Thursday, November 16, 2017

Returning the Favor Meeting



A Reflection for XXIV Pentecost (proper 28)                       All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC November 19, 2017                                                                Thomas E. Wilson, Rector


Returning the Favor Meeting

“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.” says Jesus twice in the Gospel lesson from Matthew for today, sometimes called the Parable of  the Talents.

As I have explained before, Matthew doesn't usually remember Jesus' stories as parables but as allegories. Remember that parables are stories that are about God's Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and usually God’s reactions in the story are surprises that call upon us to open our eyes. An allegory is a literary device used to teach the lessons of the larger community and put it into religious terms. If this was an allegory, then the point of the story would be that you have been given a gift by God and you need to make it grow to make God happy enough to give you a reward. In this fashion is teaching the outlines of what we will later call entrepreneurial capitalism where we are called to risk. The first two servants, or slaves (the Greek word “doulos” can be translated as either), risked and are rewarded lavishly.  For most of the history of Christianity, “being rewarded” meant getting a free card to get out of hell and into heaven or, in this last century with the “Prosperity Gospel” routine, getting rich here on earth as an outward and visible sign of God's favor. The poor slob who tried to bury the talent is sent to weep and wail and gnash teeth in outer darkness.

For those who like this story as an allegory of reward and punishment, it presents an understanding of the nature of God as the tough parent who rewards and punishes extravagantly with Heaven and Hell in the afterlife or in this life. Mark Twain said;  "God created man in his own image and man, being a gentleman, returned the favor"

What I want to do is to ask you, “Are you returning the favor and creating God in your own image?”

As we take a look at next year's budget, part of me starts to like the idea of preaching on a God who shakes people down for their money, and I start wondering if I pushed up the fear meter a bit could I get people to dedicate more talent, time, and treasure compared to what they have already been given. In the money system of the Roman Empire, a talent was equal to the accumulated wages of an ordinary laborer for fifteen years. Just think about what I could do if I could get each of you to devote your life savings to me! This part of me is what the third servant calls “a harsh man” who looks at people and asks, “How can I use this person or relationship for my advantage?” The third servant lives in fear of this harsh man and the harsh man lives in fear of never having enough. This is his view of God, the God who he creates in his own image.

God as the “Harsh Man” creates fear in his wake. We seem to live in a lot of fear as people try to take advantage of each other. Last week our President said that he would not blame a nation that would take advantage of another nation in order to benefit its own people. He was expressing the dominant view articulated by Thomas Hobbes that the natural world is a place of conflict between violent, self-interested brutes divided into two camps - the winners and the losers. Our fear therefore means that we discipline ourselves  not to be losers and try with all of our might to be winners. Most of the preaching on this Gospel that I heard growing up was the encouragement of listeners to make a profit for God with the talents given to us and not to be the loser who weeps, fails, and gnashes his teeth. It is not an accident that, in American culture after spending Sunday morning at church where we say we are created in the image of God, we spend Sunday afternoon cheering on winners, “the harsh men” who we identify with ourselves, and displaying fearful anger when our team loses and we search for someone to blame for our loss.

It is not a surprise that, in our fear of being losers, we are reminded daily of little men in positions of great power who exploit women sexually as a way of being in control - winners/losers, taking advantage out of fear.

Paul in his letters to the Thessalonian community urges them avoid falling into fear and says that the purpose of the community is to “encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing”. When Paul writes to the Corinthians he says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”  We become what we behold, we become the image of God.

Jesus has one commandment he repeats over and over again - “Don't be afraid!” In the Gospel story, the first two servants see their master as one without fear, and they live their lives as if there need be no fear. In this view they see their master not as a harsh man but as a joyful man who opens himself up in love. This is their God, the God that they create in their own image.

In my saner moments, this is the God in which I place my trust. This is the God that doesn't go away on long journeys, waiting for a settling of accounts on the final hour of my life. This is the God who is with each of us, walking on the path with us through this broken world. This is the God that I look to for strength when I, in the words of the Psalmist for today, “have had more than enough of contempt, too much of the scorn of the indolent rich, and of the derision of the proud.” This is the God that sees that part of me that is the harsh man doling out contempt, scorn, and derision but laughs and says , “You can do better than that. Come enter into the joy of your master.” This is the God that is much bigger than my returned favor of creation of God.

To which God are you returning the favor?

Returning The Favor Meeting
The prodigal's father lovingly wrapped his arms
around the ragged dirty neck of his faithless son,
as a hard master's slave hands back a dug up one
talent and he's slapped into jail to do him harms.
It is rumored that father is also same hard master,
but apparently we are never sure who's on duty
any particular day; will it be cutie or is it snooty
that will greet us upon our failures as our pastor?
It all depends on how Twain's “gentleman's favor”
is returned to a God we've created in our image,
as we shop around for a theological scrimmage,
to either taste sweet grace or lick revenge's savor.
Today, aware of many failings and outright sins
are my baggage in this meeting; hope grace wins.

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