Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin in Proverbs with the qualities of a “worthy wife.” She brings her husband good and not evil, weaves from wool and flax, and reaches out to the poor. Such a woman is to be praised. Matthew’s Gospel give us another parable from Jesus to his disciples. Before going on a journey a man gathered his 3 servants and “entrusted his possessions to them.” The first received five talents, the second received two and the third received one, “to each according to their ability.” The first two traded (invested) their talents and doubled their amount while the third dug a hole and buried his talent. When the man returned he gathered his servants and asked how they did. The first two showed him that they doubled their talents and the man praised them: “Well done, my good and faithful servant” and promoted them. But the third brought his single talent and told the master that he buried it out of fear: “I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.” The man grew angry, telling him he could have at least deposited in a bank and gotten interest. He then took the talent away and gave it to the first servant. “For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; bur from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” He then demanded that the third servant be thrown out into the darkness “where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

So I guess if you’re looking for the qualities of a worthy husband you’re out of luck. Seriously, though, Proverbs provides us with a series of wise sayings and advice and we can fairly easily translate into modern day. We should all find value in someone who works carefully and with intention and reaches out to the poor. This part is easy.

The Gospel, well that’s a different story. I suspect we were all taught that this parable was about God’s gifts to us and we needed to do our best with what we are given. We even call them “talents” though they are dispensed, traded and invested like money.

But the talents were not given evenly. The servants were given different amounts “according to their ability” and that hardly seems fair. However we judge abilities, talents or gifts it seems that the third servant doesn’t get a fair shake. If we invest (or trade) we always run the risk of losing our investment and he had a narrower margin. If the first servant lost one talent he would still have 80% of what he was given while the third servant would be wiped out.

And while we’re at it, the third servant buried his talent out of fear of his master. While Jesus encourages us to “fear not” he doesn’t condemn people who do fear, he only challenges them (us) to move beyond it. Also, the master harvests what he doesn’t plant and gathers where he does not scatter. He sounds like an opportunist, hardly our image of God who plants and scatters everywhere.

Yet we praise the first two servants and even use the line “Well done, my good and faithful servant” as a compliment for a job well done. Are these two servants praiseworthy because they realized a 100% return on investment? What if they had traded and lost all or part of what they were given? It’s also worth noting that when the single talent was taken from the third servant it was given to the first servant, making him even wealthier.

It’s worth exploring the possibility that Jesus did not intend to have us emulate the first two servants, or the master for that matter. When Jesus introduces a parable he will often begin with “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to…” but he didn’t do that here.

Perhaps he was warning us that “the kingdom of earth may be compared to…” A few hundred years after this Gospel was written St. Augustine wrote The City of God Against the Pagans and from this we can see the dichotomy between the City of God and the City of (Hu)Man (sometimes called the Earthly City). In Augustine’s writing the Earthly City is one dominated by greed and pleasure, the opposite of what Jesus taught. Augustine argued that these pursuits explain why the Roman Empire fell.

Frankly this earthly city looks a lot like today’s Gospel. These days we hardly need to explain wealth disparity and how those who have much always seem to get more. For much of our history we’ve been told that those who have little have done something to put themselves in that place while those who have much deserve what they’ve been given.

Children born into slavery in the Antebellum South (before 1865) were often told by their owners that God created this disparity and they shouldn’t attempt to move up and they clearly shouldn’t aspire to freedom. Those that tried were called “uppity.” These owners would look at this parable and declare that the servant with one talent proved the point that they can’t be trusted with even small amounts. The servant with five talents was proven superior because he doubled his investment.

Problem is, with this system the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is a long way from Jesus’ belief that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. And so if this parable isn’t a foreshadowing of the kingdom of heaven, what do we do with this reading?

Again, maybe Jesus is warning us that we live in a world that is far from the kingdom of heaven, that we live in Augustin’s Earthly City. That if we’re in the darkness with wailing and grinding of teeth, it wasn’t God’s will that we should be there. Next week we’ll read about what it will be like with the Son of Man comes in his glory.

Not to foreshadow next week, but perhaps the servant with eleven talents may see the one with nothing and decides to reach out to him.

And as for the one who was given one talent, 10 year U.S. treasury bonds are currently paying a little under 5%. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea for him to put his talent there.