Ronald Albert Erdman Funeral Sermon – Matthew 25:14–30 August 22nd 2024 / Managing the Gift of Time

Ronald Albert Erdman Funeral Sermon / Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Thursday August 22nd 2024: Season of Pentecost / Matthew 25:14–30, “Managing the Gift of Time”

[Jesus said] “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Kay, Scott, Shelley good Christian friends and family of Ron Erdman the gift of time is a precious thing and while we heard about time in our second Old Testament reading this morning from King Solomon’s wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastes I’ll focus also on our Gospel Reading and Jesus’ “Parable of the Talents.”

In modern English when we hear the word ‘talent’ we first think of things like skating, or growing zucchinis, or fixing cars, or playing violin, drawing or painting or something like that, this is not what is being referred to in the Parable we just heard. The kind of talent Jesus is referring to is a large sum of money, a measurement of gold or silver or some other precious material: one talent was roughly seventy-five pounds, if this was a talent of Gold and you were given five talents of Gold in today’s money that would amount to ($1,527,245,907.29) over one billion five hundred and twenty seven million Canadian dollars worth of gold, this is no shall amount. And in the Parable the faithful servant doubled what had been given to him to manage. If we continued reading the Parable we’d find out what happened, but we do hear a little bit about it, we find that the one given two talents also doubled what was given to him, but the one man given one talent who hid the talent given to him burying it in the ground—doing nothing more with it—had nothing to show for the gift he was given when the giver of the gift entrusted to the man returned to settle his accounts. Now Ron had many talents in the conventional sense of the word ‘talent’ and you know those ‘talents’ well. But more than anything Ron was a good manager of whatever was put in his hands whether that was a little or a lot. So today we will focus in on the gift of time and how that gift is managed by those who receive the gift.

Ron was given the gift of 84 years of life, the gift of over 63 years of marriage and the gift of time with his family and friends and the gift of time as a member of the church here at Mount Olive (in his pre-planned notes for today he wanted people to know that he started attending Mount Olive in September of 1959, he wanted this to be an encouragement to you). Whether it was his time with family, or his years as a manager at Safeway, or with the Good Sam Club in retirement, or in his various activities at the Church over the years Ron was a good manager of the time he was given. And the one who gives the gift of time is the Lord; yes our days are in His hands.[1]

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die”[2]

Naturally when we hear a verse like this from a passage of Scripture like this on a day like today we are called to contemplate how well we have been doing with the time we’ve been given. And linked up with our Gospel reading we can then start to ask have I been a wise manager of the time the Lord has given me or have I squandered the gift? Have you buried it away doing nothing with it or have you made the most of what you’ve been given? Have you used your time for personal gain or for the good of others, have you used it in service of yourself or in service of others? From an early age Ron embraced the care of others, starting in his family when needs arose due to his father’s poor health, but his care extended far beyond his family, and his conscientious nature meant he was faithful not just to the employees he managed but to those who had entrusted their care into his hands and not just the employees but also the property, buildings and goods placed in his care whether that was his home, or a grocery store, or his church. This is why memorials in his name will go towards the roof repair fund here at the church and this is also why he was so diligent in the work of being an Elder in our congregation. You don’t care for people and places as Ron did in his life without appreciating these people and places as gifts given to you from the Lord placed in your hands. 

Today we spoke together the Apostles’ Creed and in the First Article of the Creed we were provided the opportunity to confess, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. In the Small Catechism the question is asked What does this mean? And the answer given is this “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.”[3] And we will also pray the Lord’s Prayer together later today in the service and in that same Catechism when teaching about our daily bread we hear how daily bread “includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbours, and the like.”[4] Now we don’t always have all of these things in our life at all times, but when we do have them, we are called to acknowledge that these things are a gift from God. I remember sitting by his hospital bed and hearing him say just how grateful and appreciative he was of his devout wife Kay, how appreciative he was of the gift of having his family and how much he loved them and you all. Today we thank the Lord for the time God has given us with Ron along the way. Dear ones, do not be deceived, [as Saint James teaches] every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [And] of His own will, [God the Father] brought us forth by the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”[5] We have seen this in Ron but Ron is a reflection of The Prefect Manager, The Perfect Servant, the One who was Servant of all[6] who lived His life without fault and died a completely innocent death in your place, Christ Jesus, our Lord.

As Saint Paul teaches, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly ... God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”[7] Yes, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And [Saint Paul says to the Christian] because you are [adopted children of the LORD in Christ through faith, through baptism], God has sent the Spirit of His Son into [your] hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So [in Christ Jesus] you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”[8] Remember what Jesus teaches in the Gospel of Saint John, “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”[9] Ron knew this, he trusted this and for this reason Ron had his priorities in life aligned in such a way that he could both faithfully manage what entrusted to his care and embrace a heart of gratitude and appreciation for all that the Lord placed there in his hands. 

‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Interestingly Jesus who says these words in His parable about the talents also teaches us elsewhere what to say when the work is over and the Master comes to settle His accounts with His servants, Jesus says we are to simply say, “when you have done all that you were commanded, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”[10] Jesus said this to His disciples; He says this to you today. The Christian is called to humility in all their work; to humbly go about what responsibilities they have been given “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”[11] And so King Solomon says, “I perceived that there is nothing better for [each of us] than to be joyful and to do good as long as [we] live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all [their] toil—this is God’s gift to man.”[12] Dear ones, what is the gift of time with nothing to do? By the grace of God, in Christ Jesus, Ron made the most of the time he was given because God in Christ Jesus made time for Ron. Jesus perfectly filled His time for Ron and for you and for me right up to His last breath upon the cross of His crucifixion, enduring the shame of it and the pain of it, in humble service to us all. And in His resurrection from the dead Jesus continues to make Himself available for us, to make time for Ron and for you and for me as He stands ready to hear our prayers, as He comes to wash away our sins in baptism, as He comes to feed us with His Word and with His Holy Supper. Ron believed, and trusted this and desired this not just for himself but for you as well.

The Parable of the Talents ends with the master saying, “take the talent from him [who had squandered the one talent burying it in the ground and doing nothing more with it] and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And [then the Master says] cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”[13] Ron has not gone to a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus has brought Him by His cross and passion into that place where Jesus promises to wipe away every tear from our eyes, to that place where death shall be no more, where there shall neither be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for these former things will have passed away in that place.[14]

So while today is “a time to weep ... [and] a time to mourn” such times will not continue forever, in Christ Jesus we are also promised “a time to laugh ... and a time to dance;”[15] dear ones make the best of the time you’ve been given, it is a truly precious gift. Be grateful for each day, acknowledging that each day is a gift from the Lord. With your faith in the Lord you will gain wisdom as to the nature of the gift and you like Ron will have opportunity to manage that gift well according to your abilities. “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.”[16] Yes, “the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children,”[17] Amen.    

Let us pray:

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Psalm 31:15a
[2] Ecclesiastes 3:1–2a
[3] First Article of the Apostles’ Creed and Explanation, Luther’s Small Catechism, Concordia Publishing House 2017, Page 16.
[4] Forth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer and Explanation, Luther’s Small Catechism, Concordia Publishing House 2017, Page 21.
[5] James 1:16–18
[6] Mark 9:35
[7] Romans 5:6, 8
[8] Galatians 4:4–7
[9] John 8:35–36
[10] Luke 17:10
[11] Ephesians 5:16
[12] Ecclesiastes 3:12–13
[13] Matthew 25:28–30
[14] Revelation 21:4
[15] Ecclesiastes 3:4
[16] Henry Van Dyke (1871-1933) Oxford Treasury of Sayings & Quotations, Oxford University Press 2011, Page 462.
[17] Psalm 103:17

Photo Credit: Main photo provided by the family and Mount Olive Lutheran Church.