Now that's different!

Today’s parable from Matthew 25, next in the series of parables,

            has been viewed as a parable about stewardship.

 

We know the story, but do we really know it.

 

This is one of these parables that we have heard a hundred times,

            one that we usually skim the surface of 

                        and come to a quick moral for the story: 

                                    “Don’t bury your talents.”

And as usual this keeps us from noticing spiritual truth 

                                                                                                            hidden in plain sight.

 

Part of the reason why we do this is because our image of Jesus,

                        the one telling the parable,

            is that he is a nice guy, loving and good,

and therefore must be telling us spiritually nice stories, holy stories,

                                    for illustrating some good action that we should do.

 

But as we look at these parables,

            we see that they always contain some twist that is unexpected,

                        something not quite right, 

                        and often downright outrageous,

which is meant to get our attention and jar our moral sensibilities.

 

Today’s parable gives us an instance 

            in which the usual cultural and religious orientation 

                        gets flipped over, 

and Jesus, 

              the spiritual Teacher who consorted with tax collectors and sinners, 

            uses a morally corrupt story to deliver a vital spiritual message.

 

I think even more at the roots of the parable is the matter of faith.

The parable is about faith.

 

There was a big risk taken with the 5 talents and the 2 talents.

 

One talent equals 6,000 denarii, and one denarius is a day’s wage , 

            so 6,000 is 20 years’ worth of income for the average worker.

Each talent as a coin would be large and heavy.

 

In this story 

            first, the master, while praising and rewarding risky business,

                        certainly comes across as greedy and avaricious,

and second, he even wants the slave to whom he gave the one talent 

            to practice usury, which is forbidden by Torah.

You weren’t supposed to charge interest with your own people,

            although it was permitted with foreigners,

                        those outside the exclusive covenant community 

                                                                                                of the Hebrew people.

So this story would have shocked those listening to Jesus,

            and so caught their attention.

 

Well, the shock value of the story today 

            might not be the moral corruption,

                                                                        as much as the high risk. 

            

There was a big risk taken with the 5 talents and the 2 talents

            that would be worth millions and millions of dollars today.

Each of those two slaves could be seen as both reckless 

            and, fortunately for them, very lucky with their master’s property  

                                    not to have lost it all on the stock market.

 

The third slave or servant was the most realistic and prudent, 

                                                                                    you could say.

He knew the risks of investment, 

money schemes, 

how the stock market could go.

            He also didn’t want to exploit others through usury. 

So he didn’t make an exploitative investment with the money lenders,

            and instead kept the expensive coin safe from theft

                        by burying it in a hidden place.

 

But instead, in the story the outrageous and greedy master

rewards the two slaves who have the Midas touch, 

and the morally conscious slave is the one who gets tossed outside, 

excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

But the parable is not about moral scruples 

or successful financial investments, 

            It’s not about that but about faith.

 

Faith is taking the risk in the face of conventional wisdom,

            conventional wisdom,

because faith is trusting not the perspective of the world, 

but a new perspective on life that comes through the Spirit, 

            a new wisdom. 

The ones who risked the most get rewarded.

But, notice this, get rewarded with what?  

         Remember, they were slaves; that money belonged to their master.

So they were rewarded with more responsibility, 

                  more challenge for greater risk, 

that is, greater faith.

That’s the way it is living in the Kingdom of God.

         We get greater challenge to our faith.

 

So many of the Kingdom of Heaven parables that Jesus told

         were about growth and expansion

                  from something relatively small 

                           like a mustard seed or a handful of leaven

                  to something bigger than expected

                           like the seed sown on good soil 

                           that produced a hundredfold.

 

So how to go about exercising faith – how do you do that?

         Practice.         

And a good way to practice 

         is to dare to speak about the focus of our faith.

 

What is the focus of our faith?         The One we have faith in – Jesus

The great Archbishop of Canterbury of the last century, William Temple,

         made probabl the most quoted statement:

we exist as a Church for the sake of those outside the Church,

         to share the Gospel of reconciling, healing and transforming love.

Our purpose, according to this parable,

          is to become useful, productive disciples

                  whose lives produce the fruit of such qualities of life 

         that we most desire: love, joy, peace; 

         qualities that attract others to faith.

 

How do we speak about our faith in Jesus?

Look at the cross – this cross here.

What do we notice about it?

 

It’s way up above the normal line of vision

 

What do you notice about this cross?                  It is not a crucifix.

         The figure of Jesus is dressed in Eucharistic vestments.

It is not the body of a man who was being executed, 

                                                      being purposely put to death.

We don’t really want to look at that – that’s too unsettling, disturbing.

 

But so important, especially now.

Because Jesus is the One, 

                  who in the tradition of the great Spiritual Masters

         was taking on suffering for the sake of others.

Only in this case Jesus went beyond his usual healing of individuals,

                  releasing them from suffering, liberating them.

Now he did what no spiritual master had done before 

                                                                        or needed to do since.

He took it all, all the suffering, of everyone, for all time.

He took it all until there was nothing left of it, nothing left of death

         and he broke through to Life from the Source,

                           what we call Resurrection Life

                  so that no one else need go through death.

What incredible love this expresses!

 

Can you trust that?  Can you hope in that?  Can you desire that?

 

Back to the parable:

So the master takes back the single talent and hands it over 

         to the one who made the biggest gains with his investment.

Smart move.  Use that servant to make even bigger profits.

 

“For to all those who have, more will be given, … 

but from those who have nothing, 

even what they have will be taken away.”

Isn’t that true!          It’s the way of the world.

         And then the slave 

         that was worthless to him and his investment enterprises

                  he has him tossed out  --  into outer darkness.

 

It is not by accident 

that the next verses that follow in this 25^th chapter of Matthew

         is the Kingdom of Heaven parable in which Jesus says,

                  “Inasmuch as you did this unto the least of these, 

                  you have done it unto me.”

And you will hear that parable in full next Sunday.

 

Slave #3 in today’s parable doesn’t just get fired;

         he gets disposed of.

Now he is homeless, hungry, jobless and without resources,

                  outside the protection of the economy of his culture.

 

Just the sort of person that Jesus identifies with.

         Just the sort of person Jesus ministers to.

         Just the sort of person that fits the description of the Beatitudes.

 

Slave as he was, he would not copy his master’s economic strategies.

This slave, fearful as he was about his owner, 

         stood up to him and would not play his game – 

                  and suffered for it.

 

 

On the night before he was betrayed our Lord Jesus took bread,

         and when he had given thanks, 

         he broke it and gave it to his disciples,

         and said,

                  “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Likewise after supper he took the cup 

         and gave it to his disciples, and said,

                  “This is my blood of the new covenant.  

                  I will not drink again of this cup 

                  until I drink it at the banquet in my Father’s kingdom.”

 

And then they went out into the darkness -- to Gethsemane

         where they couldn’t even keep watch, couldn’t stay awake,

                  while Jesus had his last few minutes left 

                           in which he could pray and prepare himself 

for being cast out into outer darkness – 

for betrayal

for arrest and contrived trial and physical torture and execution.

 

Because he had so infuriated 

                           the civil leadership and religious leadership,

         that they feared a loss of control that would bring to an end

                  the stability, such as it was, 

         of their economic, political and religious establishments.

 

But the love that is behind the blood, 

                                    behind this fullest of self offering,

         is inescapably embracing.

 

This parable about the talents 

         is a story designed to provoke awareness of spiritual dereliction.  

 

The way this world works, 

         the world in which we live and have jobs 

         and make investments for retirement,

places value on the bottom line of the budget report.

 

When does Jesus get to be recognized as the bottom line?

                           the bottom line in our lives? 

Prayer Flags and All Saints

In the Episcopal Church, 

the denomination I grew up in and was formed by,

         we have thought that setting aside a special day to celebrate

                  ALL the Saints 

         was so important that, if All Saints Day, November 1, 

         didn’t come on a Sunday

then we would move that celebration to the following Sunday 

                  and bump the regularly scheduled programming.

 

All the Saints were important, 

         not just the ones that had their own special feast day,

                  like Saints Peter, Paul and Mary.

And then, just because we recognized 

that we really had no way of knowing just who was a bona fide Saint

-       we left that up to God’s judgment, not ours –

we then designated the next day, November 2, as All Souls Day,

         when we could remember and honor all who had died

 for all beings are held in the everlasting arms of the Creator.

                           Nothing is lost in that Eternal Now 

                           in the Mind of the Maker

                           that envelopes all the past, present and future. 

 

So let me tell you my recent All Saints story.

 

I just got home from a trip to Nepal.

I was there with my sister because of her business partner Kirk

         for the Stephen R. Novak Foundation.

         He had moved to Kathmandu 

                  where the foundation helped fund various significant

                  education, health and job creation projects.

Nepal is a small country 

         and despite being famous for Mt. Everest and all the trekking,

out of 195 nations in the world Nepal ranks  

         just 28 up from the bottom in terms of economic well being.

And there are so many places right now 

         that are in crying need of attention 

                           for poverty, climate crises, war and the like

         that Nepal doesn’t get that much notice.

So the Foundation is one way to make an important difference 

         in a country where a little help can go a long way.

Well, Kirk died.

His good friends there were people he and my sister 

                  had worked with for years.

But we needed to come and attend to his affairs,

         and to celebrate his life with his friends 

         and scatter his ashes.

For that we went to Pharping, a village outside of Kathmandu,

         famous for its many Tibetan Buddhist monasteries 

         and the place where all the prayer flags are flown 

                  on behalf of those who have died. 

We climbed up the steep hillside where thousands upon thousands

         of prayer flags were streaming out in all directions.

All the way up to the top all these prayer flags 

                                    in memory of those who have died

         were stretched out high up between the trees         

                  where the wind could blow through them

                  spreading the prayers written on each flag out into the air

                           for the benefit of all living beings.

For me going there became something like celebrating 

         All Saints Day and All Souls Day (el Día de los Muertos) 

                           all at once. 

There is a holy presence and peacefulness about this place. 

         Life and death,

         grief and remembrance,

         legacy and hope for the future,

                  all speaking from those flags representing 

         “a great multitude that no one could count”

                           to quote what was recorded in the reading 

                           from the Book of the Revelation.

 

As Kirk’s ashes were thrown to the wind 

         prayers were said from both the Buddhist tradition 

         and from the Committal in the BCP Burial Office. 

 

“Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord;

And let light perpetual shine upon him.

May his soul, and the souls of all the departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”

 

As we remember the faithful departed,

so too this is a time to be reminded

         of the common theme of our mortality.

 

All the Saints, especially the capital letter Saints, we may note, 

often met their deaths as martyrs, 

         and all of the Saints we commemorate are dead.

 

Now Saints are different from heroes.

         With Saints it’s not all happy endings and success stories.

This is a reminder that to follow Jesus faithfully 

         is not just a one time altar call, 

         or even being fairly regular in church attendance 

         and keeping your nose clean.

 

Be assured that simply by being initiated into the household of God 

by baptism 

         we are now susceptible to this refining process in our lives

                  of being formed into saints/holy beings/

                  beings whose life will be a living witness

                           that we have been touched by God

                           and we have been changed. 

It goes with the territory, 

         part of the deal when we decide to follow Jesus.

 

Jesus is a spiritual master 

         who can and will be mightily present with us 

         as Resurrection Spirit, Holy Spirit, 

         doing the spiritual work within us 

                  that we need and crave 

                  and are helpless to accomplish for ourselves.

 

I have learned from experience over the years

that if I don’t attend to what needs attention in my life

         - spiritually, emotionally, behaviorally, relationally -

life is going to hit me up side the head - over and over again,

                  as much as it takes,

         until I get the lesson, 

         until I awaken to my need for God’s incomparable grace,                                                                unconditional mercy and healing love,

and I start cooperating with, 

         instead of frustrating, this process of refinement.

 

You see, I have the belief that we are all saints,

         and I don’t mean goody-two-shoes kinds of people

                  who are always sweet and smiley and self-effacing.

 

We are people upon whom Jesus has put a claim 

         and now there’s no use resisting.

 

You want life to work better for you?  Here’s my advice:

Stop resisting and pay more attention to Jesus.

 

Remember he was the guy 

         who told Peter, Andrew, James and John 

                  to push their boats out into the deep

         after they had been fishing all night and not catching anything.

                                    Do you know that story?

And now when he tells them to cast their nets this time

         all the fish in the lake seem to make a bee line for the boat,

                           coming at the call of Jesus,

         and they had more fish than the nets could hold.

 

But then we humans aren’t half so cooperative as the fish

         so that it often takes a lot more to get us to realize 

         that the One we call a Savior actually can save us,

                                    sometimes even save us from ourselves.

 

We would be Saints.

The potential is there.

We can be so much more than we are right now.

That is always the case.

God sees in us all the unrealized potential that is there 

God sees us as great Saints,

         ones who have gifts and ministries 

                  that can bring living water to thirsty people,

                  that can unbind people, 

                  that can loose them from all the various ways 

                                    in which lives can get bound up in death.

 

When we open the door just a crack to him,

Jesus puts a claim on us as his own.

He wants to disciple us,

so that we can be of some good use for sake of the rest of a world

                           that is struggling in darkness.

 

We would be Saints.

 

We don’t have time to do an in depth study of the Beatitudes here,

         the reading from Matthew’s Gospel, 

         from the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount,

         although that would be good to do,

                  because there is SO much packed into these words.

But I will say a couple of things.

 

Notice in these Beatitudes that Jesus did not say 

blessed are those who have kept the Ten Commandments.

He did not say blessed are those who came to church every Sunday.

Or those who did many good deeds, 

or were generous in their charitable giving, 

or who preached great sermons, 

or who wrote books full of inspiring words.

 

He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,”

those who are not full of themselves, 

who are not ego-invested in everything they say and do.

 

Blessed are those who mourn, 

who grieve, like those who have lost a loved one,

those who see what there is to mourn about.

 

Blessed are the meek, 

that is, those who are gentle, kind, 

humane, considerate and unassuming, 

those who are so totally absorbed in the Divine Presence

that there is no room for violence in them.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst 

for justice and holiness and the righteousness of God, 

which is that state of wholeness and integrity;

blessed are those who realize 

that they have been starving for these things

          and haven’t been getting enough of them every day.

These Beatitudes all describe those who have deficiencies, 

who are not complete within themselves, 

who need something more than

                  the standards of the way the world looks at 

success and strength and being top dog.

These Beatitudes describe the essential attitude

         of those who are being blessed.

The key to being included in the Reign of God, 

the Kingdom of Heaven 

is to know your own need and be open to having that need met, 

not through your own efforts solely,

but through the mercy of God.

All who are poor in spirit, 

who mourn, 

who are meek, 

who hunger and thirst for righteousness

are given the Kingdom of God, 

are comforted, 

inherit the earth, 

have their hunger and thirst satisfied.

 

Knowing your own poverty, 

you then have the humility to accept 

what is freely offered to you by God.

 

Recognizing and suffering your own grief, 

not being in denial about the grief, 

opens you to being able to recognize and respond to 

God’s most incredible expression of love, 

for which there is no greater comfort.

 

The attitude of meekness is the attitude of a servant, 

one who takes the lower position in society, 

who lets others go first.

You know, the sign that a servant is doing a good job

         is in not being noticed. 

The eye is drawn to the quality of the work done, not the doer. 

 

The process of blessedness offered by Jesus 

comes in this listening to his voice, 

because when we listen to this voice 

we move from

       where we are in our own ego-centered self identification 

       to the realization of where he is,

       to the realization of a new self-identity, identity in Christ,

just like being branches on the Vine.

 

So being blessed by God is a matter of grace, 

not as a result of any great heroic effort on our part.  

It is God who does the blessing within us. 

That means that all of us can be Saints.