Divine Audit

Here is the basic question I derive from today’s scripture readings and seasonal themes, a question that both ties everything together and leaves me with a point of practical real-life application.The first text from the book of Judges comes from the time following Moses and Joshua. The Israelites had moved into the Promised Land, but are not really in full possession of it. They’re faced with conflicts posed by Canaanite culture and foreign fighting forces.We’re given a mere sketch of the situation, but it appears that a respected leader of the tribe of Naphtali named Barak  has charge of thousands of warriors. He might be engaging the enemy, but is not.

• Perhaps he is intimidated by their seemingly superior weapons.
• Perhaps he is paralyzed by analyzing and reanalyzing potential strategy.
• Perhaps he simply isn’t feeling well.

In any case, it’s the prophet Deborah who challenges him. Deborah gives him the Lord’s winning strategy, encourages movement, and ultimately goes with him into battle. Deborah is the real hero of the story; she calls Barak to be a better steward of the people and land that God has placed in his care.In Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25, the prospect of a long journey prompts a wealthy man to entrust his resources to three different managers. Like Deborah, two who have been entrusted with much manage their charge well. And, like Barak, one responds to the challenge in a less faithful way, and fails the master.In Jesus’ parable, there is no mercy shown by the master. When the master comes to the poor manager given just one talent who appears to have chosen the safest course of action, the master seems to have a psychotic break, sounding for all the world like an abusive or sadistic person. “As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”At first hearing, we may take the side of the poor manager. Why does a manager pursing a seemingly conservative course of action received such a harsh judgment? What are we missing that justifies the ending of Jesus’ parable?I’ve preached on the passage four times in the past, but this time couldn’t help but read the parable in light of my course work in the nonprofit management program at UMSL. Recently, I completed a case study on fraud in a nonprofit organization. For the assignment, we were charged to examine the organization’s policies on risk management, to determine whether the internal controls were being practiced, and to what extent there were weaknesses in its system of checks and balances.In the corresponding lecture, Professor Stuerke, Ph.D., C.P.A., described typical characteristics of those who commit fraud. She said that often they are seemingly exemplary employees, who arrive early to work, who offer to stay late. If the officer who is supposed to be locking up the checks or counting the cash is too busy, they’re glad to do those things. If the officer who should be signing authorization vouchers or reconciling bank statements is overwhelmed with an urgent need, they’re glad to take over that function, too. They create so much goodwill by their desire to serve that they’re trusted too much (40 Billion dollars a year too much, according to the Missouri Attorney General).This is called the Fraud Triangle, with three points or sides:

• Pressure prompting internal motivation (I need money) …
• Rationalization or internal justification (they don’t show enough appreciation, they don’t pay me enough) …
• are joined by Opportunity (I can take this money, and no one will know).

And so fraud happens.Back to the parable: The master is going away on a long journey, and entrusts his greatest assets to his best advisors. The third servant, given charge of a single talent, sounds a little bit like the perpetrator of fraud in my case study. He was afraid, he says, looking ahead to an insecure future, the sort of fear that might have prompted him to feel pressure: “I need money.” He calls his master a harsh man, in whose employ he may rationalize a poor choice, for perceived lack of appreciation. He could have invested the money with the bankers, and returned it with interest, but there was no adequate system of internal controls that kept him from taking the opportunity to bury the talent in the ground.A “talent” – an ancient measure estimated at 60 to 80 pounds, posed a significant temptation. Imagine a talent of gold or silver. It was equivalent to years of wages, perhaps a lifetime of labor. This was big money. Consider this possibility: perhaps the manager who buried the talent instead of putting it in the bank did so in the hope that his long-absent master never would return, and that everyone else in the household managing larger sums would forget about his single talent. Then one day he would dig it out of the ground to use it as he pleased.The master supplies every need of his servants. He comes home from a long trip asking, “How have you used the resources I have placed in your care?” Jesus says that when the Master hears the reply of the servant who buried one talent, the response is not simply, “Oh well, he didn’t think it through carefully,” or “he wasn’t as creative as he could have been.” Jesus’ response is like what ours would be if we caught an employee in the act of mismanaging funds for personal gain.As our bulletin materials state, today is pledge commitment Sunday, and the preacher is challenged to consider what the gospel reading for the day might have to say about the annual exercise of raising revenue to support our mission and ministry in a new year. I don’t think the point of the gospel text is to give preacher an excuse to shame you into giving. Even if it were, I know that shame tactics don’t work. I’ve been part of another organization that, year after year, told me this was my organization, and, if I wanted it to succeed, I had to do more and more to help it raise funds. What a drag. I don’t think the point of the text is to promote fear as a feeling of anxiety or panic. In fact, that kind of fear is exactly opposite the direction of our campaign theme “fearless generosity.”Jesus’ parable about the Master who settles accounts with servants seems relevant to the extent that it encourages a reverence for God, who watches over us, and a healthy respect for your peers in this community, your brothers and sisters in Christ who also are managing resources for the collective good, to whom we owe the duty of doing the same with whatever resources God has placed in our care. The parable reminds us that we arrive at last at a “divine audit,” when each one will be held accountable to the Master according to the gifts and talents he or she has received, no matter how small they may seem. Jesus suggests that God will not be interested in hearing about all of anxieties that prevented our investments in his kingdom, or the rationalizations about disadvantages, and how we might pledged a greater percentage if we had been given more from the start.The basic question posed by God will be: “How have you used the resources I have placed in your care?" “What have you done with what I have given you?” May we be found to be good and trustworthy servants!