Matthew 25 through the eyes of the poor

Church was a real eyeopener yesterday. I retold the story of the talents from the perspective of the man who buried his gold talent. I challenged conservative and liberal understandings of the story in Matthew 25 verse 14-30, by pointing out that God is not a cold hearted absentee landlord. Jesus certainly wouldn't have supported usury, or trade that would have made the rich richer and the poor poorer.

The hero of the story, when read from the perspective of the poor - is the slave who refuses to take part in the system. It was hard for some in the congregation - but for others, eyes were opened. I cannot of course be sure that I have the interpretation right - but it is great to see 30 odd young people really wrestling with scripture, and considering radical readings perhaps truer to the original meanings. Here is the dramatic reading that I used to illustrate the story:


My name is Jeremiah, and I am terrified. I am about to lose my job, my status – everything. I don’t know how I am going to tell my family and my two small children. But I have my principles and my faith, and I must stick to them.

My boss is a hard man. He owns lots of property south of Tyre – but he does not stay here often – he prefers to live the high life in Rome, partying and sucking up to those who gave him the land in the first place.

Before he left the last time, he gave me and two of his other slaves a task. He wanted us to make even more money for him, his greed is insatiable. He gave his favourite Herod five gold Talents. He went and bought corn fields from the poor farmers in the region. When he had virtually all of the market, he forced the price of bread up and made a killing. Rufus used his two gold bars to by up property on the coast, then began to charge extortionate rents – he soon made two more gold talents worth. This world seems so wrong; those with more seem to get richer, while the poor suffer, what little they have is taken away by the rich with taxes and debt.

I felt uncomfortable with all this – so I buried the damn talent of Gold in the ground. My wife pleaded with me to put it in the bank so it would at least gain interest for my master, but I told her – usury is a sin for us Jews. Moses set up these laws to protect us from money making banks and I will not go against my faith.

But now I hear that my master returns, and he will want a reckoning. This is a man who takes what is not his, who reaps what he has not sown. He kills his enemies. But even though I am afraid of him – my faith is strong. I will stand up to him, whatever the cost.