“I
wonder where you are in the story”
That's
always my favourite question whenever I sit down to prepare a sermon.
Sometimes, with a passage we know as well as this one, it can help us
to see past the layers of familiarity and find something new in even
the most familiar text.
It certainly helped me this time round, when
I found myself relating very definitely to the over-cautious slave –
the one who was so fearful of his domineering master that he buried his talent in the
ground...I know myself well enough to suspect that if I had a boss
like his, I'd be so scared of doing the wrong thing that I'd hesitate
to do anything at all - which, when you look at the final verse we've
heard, is a rather terrifying prospect.
But
then, it seems to me that there's an awful lot of fear in this
story...even before we get to the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Not surprising, with a boss like that around.
And
yet, we've just agreed “This is the gospel of the Lord”.
Good
news, apparently.
Really?
I
guess the problem comes if we try to read this as an allegory, and
not a parable. Allegories have a consistent one to one equation –
for example, the lion, Aslan, is ALWAYS the Christ figure in C S
Lewis's Narnia books.
Parables are quite different...stories designed
to help us to think about the big questions and concepts of faith in
ways that are firmly rooted in everyday reality...but stories that
demand that we work at them, without an easy code to follow.
So,
- how does this parable fit in with our understanding of God?
Surely he can't
be anything LIKE the master we hear about in the story..the greedy, vindictive and abusive character who is so quick to condemn.
Ah
– yes – that's the point.
It's a PARABLE not an allegory,
remember!
We are NOT expected to make that equation of God and
master.
How could we?
There's nothing of God in this description of
an
absentee landlord who doesn't do any work himself, but lives off of
the labour of his slaves, looking for maximum profit no matter what
the cost...
Surely
we've learned enough about God's infinite mercy to recognise this.
Rather than reaping where he does not sow and gathering where he did
not scatter, he is recklessly generous in pouring his resources out,
regardless of our tendency to ignore them.
In fact, it would be hard
to imagine anyone less like the God we meet in Christ than the master
in this parable.
So
what is this story about, then? If it's not about appeasing a
tyrannical Lord, nor about using the abilities God gave us (these talents are money - not a gift for singing or making cakes)..?
I
think the nub of it all lies in verse 29: "to all who have, more
will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken away.” - or in other words "the rich get rich
and the destitute lose everything."
Ouch.
Now,
that really IS frightening – not least because it's more than a wee
bit familiar, if we dare to enage with the social commentators at
work today. It can seem to be very close to the principle our society
is working on...and it couldn't be less like the kingdom of God.
So
– if piling on the profits come what may is NOT a sign of the
kingdom, what should we be aiming for. As so often, it's frustrating
to find ourselves with a passage isolated from its context. May I
invite you, when you get home, to spend a few moments reading what
comes next in Matthew's gospel – the prophesy of the sheep and the
goats, where
we learn
that when
the Son of Man comes, judgement will not be given on the basis of how
much money we made, nor for that matter on how religious we were but
rather on whether we cared for the least of our sisters and brothers
in the human family.
We serve Jesus himself to the extent that we
feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned...and we
neglect Jesus himself to the extent that we don't.
So
– let's try our parable again. It's nothing to do with making the
most of your gifts, whether lavish or limited...Instead it's about
looking hard at a world in which the rich get rich and the poor get
poorer...because that world is NOTHING like God's kingdom. The world
in which greedy, exploitative bosses impose a reign of terror on
their slaves is not the one we are promised. That world is passing
away even now, and Jesus will bring his work to completion; God's
kingdom will come and God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Do
you believe that? And if so, do you have the courage to live as if
that world is already here....to challenge the demands of those who
would try to ensalve us to worldy standards by telling us that our
security lies in amassing resources for ourselves no matter what?
It's
not easy...It's genuinely counter-cultural...but we're kingdom
people, and that's how we must live.
And
as we inch toward Advent, let's look for the signs that Jesus was
right, that the Spirit is living and moving, active in the world.
This week we have been celebrating 25 years since the Berlin Wall
came down. That was quite a moment! People were dancing in the streets and even on the Wall itself as that symbol of division was destroyed; they went home clutching graffiti-covered
chips as souvenirs of an amazing event. It was the fulfilment of a dream
and a hope, a moment when history changed gear, the moment of a
lifetime, even. In 8 days time, Ali and I are going with a
group to explore how life in Berlin since has lived up to that high point, to hear at first hand the stories of reconciliation
and hope that have flourished there amid the wreckage of the old
order. Tremendous!But, you know, I believe that something even bigger and
better is on its way –
and we need to look out for it.
We're looking for the coming of the Kingdom, remember.
So,
where are you in the story?
And where would you like to be?
I'm
choosing to step out of it altogether.
Perhaps
you'd care to join me and challenge the world that we see here. Let's
not be the fearful slave, but dare to take a kingdom risk...the risk
of living by kingdom values here and now, as we wait for its dawning
reality.
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