Pentecost 27
The Reverend Martha Frances
Year A, Pentecost 27, Proper 28
16 November 2008
Text: Matthew 25: 14-30
Other: I Thessalonians 5: 1-11; Psalm 123; Judges 4: 1-7
When the man in this parable goes on a journey, he leaves three of his servants with a rather large amount of money for them to manage while he is gone. Now we are used to hearing the word "talent" to mean things we are capable of doing well, but that definition of talent actually arose because of this parable. In the parable itself, a talent is equivalent to about 15 years' wages for a laborer. The servant who is entrusted with 5 talents has a real fortune, & even the one with one talent has—considering inflation—a lot more money than some of us have ever been able to accumulate at one time. The journeyer certainly had a lot of faith in these folks, for he gives them enough money to take care of themselves & also to make some profit for him by the time he returns. Of course, when the man goes on the journey, as far as we know, he gives them no instructions at all. They're on their own.
What would you do if you suddenly received a large amount of money? How about if you won the Lotto? Would the 10% tithe come off the top? Hmmm. We'll be glad to give you a pledge card in case that happens. A very wise person once said if we want to know what a person values, look at his or her checkbook & agenda. Today it would be one's on-line banking printout & Blackberry, but the whole point is that what we value is certainly revealed in how we spend our time & money. It's a good exercise to try for yourself sometime: what does your time & financial expenditure say about what you really value? Despite the pain of the economic downturn in our world at present, perhaps one positive outcome is for us to discern the difference in our necessities & our luxuries.
Jesus tells us the amount of the money given to each man was "according to his ability," which means the man going on the journey has a pretty good idea how each of the three will use the money. He expects some increase from them & rewards the two who make their money "work for them," as is said in financial circles, & lambasts the servant who buries his one talent by calling him wicked & lazy. So much for taking the safe road, right?
We at Hope have suffered financially in the past few years, & our vestry watches our expenditures pretty carefully. We do not have spendthrifts inappropriately throwing money away. As we continue our stewardship campaign this year, we know we can be better stewards of our financial resources, but we already run a pretty tight ship.
Also, many of you who pledge already give sacrificially, but I hope many of us can continue to stretch a little more so this parish can continue to minister effectively. Our pledge campaign for 2009 which will culminate in Ingathering Sunday next week has been pretty low-keyed, yet I can assure you that your willingness to pledge from your resources & then to pay your pledge is the only means we have for responsible planning & then fulfilling the work God has given Hope to do.
Also, if we are able to invite those near to us to join us at this church, or to become more active, & if we attract more of the neighborhood to our community, there will be more of us to contribute to our own spiritual growth as well as to contribute to & expand more ministries, becoming more vital in this community.
What else does this parable have to say to us today? What is the Gospel calling us to today?
As I've already indicated, it should certainly encourage us to be giving to the church & to other organizations in which you believe. When I was vicar of Lord of the Streets, where most of the parishioners were homeless, I was always moved when they made their 10% tithe. The Biblical tithe helps us remember that all that we receive is because of God's goodness, so our returning 10% of it to do God's work is a privilege, not a burden. It took me years to be willing to risk tithing, & now, I can tell you that somehow, I don't seem to have any less to live on than all the years I said I couldn't do it.
Secondly, the word "talent" in the way we usually use it—an ability we're particularly good at—is perhaps as important for us to give generously of as our money. Each of us needs to choose what of our time & talents we can give this year, & then we can invite others to join us in sharing the tasks but also the joys of giving. At this time, in this community, you & I have a wonderful opportunity to grow as disciples & to cooperate in the building of this community of which God is the architect.
The saddest part of the parable to me is that the man who buries the one talent & doesn't try to make something of it probably has many abilities that he doesn't ever learn about because he is too afraid to take a risk. He even admits that to the journeyer. Why doesn't he use the talent? He says, "I was afraid." I think that must be what makes the journeyer so angry. The man is operating out of fear. He isn't willing to take a chance on learning what he can do. God created us to grow & mature & become more like God. Then God sent Jesus to show us how to become more God-like, but sometimes we're too afraid. Jesus certainly didn't operate out of a spirit of fear, did he? He risked even to his death, but he risked always in a spirit of love. Surely, that's what the one-talent man was called to do, too. One lesson I learned this summer on my sabbatical is how freeing is the blessing given when there is a high tolerance for failure. If we're overly-afraid we will fail, it's hard to take risks, isn't it? As part of the Hope community, we can risk with the encouragement of folks who will stand beside us even if we fail & cheer with us when we succeed.
In addition, I think we need to remember that Jesus tells this parable to encourage people who will live beyond his death & resurrection. There's a certain urgency for them & us to remember that we're called to live as if the end were near. Of course, it was for Jesus. In the next chapter of Matthew, Jesus' passion begins & leads soon to his death. This teaching is for his closest disciples, & he is reminding them that what he is teaching them now, they must live out in the new creation, after his resurrection & ascension. He has an urgency about his parables which we see also in today's epistle passage. I'll close with a few comments about it.
Paul tells the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, just as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. Paul gives us some really vivid images, doesn't he? His advice? Keep awake & be sober. Belong to the day, not to the night. He then uses the image of dressing for whatever we might encounter when he tells us to wear the breastplate of faith & love & the helmet of the hope of salvation. Here we have the three virtues of the Christian life: faith, hope, & love. When we live into these virtues, allowing Christ to strengthen faith, hope & love within us, then we are able to live with Christ whether we're in this world or the next. We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but both Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians & Jesus in his teaching to his disciples encourage each of us to live today so that tomorrow will take care of itself.
Each of us has been given talents, & we have a community that can help us develop them to their fullest. Next Sunday, on the feast day of Christ the King, we will celebrate our church history with the Rev. Eric Law, offer gratitude for our blessings, & place our pledges right here on the altar. Please bring a covered dish & plan to celebrate with us.
Then Thursday week is Thanksgiving Day when we will focus on our blessings. We will celebrate with the other churches in this neighborhood next Sunday evening at St. Stephen's United Methodist at the community Thanksgiving Service. Then, the next Sunday, we will begin the preparation time of Advent which leads up to Christmas. Let us go into these special seasons alert to the talents that God has given us & let's stretch them, help them grow, so that we may live into an attitude of gratitude for Thanksgiving & look forward to Christ's being born anew in our lives & the life of this community.
Year A, Pentecost 27, Proper 28
16 November 2008
Text: Matthew 25: 14-30
Other: I Thessalonians 5: 1-11; Psalm 123; Judges 4: 1-7
When the man in this parable goes on a journey, he leaves three of his servants with a rather large amount of money for them to manage while he is gone. Now we are used to hearing the word "talent" to mean things we are capable of doing well, but that definition of talent actually arose because of this parable. In the parable itself, a talent is equivalent to about 15 years' wages for a laborer. The servant who is entrusted with 5 talents has a real fortune, & even the one with one talent has—considering inflation—a lot more money than some of us have ever been able to accumulate at one time. The journeyer certainly had a lot of faith in these folks, for he gives them enough money to take care of themselves & also to make some profit for him by the time he returns. Of course, when the man goes on the journey, as far as we know, he gives them no instructions at all. They're on their own.
What would you do if you suddenly received a large amount of money? How about if you won the Lotto? Would the 10% tithe come off the top? Hmmm. We'll be glad to give you a pledge card in case that happens. A very wise person once said if we want to know what a person values, look at his or her checkbook & agenda. Today it would be one's on-line banking printout & Blackberry, but the whole point is that what we value is certainly revealed in how we spend our time & money. It's a good exercise to try for yourself sometime: what does your time & financial expenditure say about what you really value? Despite the pain of the economic downturn in our world at present, perhaps one positive outcome is for us to discern the difference in our necessities & our luxuries.
Jesus tells us the amount of the money given to each man was "according to his ability," which means the man going on the journey has a pretty good idea how each of the three will use the money. He expects some increase from them & rewards the two who make their money "work for them," as is said in financial circles, & lambasts the servant who buries his one talent by calling him wicked & lazy. So much for taking the safe road, right?
We at Hope have suffered financially in the past few years, & our vestry watches our expenditures pretty carefully. We do not have spendthrifts inappropriately throwing money away. As we continue our stewardship campaign this year, we know we can be better stewards of our financial resources, but we already run a pretty tight ship.
Also, many of you who pledge already give sacrificially, but I hope many of us can continue to stretch a little more so this parish can continue to minister effectively. Our pledge campaign for 2009 which will culminate in Ingathering Sunday next week has been pretty low-keyed, yet I can assure you that your willingness to pledge from your resources & then to pay your pledge is the only means we have for responsible planning & then fulfilling the work God has given Hope to do.
Also, if we are able to invite those near to us to join us at this church, or to become more active, & if we attract more of the neighborhood to our community, there will be more of us to contribute to our own spiritual growth as well as to contribute to & expand more ministries, becoming more vital in this community.
What else does this parable have to say to us today? What is the Gospel calling us to today?
As I've already indicated, it should certainly encourage us to be giving to the church & to other organizations in which you believe. When I was vicar of Lord of the Streets, where most of the parishioners were homeless, I was always moved when they made their 10% tithe. The Biblical tithe helps us remember that all that we receive is because of God's goodness, so our returning 10% of it to do God's work is a privilege, not a burden. It took me years to be willing to risk tithing, & now, I can tell you that somehow, I don't seem to have any less to live on than all the years I said I couldn't do it.
Secondly, the word "talent" in the way we usually use it—an ability we're particularly good at—is perhaps as important for us to give generously of as our money. Each of us needs to choose what of our time & talents we can give this year, & then we can invite others to join us in sharing the tasks but also the joys of giving. At this time, in this community, you & I have a wonderful opportunity to grow as disciples & to cooperate in the building of this community of which God is the architect.
The saddest part of the parable to me is that the man who buries the one talent & doesn't try to make something of it probably has many abilities that he doesn't ever learn about because he is too afraid to take a risk. He even admits that to the journeyer. Why doesn't he use the talent? He says, "I was afraid." I think that must be what makes the journeyer so angry. The man is operating out of fear. He isn't willing to take a chance on learning what he can do. God created us to grow & mature & become more like God. Then God sent Jesus to show us how to become more God-like, but sometimes we're too afraid. Jesus certainly didn't operate out of a spirit of fear, did he? He risked even to his death, but he risked always in a spirit of love. Surely, that's what the one-talent man was called to do, too. One lesson I learned this summer on my sabbatical is how freeing is the blessing given when there is a high tolerance for failure. If we're overly-afraid we will fail, it's hard to take risks, isn't it? As part of the Hope community, we can risk with the encouragement of folks who will stand beside us even if we fail & cheer with us when we succeed.
In addition, I think we need to remember that Jesus tells this parable to encourage people who will live beyond his death & resurrection. There's a certain urgency for them & us to remember that we're called to live as if the end were near. Of course, it was for Jesus. In the next chapter of Matthew, Jesus' passion begins & leads soon to his death. This teaching is for his closest disciples, & he is reminding them that what he is teaching them now, they must live out in the new creation, after his resurrection & ascension. He has an urgency about his parables which we see also in today's epistle passage. I'll close with a few comments about it.
Paul tells the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, just as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. Paul gives us some really vivid images, doesn't he? His advice? Keep awake & be sober. Belong to the day, not to the night. He then uses the image of dressing for whatever we might encounter when he tells us to wear the breastplate of faith & love & the helmet of the hope of salvation. Here we have the three virtues of the Christian life: faith, hope, & love. When we live into these virtues, allowing Christ to strengthen faith, hope & love within us, then we are able to live with Christ whether we're in this world or the next. We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but both Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians & Jesus in his teaching to his disciples encourage each of us to live today so that tomorrow will take care of itself.
Each of us has been given talents, & we have a community that can help us develop them to their fullest. Next Sunday, on the feast day of Christ the King, we will celebrate our church history with the Rev. Eric Law, offer gratitude for our blessings, & place our pledges right here on the altar. Please bring a covered dish & plan to celebrate with us.
Then Thursday week is Thanksgiving Day when we will focus on our blessings. We will celebrate with the other churches in this neighborhood next Sunday evening at St. Stephen's United Methodist at the community Thanksgiving Service. Then, the next Sunday, we will begin the preparation time of Advent which leads up to Christmas. Let us go into these special seasons alert to the talents that God has given us & let's stretch them, help them grow, so that we may live into an attitude of gratitude for Thanksgiving & look forward to Christ's being born anew in our lives & the life of this community.
posted by
Hope Episcopal Church
at 9:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home