Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin from Proverbs and it tells (presumably) a man what to look for in a wife. A perfect wife is beyond pearls; she brings good and not evil. She obtains and spins wool and flax. She also extends her hands to the poor; be sure to appreciate her. Speaking about another parable, a man summoned his servants before departing on a long journey. He gave them each talents; the first servant received 5, the second 2, and the third 1. He then went on his journey and on his return he asked each of them to give an account of themselves. The first invested and doubled his share; he now had 10 talents to return. The master was well pleased with him. The second also doubled his share and returned 4. But the third servant admitted he was afraid to lose the 1 talent he was given and buried it. He only had the 1 talent to return. Enraged, the master called him wicked and lazy. He said if he had just given it to the bank he would at least have some interest. He then demanded that the talent be taken from him, he should be thrown into the darkness where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

There is a joke where a preacher is giving a hell and brimstone sermon about how, on the day of judgement, some will be thrown into darkness where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. A woman in the front pew interrupted him and asked about people without teeth. The preacher responded: “God, in his wisdom, had already thought about this. Teeth will be provided.”

OK, I promise I won’t start every sermon with a joke but I’ve always loved that one. And frankly, as the days (in the Northern Hemisphere) get shorter and the readings appear more and more dire, a little humor is probably welcome. This Gospel can be, at first blush, a little frightening. Nearly all Bible translations use the word “talents;” they are not in the sense of “things we are good at” but instead a talent was a large amount of money.

Interestingly the master does not give instructions of what to do with money but two of his servants invested it and were praised for it. I think we all feel for the guy who was only given 1 talent and feared losing that. Given how angry the master became over not making a profit, imagine how he would have reacted had the servant lost his share. The message was clear: they (we) not only need to invest the talents, they (we) are expected to double the investment.

Given that it’s not hard to understand what made the third servant so afraid but if he was punished for his fear, what do we make of that? Is fear a sin? Is fear enough of a sin to cause us to be cast out into the darkness?

I don’t think so. Parts of this parable simply don’t make sense on first glance. The hundreds sermons I’ve heard on this Gospel have always seen the master as God. But when explaining his decision to bury his talent the third servant said this: “Master, 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.” That doesn’t sound like my image of God, or frankly anyone I would want to work for. In the creation of the world there is nowhere God hasn’t planted or scattered. And God’s anger is normally reserved for disobedience poor treatment of others. Not fear.

Fear is a natural human response and often keeps us out of trouble. A well founded fear is often a good thing. But fear, like anything else, can go too far and perhaps that is what we can learn from this. While the other two servants were investing (and frankly enjoying their success) the third servant was paralyzed by fear. It’s a fair bet that during the time the master was away he didn’t do much that brought him enjoyment.

Perhaps the wailing or grinding of teeth comes not as punishment from an angry or vengeful God but from our own paralyzing fear. Choosing to follow Christ calls us to several things. It calls us to love even people who hate us. It calls us to give to those who do not have enough. Or, in the words of the prophet Micah: “[T]o do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Frankly we are called sometimes to overcome our fear and act courageously. The first two servants certainly knew their master and likely had the same fear of losing what they had. Yet they found a way to overcome their fear.

And as with most parables we will likely not find ourselves in this position; I know several money managers and none of them promise a 100% return on investment. On the other hand we do find ourselves in difficult situations where we need to act, either with courage or with fear. Here in the United States I think many Christians are feeling ourselves pulled in different directions. Next week our Gospel will talk about our responsibilities to the poor but we find no shortage of politicians (neighbors, bosses, etc.) who tell us that poverty and immigration status are really self inflicted and that we are called to protect our stuff at all costs.

Additionally Pope Francis is sounding the alarm about climate change and how God’s command in Genesis that we have dominion over the earth means to take care of it, not destroy it. Yet other Christians, out of a fear of changing their diet (or their SUV) insist that climate change is a hoax.

We can all agree that for all we’ve learned about ourselves, each other and our world there is still much to fear. But if our fear is causing us to wail and grind our teeth perhaps we are giving too much power to our fears. But if we live with the courage in our belief in God we need not worry about whether or not teeth will be provided.