RISK
July 11, 2024
It will occasionally happen that while I’m grilling something outside late on a Saturday afternoon, Kathy and I will watch one of the three Triple Crown horse races. If either the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, or the Belmont Stakes coincide with my grilling, we’ll watch – because who doesn’t like watching a good horse race?
Now, don’t worry. I’ve never lost any money on horseracing. I don’t know the first thing about handicapping, Tri- or Super-fectas, or even Daily Doubles.
But I’m not writing this to get us thinking about the problem gambling is, society-wide, or the damage done by gambling to some people, or the harm it causes to many families. (That could certainly be a helpful discussion…)
I’m writing because I’m thinking about risk. And, just as gambling on horses is inherently risky, so the life of faith is inherently risky.
Here’s my question: Is playing the horses or the Texas Lottery foolish or wrong or to be avoided because of the nature of the risk involved, or because of the nature of the reward involved?
Surprisingly, I believe that Jesus sheds light on this in one of His parables. We usually refer to this parable as “The Parable of the Minas.” Today I’m going to call it “The Parable of the Good Gamblers.” (Luke 19:11-27)
Here’s the story: A wealthy man left to go on a journey. As he left, he put his wealth in the care of his slaves. When he returned, he would evaluate how his slaves performed as asset managers while he was away.
He learned that two of his slaves got tremendous bang for his bucks in his absence.
(The currency is in “minas.” One mina was extremely valuable, worth roughly $15,000 in today’s dollars.)
The first one took the one mina with which he had been entrusted and got a 1000% return on investment. Maybe he put it all on Fly-by-Night to come in first in the fifth at Pimlico. However he did it, one mina became ten. You just don’t get that kind of Return on Investment without taking some risk.
The second slave did really well, too. He got a 500% ROI. One mina turned into five. Again, that is impressive investing. So maybe he got his broker to buy shares of United-Off-the-Wall.
But the third slave in this parable played it safe. He knew that his wealthy benefactor was a hard man. Fearing that he might lose it all at the roulette table, he squirreled his mina away in his wall safe at home.
When Jesus got to the punchline of this story, we might expect Him to say, “The moral of the story is, play it safe.” But, instead, we hear, “Go for broke!” The moral of the story seems to be that God loves risk-takers.
As we spend time in Hebrews 11 over these weeks (even memorizing Hebrews 11:6!), we’re thinking a lot about faith.
As we worship together this Sunday, we’ll be looking a bit at the life of the patriarch Abraham. His whole life shows that faith = risk. The great Hall of Fame of Faith – Hebrews 11 – recalls a bunch of men and women who gambled / risked everything on God’s promises.
Notice that the third slave in Jesus’ parable was rebuked because he gave the wealthy man his money back.
Jesus has entrusted gifts and abilities and talents and passions to each of us. The truth is, He doesn’t want those resources back.
He wants them invested – He wants us to put them “at risk” – for others for their eternal benefit. Jesus wants you and me to be wise investors of all the resources He has given us by our sacrifice, love, service, generosity, and witness.
Jesus teaches that living faith-fully IS living risk-fully. God is certainly not against risky living. He simply wants us to risk it all on Him.
Yours…His,
Dave