Sunday November 16th 2008

“Faith in the Face of Fear”

MESSAGE GIVEN BY THE REV. PAUL MULLEN

The modern traditional interpretation of this parable sees the master as God who entrusts us, God’s servants, with vast sums of money or talents, and goes away. The sums of money are huge, multi-millions of dollars. The two good and dutiful servants invest what they are given and, when the master (God) returns, they give back double. The master is jubilant and shares his joy with them. The timorous third servant understands the master (God) to be fearsome and grasping and therefore takes what he is given, even though it is the smallest amount and buries it. On the master’s (God’s) return this somewhat pathetic creature digs up what he has been given and returns it intact but with no increase. The master (God) chastises this inadequate servant, takes away the little bit that he has, gives it to the one who has the most and tosses the third servant out to where “there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

The moral of the story, as it were, is straight forward. God has given you talents and money. Multiply those gifts and give them back to God. It is no wonder the lectionary places this story during what is typically Stewardship Month, as it is here. It generates incentive – to hear the master say “Well done, good and faithful servant, come in and share my happiness.” It generates hope – I may not hear those words now but surely I will after I die, if I am a successful Christian. It also generates fear – fear of being cast aside by God. Out of heaven and down to the wailing and gnashing of teeth. So, to insure a favourable outcome, give generously to the church – God’s agent!

There are, however, other interpretations of this story.

Several scholars have spent considerable time trying to understand the economic system of Jesus’ day. It was, in many ways different than our own. It was an economy of scarcity in which it was believed that there was a limited amount of wealth so if you accumulated more than you needed you were seen as depriving others. In our day we would tend to say, “so what, that’s just how it is. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.”

In biblical times, however, there was another economy – the honour economy. Honour, too, was seen as a limited quantity so if you accumulated too much honour too quickly you were also seen as greedy and grasping.

Seen from this point of view the master was not honourable. It quickly becomes apparent that Jesus is not suggesting the master is God – far from it. The master is greedy to the point of rapaciousness. In the honour economy his wealth would have been regarded with deep suspicion. It was understood that there was only a limited amount of wealth in the world and one could only accumulate it by taking the share of others and harming the community as a whole. Such wealth as this master had must have been obtained dishonourably, and probably illegally. The first two servants bought into the methods of the master and never challenged his integrity or his ethics. More than that, they did what he did – doubling his millions.

The third servant did as was advocated by the rabbis of the day – in spite of his fear he buried the money in a safe place and returned it intact. In doing so he not only kept the religious requirements of his faith but challenged the motives and methods of the master by refusing to participate. He was, in effect, a whistleblower. He showed faith in the face of fear. The master, of course, was furious. Belittling the servant as bad, lazy and useless, he has the servant thrown out of his presence and into the misery of poverty – an outcast.

This is the way it is, the story tells us, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This much we know. It still happens today.

In Matthew’s Gospel, though, this is not the end of the story. The story continues with a description of the last judgement. The punchline comes when the King refuses entry to eternal life to some saying, “Whenever you refused to help these least important ones, you refused to help me.”

Faith that sees, even in the face of uncertainty and fear, that we are all one also knows that our unity with God, each other and creation, cannot be take away. As the Apostle Paul tells us, nothing can separate us from the love of God. It is the only truth that is absolute and certain.

Yesterday I participated in a workshop with Cynthia Bourgeault on The Wisdom Jesus. She spoke of the path that Jesus teaches as being a path of self-emptying love. That although he was one with God he emptied himself to become one with us. This is the path we are invited to follow.

During the workshop Cynthia quoted from the Gospel of Thomas, a text written near the time of Jesus, but only found in 1945. This is the story she read (From the Gospel of Thomas, Logia 21, “Q - Thomas Reader,” Kloppenborg et al., Polebridge, 1990, p. 135):

1) Mary said to Jesus, “What are your disciples like?”

2) He said, “They are like little children living in a field that is

not theirs.

3) When the owners of the field come, they will say, ‘Give our

field back to us.’ 4) They take off their clothes in their

presence in order to give it back to them, and they return

their field to them.

To me this echoes the sayings in the Gospels about when someone strikes you on one cheek then offer the other, or if someone demands your shirt to give them your coat as well. (Luke 6: 29) These sayings are now being interpreted as a form of non-violent resistance to the Roman army of occupation and oppression. You are not saying “no” and yet you are not submitting. By choosing generosity you retain your control, your right to choose and your dignity.

The passage from the Gospel of Thomas continues:

5) For this reason I say, if the owner of a house knows that a

thief is coming, he will be on guard before the thief arrives,

and will not let the thief break into his house of his domain

and steal his possessions.

Here we recall that our most important possession is the one that possesses us, that nothing can “separate us from the love of God shown in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8: 39)

6) As for you, then, be on guard against the world.

7) Gird yourselves with great strength, lest the robbers find a

way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will come.

8) Let there be among you one who understands.

9) When the crop is ripened that one came quickly with sickle in

hand and harvested it. 10) Whoever has ears to hear should

hear.”

I woke up this morning remembering an Anthony de Mello story and a Buddhist story that speak to this kind of wisdom. When I looked up the de Mello story on the web the first site that came up not only had the one I was looking for but, serendipitously, the Buddhist story as well, and right after it. Anthony de Mello was a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist, a deeply wise man who collected and wrote stories that revealed the true meaning of life.

The Diamond

The sannyasi (In Hinduism, one who has vowed to live a celibate life without possessions) had reached the outskirts of the village and settled down under a tree for the night when a villager came running up to him and said, "The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!"

"What stone?" asked the sannyasi.

"Last night the Lord Shiva appeared to me in a dream," said the villager, "And told me that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk I should find a sannyasi who would give me a precious stone that would make me rich forever."

The sannyasi rummaged in his bag and pulled out a stone. "He probably meant this one," he said, as he handed the stone over to the villager. "I found it on a forest path some days ago. You can certainly have it."

The man gazed at the stone in wonder. It was a diamond, probably the largest diamond in the whole world, for it was as large as a person's head.

He took the diamond and walked away. All night he tossed about in bed, unable to sleep. Next day at the crack of dawn he woke the sannyasi and said, "Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this diamond away so easily."

Who Can Steal the Moon!

The Zen master Ryokan lived a very simple life in a little hut at the foot of the mountain. One night, when the master was away, a thief broke into the hut only to discover that there was nothing to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught the burglar. "You have put yourself to much trouble to visit me," he said. "You must not go away empty-handed. Please take my clothes and blanket as a gift." The thief, quite bewildered, took the clothes and slunk off.

Ryokan sat down naked and watched the moon. "Poor fellow," he thought to himself, "I wish I could give him the gorgeous moonlight."

This kind of giving is not just a way of life but the way to truly live. This is a time of uncertainty in the world and a time of commitment in our congregation. This is not a time for fearful clinging. It is a time, as are all times, for faith in the face of fear. It is, as it always is, a time for giving and a time for living.

Amen