Gospel text for Sunday 15 November 2020

 Matthew 25:14-30        Jesus said, “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 

After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 

Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Reflection        There was lots of head scratching and grimacing the first time a group of folks read through this text about the man who entrusted his property to three  slaves while he was on a journey.  A lot jumps off the page; slaves, investing, trading, fear of the harsh master, the very idea that “… to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” Folks were not happy and wondered,  “where is compassion or justice in this?” 

Reading the parable again we noticed the slaves who were given five and two talents respectively must have also known the master was a harsh man, still, they took the risk to invest their talents. But the third slave who had only one talent is paralyzed by fear of losing the little he has. Rather than taking a risk and using his talent, he hides it. What does this have to say about the nature of risk aversion and how we humans respond to uncertainty? 

None of the three slaves know when the master will return nor what will be the outcome if they invest their talents. Even though they were all exposed to this uncertainty, the first two slaves take the risk and invest all that they were given. The result; not only do they double their talents, but their benefactor welcomes them to “enter into the joy of their master.” By contrast, the risk averse third slave tries to lower the uncertainty of his situation by at least not losing what he already has (rather like putting our money under a mattress). This time the master’s response is disturbing, taking away is single talent. Is the slave not simply being prudent? It seems the master really is a harsh and unreasonable man.

Grumbling and dissatisfied, we read the text for a third time. Someone notes, the first and second slaves must have recognized the gifts that they were given and responded in kind by giving everything back to the master. Even though the master had no idea how much the two slaves gained while he was away, they held nothing back for themselves.” And the light bulbs began going off in the minds and hearts of the participants. By giving everything to the master, the two slaves “entered into the masters joy,” what I would call, the unimpeded flow of generosity. 

This teaching tale begins with the master’s generosity. The first two slaves respond openhandedly. They fully receive, invest and return the gift. But the third slave fails to recognize the gift of the talent freely given to him and so he clings to the little he has, burying the talent and effectively stopping the flow of generosity. Instead of being welcomed into the masters joy the third slave experiences the natural consequence of failing to trust the master’s generosity and essentially casts himself into “the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The master knows all about generosity as he freely admits being accustomed to “reaping where (he) did not sow, and gathering where (he) did not scatter seed…” In other words, he knows he does not depend upon himself for his prosperity, or profit. It is pure gift. So he opens his hand and generously continues the flow of wealth to the slaves. 

The question before us is this. Do we choose to trust that the generosity extended to us will continue through us or do we cling to the little we have and impede the God given flow of generosity?

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Hebrew Testament Text for Sunday 3 June 2018

Bishop Michael Curry, center, leads an interfaith march during a Reclaiming Jesus event in Washington on May 24, 2018. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

 1 Samuel 3:1-20         Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”

Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.” Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.”

As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

Reflection      This is the story of God and God’s people. It is a story of call and response, and in order to respond we must first be listening which is why Eli counsels Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if (the Lord) calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ But listening is not enough. Like Samuel we must also transfer alliance from our worldly teachers and authorities to the presence of God with us, even when it means speaking hard truths out loud, even to our teachers and authorities as did Samuel with Eli.

Recently 1.9 billion people were blessed to listen to the call of a present day prophet, the Episcopal Church’s own Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who preached at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in what one news source described as “a moment of divine intervention.” 

The progressive Christian leader Jim Wallis wrote, “God used a royal wedding to have the gospel preached probably to the largest audience at one time.” Then speaking about his commitment to join with faith leaders to promote the Reclaiming Jesus Movement Bishop Curry explained, “My hope and prayer is that what we’re really doing is helping the average Christian person of faith find their voice. We’re trying to find a way to bring people together and the values that we share is our starting place for doing that. We don’t tell people how to vote,” Curry said. “We don’t tell people exactly what policies they must stand for. We identify what are the values that will guide you in your life. But the rest? That’s between you and God.”

What are those values? As the voice of today’s prophet Curry preaches,“Love the neighbor you like and the neighbor you don’t like. Love the neighbor you agree with and the neighbor you don’t agree with. Love your Democrat neighbor, your Republican neighbor, your black neighbor, your white neighbor, your Anglo neighbor, your Latino neighbor and your LGBTQ neighbor. Love your neighbor! That’s why we’re here!”*

He concludes, “In these incredibly polarizing and frankly demoralizing times we need a moral message that’s anchored in faith not ideology and politics.” Essentially Curry is counseling us to transfer our alliance from the voices of politicians, ideologues and the media to the interior voice of the Word God with us, a Word we hear from trustworthy prophets. 

Like Samuel I believe our Presiding Bishop is a trustworthy prophet and I pray that “none of his words will fall to the ground.” God is not silent, remote or uninterested even though we may look at our lives or the world in which we live and want to shout, “O God, where are you in this? “ It is time for us to stop listening to media campaigns and political posturing and transfer our alliance to the Word God with us and love our neighbors, especially the ones that are most difficult for us to love. 

When we lay down our politics and personal predilections to embody the values proclaimed by our prophets, we too will be trustworthy. 

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* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/bishop-michael-curry-reclaiming-jesus-trump accessed 31 May 2018.

Gospel text for Sunday 19 February 2017

Matthew 5:38-48        Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 Reflection         Jesus is turning up the heat, inviting us to be honest, ethical and trustworthy -  as he is. Those words, honest, ethical and trustworthy, sound good but when we put them on they may itch, set us apart from the ways of the world. 

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” “The best defense is a good offense.” “Drastic times call for drastic measures.” “God helps those who help themselves.” Do we not appear inept, inadequate or just plain foolish in the eyes of the world when we choose instead to “Turn the other cheek?” “Refuse to mount a retaliatory attack?” “Put our trust in God rather than ourselves?”

Then we remember, like Jesus we are baptized. By our baptism we make a promise to God and God’s people, to “persevere in resisting evil,” to “proclaim by word and example the Good News” that God is with and for all people, to “love our neighbors as ourselves,” to “strive for justice and peace,” and “respect the dignity of every human being.” Essentially we are promising to be honest, ethical and trustworthy.

By our baptism we die to our ‘world defined’ selves and are born into our ‘God defined’ selves. When the priest anoints our forehead saying, “You are marked as Christ’s own forever,” she is saying, “you are distinguished, you are not like the rest of the world that proclaims, “The man who dies with the most toys wins,” “The only things you can count on are death and taxes.”

By our baptism and anointing we are born as people freed from the shackles of social, political and religious conditions that pit us against one another. By our baptism and anointing we are born as people freed to express our deepest truest self, our inherent goodness. By our baptism and anointing we are freed to love our neighbors, our enemies and those who persecute us. By our baptism and anointing we promise to be honest, ethical and trustworthy, with God's help. 

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