do with one talent? The guy reaps where he does not sow, and gathers where he did not scatter seed. He is doing this to trick me. He know that I’m not up to the task! The best thing that I can do is to make a hole and put this on the ground until he returns!”
And then… we know what happens. The other two over achievers go and make investments and bring more. They receive more or less the same praise and the same recompense. But the one talent guy… “You wicked and lazy slave. Throw him in the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
IS IT ABOUT STEWARDSHIP?
Mark Douglas, a professor of Christian Ethics, has an interesting approach to this passage. Every pastor that is in the middle of November as Stewardship month, is preaching on this passage today, because the traditional approach to it is that we have to be good stewards, like the two slaves that multiplied the money.
Douglas then reminds us that the two slaves that are good stewards, are not the center of the story. The protagonists in the story are the Master and the slave… that is not a good steward. Their relationship is at the center of the story.
This particular parable is in the middle of Jesus talking about the coming judgement of how we have spent our time when the kingdom of God comes. Matthew here is telling a story about the end of time, not necessarily about stewardship.
The slave that has one talent reminds his master that he has a reputation as a bad man. But if he knows that his master has this reputation. Wouldn’t it have made sense to make an effort to multiply his investments? But… the slave’s fear, the slave’s discouragement, get in the way of doing what he is supposed to do.
Douglas ends his observations saying that this passage “is not so much about stewardship… it is about a willingness to resist fear and… to behave in risky and trusting ways, for in so doing we enter into the joy upon the master’s return.”
MAYBE IT IS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT STEWARDSHIP
Sometimes in our life we feel like that third slave with just one talent. We feel like the song, with just one penny to our name. We start focusing in what we don’t have. We let fear stand in the way of what we could give. And we make the intentional effort of hiding, of letting a thousand excuses be the hole where we bury our call to obedience and to action.
God has given us that talent… and if we focused on what God has given us… instead of what we don’t have… then we could use that talent, that penny, that one thing that God has given us, for the advancement of the God’s kingdom. (Maybe this passage is a little bit about stewardship after all).
DE TRIPAS, CORAZONES (MAKING DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE)
When I was in Texas, I shared the story of a church in Puerto Rico that had recently suffered a split. Part of the congregation, with their pastor, left to go to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The rest of the folks were not sure if they were going to make it as a church. We have a phrase in Spanish that says that they made “de tripas corazones”, which basically means they made do with what they have.
When Hurricane Maria affected the island, the small church was trying to see what they could do. They did not have the human power to do a lot of things… and they certainly did not have money. But… they had the church building… and they have used the building to host different community efforts that have helped their community.
They used their one talent. They knew what their responsibility was in the coming of the kingdom, and they did not let fear or discouragement to take hold.They took risks. They trusted God. They had one talent, and they used it. And in doing so... they wait upon the master's return with joy.
A LITTLE LIGHT... AND A LITTLE PENNY
Yesterday, in the presbytery meeting we were reminded of a Jewish proverb that says “A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness”. The slave’s fears and his lack of action lands him in outer darkness. But one talent, can dispel a lot of darkness.
And as I’m thinking about Idina Menzel’s song again… maybe it is good that we wake up every morning with a penny to our name. Maybe we are meant to wake up with a penny to our name, because pennies are easier to give. Maybe it is because we have spent all that God has given us, and we are open and willing to receive “some change” to be that little bit of light, that dispels a lot of darkness. May we take risks in joyfully waiting for the Master to come, and may God help us to do so.
