This time of year, Kingdom Season, includes a lot of Sunday readings on the End of Days, Judgement Day, the Coming of the Lord...
Too often these texts have been abused to scare people, swindle them out of their money and/or preserve an unfair social, political and economic status quo.
Here's my take on the Parable of the Talents (in conjunction with the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, and the judgement of the nations -Matthew 25).
Sermon-for the Service on the 2nd Sunday before Advent
(@St John’s, Gent, 16th November 2014)
[Zeph. 1:7, 12-18; I Thess. 5:1-11; Mt. 25:14-30]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen (Rom. 1:7 et.al.)
Have you ever been caught off guard? Must have! You know those instances: you knew something was coming and still you were caught by surprise. An April Fool’s prank, or a scene in a thriller or a scary movie (we all know not to go upstairs in the dark when we’re home alone!). Or when you had to keep vigil and fell asleep. When you were waiting and waiting and waiting and then all of a sudden things happened and you were still startled and still unprepared. In many cases you may even have been disappointed, because you were expecting something totally different.
Our texts of today fit into that pattern, they fit into the season of the Church called Kingdom Season. Next week is Christ the King, sometimes also referred to as Eternity Sunday. The whole season is about remembering and reminders, about warnings and about what will happen someday when the Lord will return (just as we profess in the Creed and remember during the Sacrament of the Altar). Last week we read about the Groom coming to the Bridesmaids, this week it’s all about money, and next week we’ll be reading about the judgement of the nations.
They’re scary texts, difficult texts, confusing also. And in some churches they’ve been used and abused to really put people on edge, to literally put the fear of God into people, so that they will behave, will work hard, even pay a lot of money, just to be part of those elect that will be deemed worthy when that day comes. Fire and brimstone! (nothing like it, to heat things up in a cold church) Some churches even profit from predicting when that day will come (they obviously skipped the part about ‘like a thief in the night’).
BUT, however, are these really negative, scaremongering texts? Are these texts really just about being good and earning your ticket into heaven when finally that time will come? Really, is that what Jesus the Lamb, Jesus our Friend was talking about in a parable? Aren’t parables supposed to be upbeat and positive and inspiring?
How about we read our texts today not as blueprints for the future, but exhortations, reminders, inspirations for today!
Lets go over the Epistle for example and have a look at the words used:
Light, day, faith, love, hope, salvation, to live, to encourage, to build up.
Now that’s a blueprint, a roadmap of how God’s light through faith saves His people to a life eternal, which is a life they are called to share with others.
It’s not because we can’t work our way into eternity, that we aren’t called to action in the here and now. Because if life is eternal, then that includes the here and now. And if we’re made free then we’re free to serve.
The real danger of focusing all our attention just on the hereafter is that we’re sleepwalking; we’re sort of awake, but not really, we’re sort of active but still unawares of what’s going on around us, unawares of those around us who need our love and support and care. If the call to ‘be awake’ means anything, it means being awake now and not just for ourselves and our own future trip to paradise! The problem with focussing solely on Judgement Day is that it neglects the time and place we’re in now, not in some future that belongs to the Lord and is not our place to speculate about (which quite frankly is dangerous, pointless and superstitious).
And our parable points that out beautifully.
When the master in our parable gave his servants those talents, he entrusted them with a vast amount of money.
One talent, just one, was worth 36 kg of silver, and it would take a simple labourer between 15 to 20 years to earn that amount. Imagine that kind a wealth, that kind of trust!
And what did the third servant do with it? He hid it away, out of sight, afraid to invest, afraid to take a risk, afraid of a master, who by all accounts trusted and promoted him. The third servant didn’t have to earn the trust and charity of his master, he had it, and then when the master came back after a long time, the slave gave the talent back, unchanged, unaffected, unused.
And you can just imagine that servant standing before his master, trembling, defending himself: “But I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“No”, the master would reply, “you haven’t done anything wrong... you haven’t done anything at all!” (you lazy git! –if the master’s happens to be English).
God doesn’t mind us taking risks, using our freely given talents and going out on a limb for our neighbour. God can handle mistakes and apologies, but He –like the master in the parable- must get so frustrated with complacency and inertia. Complacency and laziness and fear are not Christian responses to God’s gifts to us!
Are we going to hide our gifts and talents away, because we think of God as a strict judgemental dictator? Or are we going to go for the usual excuses: ‘I’m busy’, ‘I’m weak’, ‘I’m tired’, ‘I’m so righteous-I’ll be taken up into Heaven for sure-and to hell with all the rest!’?
Are we going to walk on religious eggshells, or trust in a God who knows that trial and error are part of what makes us human, and for whom ‘being awake’ is more than just being part of the elect few and devout?
In a great many places there’s a lot of noise about the coming of the Lord, about Judgement Day, who’s in and who’s out. Last week the prophet Amos warned us about that noise, and this week Zephaniah tells us to shut up, urges us to be silent and let God be God, and do what God will do in God’s own time, not ours!
So when the Lord then comes, how will He find us?
Cowering behind closed church doors? Speculating about that day and hour? Pious and self-righteous in our little ivory tower waiting, expecting to be proved right?
Or taking a risk, awake and active, grabbing hold of that trust graciously bestowed and doing something with it, serving our neighbour.
When the Lord comes, will He find us sleepwalking, caught off guard, hiding His gifts from the world, burying our own talents?
Or will He find us busy doing His work.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen (Phil. 4:7)