First Friends Meeting
Matthew 25:14-30
‘Venture Spiritualist’
Doug Gwyn

A couple weeks ago, I spoke on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Somehow along the way, I got to complaining about the outrageous salaries given to the CEOs of large corporations. I don’t recall just how I got from the Prodigal Son to that. But you do occasionally hear me raise concerns about global capitalism – in particular, the power of large, multinational corporations. Well, you may recall that Ray offered some gentle counterbalancing of my remarks during open worship. We talked after worship and I mentioned to Ray that one of Jesus’ parables makes God look like a venture capitalist. And so we’re looking at that one this morning.

Actually, I can say a lot for free enterprise, especially on a small scale. The open give-and-take of the marketplace optimizes economic vitality. It advances new technologies. And if you look back over the last 400 years, free market dynamics have had wider influences on society. Religious freedom creates a kind of spiritual marketplace, where religious ideas and practices are given free flow. We may worry about some of the religious fads and cults it produces, but it’s a good thing overall. And democratic politics have a similar marketplace dynamic. We are free to create new parties and political ideas. It has to be said that our efforts at democracy are far from perfect. And it’s possible that large corporate and media interests exert too much pressure and control these days. But I hesitate to blame capitalism in general for these problems.

Quakers were enterprising business people from our beginnings in England in the 1650s. Quakers were on the cutting edge of the commercial revolution, even while they were still being persecuted. By 1662, one early Quaker leader, Edward Burrough was already arguing that persecuting Quakers would only hurt the economy! And along with their business prowess, Quakers were also key actors in forging religious pluralism and the multiparty system of government. So the Quaker experience demonstrates the close connections between a marketplace economy, religious freedom, and democratic politics. Some Quakers went on to become leaders in banking and large companies. But we have more often excelled at small-scale enterprise. Perhaps both the Church and business are often most creative and healthy on a smaller scale. We need to encourage small business at this juncture in our nation’s history. I’m concerned that since the year 2000, the budget for our nation’s Small Business Administration has been cut by 40%. As loans for small business ventures dry up, where will new ideas come from?

The parable Dick Williams read is another of the strange and somewhat disturbing stories Jesus told. A rich man was going off on a long journey, so he entrusted his money to three slaves – three stewards of his business. He left different amounts with them, according to their ability. The money was in talents, big pieces of silver. Two of them went out and started investing the talents at once. The other one dug a hole and hid the one talent he had been given. The master came back after a long time and settled accounts with his servants. The two who had invested the talents doubled their money. The boss was pleased. To both of them he replied, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy (faithful) in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”

But the third slave dug up his one talent he had hidden in the ground. He came forward and said, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” The boss was not pleased. He replied, well, if that’s what you think of me, you could have put the talent in the bank. It would have at least earned a little interest. I’m taking your talent and giving it to the one who doubled his five talents. Now somebody take this slave and throw him into the outer darkness.

The boss adds, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” If that’s the moral of the story, it’s a jarring, disturbing one. Where’s the love? In the story of the Prodigal Son, the wayward younger brother doesn’t get any more of his father’s inheritance. But at least he is forgiven and welcomed home back into the family.

So what’s going on here? Jesus seems to portray God here as a venture capitalist. If we think of the money-talents in the story as spiritual gifts and God-given, then maybe we could say that God is a venture spiritualist. The two faithful servants receive their talents as opportunities, as a chance to do something good and creative for their Lord. It’s a venture, even an adventure for them. They’re trustworthy because they trust their Lord. But the third servant is fearful He sees God as unjust, even vengeful. The one talent in his hands is not an asset but a liability. He doesn’t invest it but hides it in the ground. So when the master returns, he praises his two faithful servants. He will give them greater opportunities to serve. And because they invested the talents with faith and with hope, they share his joy in the outcome. The master confirms their image of who he is. But to the third servant, he replies, Oh, I’m an ogre, am I?” You want an ogre? I’ll give you an ogre. This servant enters not into his master’s joy but the outer darkness – like that hole in the ground where he hid the talent.

Jesus tells us a story of people creating their own reality. His parable seems to suggest that we create God in our own image. And indeed, we often do create our own reality. In many ways, we do create God in our own image. We have certain impressions of who God is. We find them confirmed in this or that verse of Scripture. We find them confirmed in this or that experience. And this God becomes someone we approach with trust, hope, and joy, or run away from in distrust and fear. Of course, we can find things in Scripture to confirm many different images of who God is. And we can find things in our life experiences that can prove just about anything we want to believe.

Now, I don’t believe, in the final analysis, that God is simply our own creation. We are God’s creation. We are in God’s own image. But that’s a powerful image! We have God-like powers. Our imaginations can bend reality into different shapes. If your image of God is an ogre, you’re likely to find an ogre. Even worse, if you find yourself in a position of power, you may yourself become that ogre.

Therefore, train your heart and shape your mind around images of the God who is love. The God who’s ready to forgive and start over with us. The God who loves and enlightens all kinds of people, regardless of their faith, regardless of their image of God. The God who has created a world of abundance and wants us to share that abundance freely. The God who is creative and gives us talents to be creative in God’s creation. These are the major tonic and dominant chords of the Old and New Testaments. Believe in these. Act upon these. If you do, then when you are in a position of power, you will act out of these images. I believe that when each of us encounters the true God after this life, that’s who we will encounter. And what if I’m wrong? What if God turns out to be an ogre after all? Well, then I’ve only been a fool, not an ogre!

I think God probably is something like a venture capitalist. God invests each of us with talents, with various natural abilities and spiritual gifts, in order to do something good in this creation. God has faith in us, trusts us to do good things. But do we trust God? Are we ready to venture out in faith and try to do something creative for God? Actually, we can’t only trust God. Every venture of faith in our lives requires that we put trust in each other as well. We have to believe in other people as God’s investments too. Not just the people who can help us in our ventures, but also those who we can help in their ventures. Together, we create the reality of God’s kingdom on earth. Otherwise, we together we will create our own reality of the outer darkness.

More than two centuries ago, the economist Adam Smith speculated that there’s a ‘hidden hand’ in the market that keeps putting supply and demand together, keeps putting talents together in creative new ways. It’s a very theological notion for an economist. And maybe he was on to something. But I think that same hidden hand also keeps producing the likes of John Woolman, Eugene Debbs, and Dorothy Day – people who remind us that this system isn’t working for everybody yet. George Fox urges us to let our lives preach.” What kind of God do our lives preach? What kind of reality are we creating?