A sermon in drama

Narrator: For the next few minutes imagine that this sanctuary is a courtroom, and we are met to witness the trial of the one-talent servant. Usual courtroom rules and procedures have been altered and, in some cases, suspended altogether. Still, our aim is to hear the truth.

We have heard the familiar story of the one-talent servant in the reading of today’s Gospel. It is a parable of the coming of God’s Kingdom, a parable of God’s judgment upon his servants, a parable about the nature of discipleship, of opportunity seized and lost.

The defendant is the one-talent servant who is accused of unfaithfulness in his position of steward or trustee of his master’s resources. Because there is only one Judge capable of rendering a just decision in this matter, there will be no…