Book of Faith - Matthew 25:14-30 - The Parable of the Talents

Our intention on Wednesday was to continue to the Gospel of Luke, but we couldn't get past the gospel reading on Sunday.  The reading was the Parable of the Talents from the Gospel of Matthew.  What are we to make of the master who is harsh and reaps where he does not sow?  Can we blame the third servant who hides his talent?  Is the master supposed to represent God?

The discussion was exciting and rich.  The parables do not come across as analogies where one person or thing clearly represents another, in this case, the master representing God.  The parables invite us into a story where we discover not just one truth, but many.  Each time we enter the story, there are new possibilities.  The parables open us up to allow God to speak through the Holy Spirit.  

Certainly, the parable holds a word of judgment, but is it an ultimate judgment?  The third servant is cast out into the darkness, but, as we discussed the last time, does that mean that the judgment in permanent?  This parable, during the last week of Jesus, is one of many parables and statements of judgment, but all of them are tempered because they occur this side of the cross.  In them I confront the hard truths of my life, but then comes God's response of the cross.  I am guilty, but I am also forgiven.  Such is the wonder of God's grace.

The man who received the one talent and buried it was aware of the expectations of the master.  The servant was not given a small sum of money.  One talent represented two years of wages.  He was entrusted with a great deal of money and knew what he was supposed to do.  He could have simply put the money in the bank.  It's curious that he throws the guilt back on the master rather than owning his own failings.  It has the same feel as a child accusing a parent of being mean when they don't do their homework.  

This brought the discussion to verse 29 where it seems as though the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  Is this a justification for the prosperity gospel?  Again, the parable invites us to explore.  What if the point is that when we share the talents we have been given, the world opens up to us in wondrous ways and when we bury those talents, the world closes in on us?  How many people do we know whose world has grown smaller when they bury their talents?  How many churches have literally gotten smaller when they have circled the wagons, guarded what they have, and tried to simply survive?

Going in another direction, what if the verse is about perspective?  How do we view what we have been given?  Do we see it as abundance or scarcity?  We live in a wealthy community, yet we can hear people speak of their scarcity.  We can find ourselves doing the same thing.  "I do not have what some other people have..."  How we view what has been given makes all the difference in the world.  If we believe we have been blessed abundantly, we will live abundant lives.  If we believe we live with scarcity, we will live lives of scarcity.  The world would have us focus on our scarcity.  The Gospel would have us focus on our abundance.

At the end of the class, we marveled at all the roads we traveled during the discussion.  The parables do not lead to one answer only.  We are meant to explore with others all the possibilities.  We are meant to ask questions, struggle, and debate.  We are meant to be open to hearing God's voice.  And the wonder and promise is that the Holy Spirit is in our midst and we are blessed each and every time.  

Peace,
Pastor Summer    

Book of Faith - Luke 10:21-23 - Keeping the Light On

This week, the comment at the end of our Book of Faith discussion was that we only covered three verses.  However, the consensus was that our conversation was worth slowing down.  In reading this passage, what struck the group was that these three verses don't sound like Luke, they sound like John.  "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."  A layer of interpretation seems to have been added.  Was this addition the original words of Jesus or did the interpretation come later in the life of the early church? 

Jesus speaks of things hidden from the wise and intelligent.  There were certainly those individuals who took those words and ran with them in the early church.  People began to speak of secret knowledge given only to those in the inner circle.  Those people were called Gnostics and the church viewed them as going too far down the road suggested by Jesus' words.  We always seem to get into trouble when we think we have figured God or Jesus out.  If the Eastern Church has taught us anything, it is to celebrate the wonder and mystery of God.  Rather than saying Jesus has secret knowledge that is passed on to his disciples, say that the Gospel is so surprising, so unexpected, so wondrous, that even the smartest people will not be able to understand or accept it.  In fact, even the disciples who knew Jesus, were taught by Jesus, traveled with Jesus, in the end, didn't understand.  And they, in the language of the passage, had the opportunity to see and hear what prophets and kings would have loved to see and hear.  In the end, their inside knowledge could not save them.  In the end, only the cross could save.  Secret knowledge does not open the gates of the Kingdom for us, only Christ. 

These observatons led to a discussion about being chosen, another wonder and mystery of God.  The logical step is to say that if God ultimately chooses some, then God ultimately rejects others.  Again, our temptation is to create a logical system.  Luther rejected a systematic approach.  For Luther, God always chooses us through grace.  If people stand outside the Kingdom, that is their action, not God's.  Luther's understanding is not wholly logical, but Luther argued it was the truth.  Again, the Eastern Church would declare that grace is a holy mystery to be embraced and celebrated rather than logically understood. 

This conversation led us back to the passage in Matthew where the one individual is tossed out to the marriage banquet because he is not wearing a wedding garment.  He chose not to wear a garment and is therefore responsible for being on the outside, but the passage does not say that he needs to remain outside forever.  The doors still stand open to him.  The invitation is still given.  The light remains on for him to return.  This is the note of God's grace. 

If the "light always stays on" with God, then we talked as a group about the ultimate meaning of the Kingdom of God.  Does the light stay on after death?  C.S. Lewis suggests such an idea in the Great Divorce.  Hell is a spreading metropolis, with everyone trying to get as far away from each other as they can.  Eventually, some people grow tired of Hell.  In the center of the city is a bus station and every day there is a bus to Heaven.  Every day there are people who make the trip (the light stays on) and every day there are people who get back on the bus, once they've been to heaven, and return to Hell.  C.S. Lewis' book is worth reading.  There is something powerful about the image of a gracious God who always keeping the light on, the door open.    

For those following this blog, the next one will be in two weeks.  At that time, we'll pick up where we left off.  Keep the conversation going.  Keep asking questions.  And keep reading the Bible.

Peace,
Pastor Summer