Jesus Isn’t Finished with You Yet
Dear Friends,
In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, we will hear Jesus tell the well-known "Parable of the Talents." Most of you know this story about a master who gives some of his property to three servants according to their abilities. After a long time, the master returns and the accounting shows that the two given the most show big results, were found trustworthy and given more. Best of all, they were invited into the joy of their master. But the one who was given the least said he had been afraid, buried it and did nothing. His gift was taken away. The master called him wicked and lazy and had him thrown into outer darkness.
This harsh ending has never sat well with me. Am I supposed to compare Jesus to a judging, profit motivated master with unreasonable expectations? Do I stand up in defense of the servant who may never have been taught about investment strategies or resisted participating in an exploitative economy?
Or do I remind myself that in the parable, we are never told that the Master actually is a harsh man, “reaping where he did not sow”—these are the words that the servant uses to describe him. Could it be that the master’s true nature was one of generosity and trustworthiness, the giver of abundance and the encourager of developing potential and creativity? Could it be that the servant is called wicked and lazy because of his lack of understanding and faith…because he didn’t even try? Perhaps his own potential was stuck, and the tragedy is that the master’s gift did not produce anything at all.
I think that our answers to these questions depend a lot on where we stand in our own life story. In the words of one writer, “I notice we tend to interpret parables in the same ways we interpret ourselves. If I am feeling judged or judging, cast out, pretty much a failure where Jesus or any other higher authority is concerned, then I see these in the parable. At other times I see myself as having been entrusted with resources and doing as well as I can with what I’ve been given. One of the things I see today is what a mess I can get into when I am afraid that I won’t have enough, that I won’t be enough. What a mess, when I see my higher authority, the one who provides, as harsh and demanding. Oh, what weeping and gnashing of teeth I endure when I hide out, when I bury precious parts of myself rather than risk having the whole me brought to the light. What a mess it causes when I am reluctant to stand up and say, “Wait a minute, Jesus! You are not finished with me yet!”
As we make our way toward the week of Thanksgiving, I wonder if it's just the right time to bring the whole of our own selves to the light. How are we holding, burying, giving, risking, or entrusting the abundance of our own gifts and opportunities? Can we stand up and say, “Wait a minute Jesus, you aren’t finished with us yet!”? Not only on a personal level, but on a familial, communal, and congregational level. We have all heard and embraced our Stewardship theme, “Rooted in Abundance.” How are we drawing from those roots in a way that explores new possibilities and encourages others so that we, together, can enter more fully into the joy of our maker?
In Christ,
Amelie+
