24th Sunday After Pentecost
Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 Psalm 90:1-12 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who trusts us in the meantime. Amen Well, here we are, nearing the end of the church year, and we have another set of readings about the coming of the Lord after a long delay, and again this ends in weeping and gnashing of teeth and outer darkness, the word of the lord thanks be to God? While it’s tempting to get caught up in the language of the end and visions of judgment and whether or not we think it’s fair the end is not really what these passage are about, rather they are about the middle, the meantime, living life right now and what God expects of us, They speak to where we are because we are living solidly in the middle, our life and faith is lived out in between already and not yet, between Jesus came, lived, died, rose and ascend to the father and Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. Which begs the question: what are we to do in the meantime? Which is where our parable comes in. In the parable we have a master and three servants, the master is going away and has quite a bit of property which he entrusts to the servants to take care of while he is gone, he gives each what he thinks they can handle and even the smallest amount is a large sum of money, a talent is equivalent to 15 years of wages for a day laborer. It’s a big responsibility, but the master hands it over with no instructions other than the understanding that the master will return and reclaim the property at some point, this is a care taking situation not a gift and the master leaves. Two of the servants take the money and put it to work, they invest it and trade with it and by the time the master returns they have doubled the original amount and are celebrated when they give it to their master. The third servant, the one with the least amount, fearfully takes the one talent, digs a hole and puts it in the ground. When the master returns he digs it up and fearfully gives it to the master who berates him for mismanagement, at least you could’ve taken it to the bank the master says as he takes away the talent from the third servant. We who live in the meantime have a big responsibility because God has entrusted to us the world and God’s message for the world, the message sent through the good news of Jesus Christ. God expects us to do something with what God has given us, to live out the message, the good news, to share it and by sharing it, growing it so that even though we’re in the middle, the world starts to look like God’s vision for the world, where all are loved and fed and clothed, and there is no more war and creation flourishes. We are entrusted with love, the love of family and friends, God expects that we work to make that love grow by sharing it with others. We are entrusted with a community that shares good news with us, God expects that we work to make that community grow by sharing the good news with others. We are entrusted with physical resources, God expects that we share those resources with those who lack them. Because the way God created the world There is more than enough for all And when we live in this way we share, not because we are fearful of judgment, the weeping and gnashing of teeth but because we are grateful that God has trusted us in the meantime. The actions of the first two servants are riskier than the third, it’s true, sharing is risky but only by sharing will the message spread and grow. If we are overwhelmed by fear and take no risks there is no hope of anything spreading or growing. And the tricky thing is that we in the meantime are left to determine how much to risk. How much of what God has given us do we give away? We need some of it to take care of ourselves, so how much is enough? These are the questions we find ourselves asking as we develop our congregational budget, and we ask these questions when we consider our own giving and resources of time and talents and there are very few concrete instructions from God. In some way this situation reminds me of one of my favorite professors in college, I took several classes from him and after the first class, it was always fun to watch people who hadn’t had him before when the time came for the first essay, because in assigning essays Dr. Jodock simply assigned a topic there was no required word count or number of pages, Dr. Jodock told his students that the essay should be as long as it took to thoroughly address the topic. And people freaked out, because it meant that they would have to think hard about the content of the essay, and find the balance between what was too little and too much, they couldn’t just write something and then if it didn’t meet the required length add more, or if it was too long cut things out. It was up to them to decide how much was enough. It really stressed people out who were used to having these things spelled out for them whether it was so they could do enough to get by or because they wanted the best grade possible there was no way to calculate your potential grade and that struck fear into some students’ hearts. But after you got to know Dr. Jodock a bit you learned that he was a gracious grader of essays, and then it became fun to write for him, because then it became about exploring the topic rather than trying to meet a word or page count. Don’t get me wrong, he still took off points for things but you knew that as long as you honestly engaged the topic to the best of your abilities you would get a passing grade. When we think about stewardship, that big church word that means taking care of what God has given us I think it’s in some ways like writing an essay for Dr. Jodock, we’ve been given a topic and it is up to us to figure out how much is too much or too little, and when we get to know God more, we realize God’s a gracious grader which frees us to take some risks, explore what happens when we give love away freely and invite others in to share what God has entrusted to us. Sure God is going to be honest with us when we miss the mark but if we know anything from scripture it is that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God wants us to succeed and God will give us all the help we need including God’s own son. The Thessalonians were worried about the end Paul exhorts them to live according to the light to stay awake but he concludes with these comforting words: “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.” So whether we are awake or asleep We give thanks to God. Amen
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AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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