12-14-14: Magnified

Magnified

Luke 1: 46-56 (NIV)

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

When was the last time something so great happened in your life that you were just singing from the tree tops with joy?

When was the last time something so wonderful, so exciting happened to you that you couldn't stop talking about it? Something so joyous that you wanted to tell everyone?

Do you have a moment like that? A moment where you felt like you wanted to hire a sky writer so the whole world would know your glee? Or if not hire a sky writer, at least get on the phone and tell your best friend all about it?

Mary had a moment like that, and this morning's Gospel reading is her sining from the tree tops--her Magnificat that she can't help but burst into while she and Elizabeth talked about their miraculous pregnancies.

"Miraculous" seems like the only word there is to describe what Mary and Elizabeth shared. What other word could possibly describe finding out you're going to have a baby before you've even married your betrothed? What other word could describe finding out you're going to have a baby in your senior years, after being told throughout your whole adult life that you would never have children?

Mary and Elizabeth rejoice in the miraculous. Elsewhere, though, some of our other key players are, in fact, finding words other than "miraculous" to describe the news of these two wonder babies.

Zechariah, for example. Elizabeth's husband. He gets a visit from the angel Gabriel, in previous verses, and Gabriel tells him Congratulations! You're going to be a Dad!

Poor Zechariah is dumb-founded. He says, How can this be, since my wife is very old?

His word to describe this wonder baby was not "miraculous", but rather "unbelievable".

Gabriel didn't like that very much. As punishment for his disbelief, and for failing to appreciate the miracle, poor Zechariah is struck mute for the rest of Elizabeth's pregnancy. This might seem harsh, but hey, you don't talk back to God's angels.

To be fair to our friend Zechariah, he wasn't the only one who heard this wonderful news and responded with more than just joy. Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel too, and she also responded in disbelief--How can this be, she asked Gabriel, since I am a virgin?

But maybe Gabriel decided to cut Mary some slack for her disbelief and shock at the news of her pregnancy for a reason. Because if Zechariah's word for his wife's unlikely pregnancy was "unbelievable", Mary's word, even though she didn't say it, may very well have been "uh oh".

Zechariah was in a very, very different position than Mary. Certainly his wife's pregnancy with little John the Baptist would look unorthodox, but no one would question Elizabeth's character for being discovered to be with child. After all, she is married.

But not Mary. Mary wasn't married yet. She was betrothed, and to a good man, with a good job that would enable him to provide for her. But what would happen when he found out she was going to have a baby? He would know it wasn't his baby. Everyone would know. He'd have every right and reason to abandon her, and leave her shamed and destitute. And the thought crossed Joseph's mind--Matthew's Gospel tells us that before Joseph was enlightened by an angel visitor of his own, he had decided to quietly break up with Mary.

And that would be the best case scenario. If Joseph was spiteful, he could publicly accuse Mary of adultery, and watch her be killed by public stoning.

It takes guts to be a Mom. It takes even more guts to say yes to God's call even when you know there will be a heavy price to pay. But Mary had the guts to say yes to God.

She did more than that, though. Rather than finding out she was going to be in this difficult and potentially dire position and then react by going off to hide and feel conflicted about it, Mary went to see Elizabeth right away, so she could express her joy.

Mary saw that, even in the face of a difficult calling, even in the face of potential danger, and even in the face of her fear, there was a joy that couldn't be denied--she was going to have a baby! And instead of focusing on all of the negatives in her life, Mary set her sights on just that joy, and magnified it until it was all that mattered.

Part of what we can all celebrate during this Christmas season is our joy magnified. In spite of all the hecticness of this time of year, in spite of the busyness, and the stress, and the strain, God provides us with these wonderful moments of joy. Even if yours seems small, all of us have blessings in our lives that we can rejoice in.

And if we focus on those glimmers of joy, if we magnify them, if we join Mary in song, then we can follow her example of appreciating the greatness of our loving God in all times, in all places, and in all circumstances.

Amen.

12-7-14: Unburdened

Unburdened

Isaiah 40: 1-11 (NIV)

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Mark 1: 1-8 (NIV)

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” — “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Are you ready to welcome the newborn Christ?

In this morning's Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, we hear some very important words. They're so important that John the Baptist repeats them. They're words that capture what this season of Advent is all about:

Prepare the way of The Lord, make straight paths for him.

During this season of Advent we take this time of waiting to reflect on where Jesus fits into our lives.

Where does he fit into yours? Is Jesus at work in your life and in your world?

We take this time every single year to recognize that no matter how long you've believed in Jesus--whether this is the first time you've ever darkened the doorway of a church, or whether you've come here every Sunday all your life--Jesus is always being born again within us. No matter how strong our faith, or how committed our discipleship, all of us reach a point on our spiritual journey from time to time where we realize we've lost touch with Jesus.

Sometimes it's because we get bored with our way of worshipping and connecting with Jesus, and he stops feeling relevant, and real, and present. Sometimes the stresses of our lives, and even all of our commitments in our church, start to burn us out, and we get too tired to really connect with Jesus. Sometimes we go through a rough patch, or a hard time, and we get so disillusioned and disappointed that our old ways of connecting with Jesus just don't meet our deep need for him anymore. Sometimes we just get so comfortable in our faith that we take him for granted.

The point is, we all reach a point where we need to get reacquainted with Jesus, where we need to feel like we're meeting him for the first time all over again. We need to welcome Jesus into our heart like he hasn't been there all along, but rather like he's a newborn baby that you're seeing and holding for the first time. We need to see Jesus like we've never seen him before.

John the Baptist was trying to get his followers ready to do just that. The townspeople around JTB knew who Jesus was; by the time of this morning's Gospel passage, Jesus was in his early 30s. These people saw Jesus grow up. They knew him. He was the son of that carpenter, Joseph. They knew him well enough to take him for granted.

What JTB tells his followers is, I know you know Jesus the carpenter's son, but you don't know Jesus the minister. You've never seen him like this before. You're about to meet a whole new man.

But we can't meet this whole new man, this whole new minister, this newborn Christ, until we prepare a straight path for him to come into our lives and introduce himself to us. We need to divest ourselves of all the stuff that would get in our way of letting Jesus in.

There's a lot of stuff that can get in our way of letting Jesus in, that can act as a stumbling block between us and Jesus. But when I read this morning's words from the prophet Isaiah, there's one very specific kind of obstacle that comes to mind.

God tells Isaiah: speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

Other translations of Isaiah will use different wordings of that verse, and a few Christmases ago I personally was very struck by this verse when the translation I read from said, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her debt is forgiven

That stopped me right in my tracks, because I'll never forget how huge that feeling was, that feeling of forgiveness.

Your debt is forgiven. Just think about that. Think about how you would feel if someone you owed a whole lot of money to said those words to you, right now during this holiday season, this fourth quarter when we're all particularly stretched for money--your debt is forgiven. Think about how huge that would be. If the bank called you this afternoon and said, don't worry about paying your mortgage anymore, your mortgage is forgiven. Your credit cards are forgiven. Your student loans are forgiven.

Can you imagine the burden that would be lifted from you?

God called upon Isaiah to say those words to his own people in Jerusalem during their darkest hour, when they most needed God's grace. Their Temple was destroyed. Their people were exiled to Babylon. And they had so badly broken their covenant with God by defying his commandments that they had no reason at all to expect his mercy or protection.

But that penalty has been paid. That debt is forgiven. They have a clean slate. They can start all over, and get reacquainted with their God.

We can't have that fresh start, that clean slate, that new relationship with the newborn Christ before we lay down that burden, that feeling of knowing that we've made mistakes, both with God and with each other, that we can't undo.

We're forgiven. We're born again with the newborn Christ. We've been washed clean.

That doesn't mean the bad choices we've made didn't happen now. We've been where we've been, we've done what we've done, and our actions have consequences. For the Israelites, those consequences had them ending up in exile in Babylon.

But we can reconcile. We can atone. We can find oneness, and wholeness, with God again. We can start anew, and build a new relationship with God.

Prepare the way for The Lord, and make his paths straight. If there's something that weighs so heavily on your conscience that it's a distraction to you here and now, let it go. If there's something in your past that makes you question if you've been good enough, let it go. And, perhaps most importantly, if there's someone or something that's hurt you, if there's a grudge you hold on to, let it go. All those things put kinks in your path to The Lord. They're a burden that makes your spiritual journey more difficult. Let them go.

And when you do, move a step closer to meeting a Jesus you've never met before.

Amen.

11-30-14: While You Were Sleeping

While You Were Sleeping

Mark 13: 24-37 (NIV)

“But in those days, following that distress, “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

Happy New Year!

Like I explained last week, this first Sunday in Advent marks the beginning of a New Year in our liturgical calendar. Now, according to the lectionary cycle, it's year B, and most of this year's Gospel stories are going to come from Mark.

And, just as we start hearing stories from Mark, we're not wasting any time getting right to the heart of this Gospel: Mark's writings about what the world will be like immediately before and right at the moment when Jesus comes back. And if you've been following our lectionary and my sermons the last few weeks, you might hear this morning's Gospel reading and be tempted to think, okay, another teaching from Jesus about his second coming. This is what we've been talking about for the last three weeks.

But not so fast. This is different.

Just let these words you just heard from Mark soak in. You'll never hear Matthew's Gospel get this hardcore.

The last year we've heard most of our Gospel stories from Matthew. And even though Matthew wrote real stories based on eyewitness testimony that had been repeated over the generations by an oral tradition, it's also true that he authored his Gospel--he copied these stories his way, emphasizing what he thought was important, and painting a certain picture of Jesus' world. He wrote about Jesus in a way that would sound like real, relevant, Good News to his Jewish audience, so he emphasized on Jesus' teaching and interpreting qualities, and told a story about a man who followed right along in Moses' footsteps.

Mark is somewhat different. Mark and Matthew tell a lot of the same stories about Jesus, but of all the 4 Gospels in the Bible Mark is the shortest. Matthew's gotten preferential treatment over these generations for telling more stories, longer stories, and gentler stories about Jesus than our friend Mark, and thus Matthew shows up first in our New Testament even though we're pretty sure Mark was written first--then Matthew and Luke about ten years later, and then lastly John.

And when you're reading Mark, you'll feel this sense of urgency throughout. Biblical scholars generally agree on what that urgency must be about. It's about what, after decades of people contentedly telling each other these stories about Jesus through an oral tradition, would drive someone to sit down and copy all of these stories to paper, even though most people in his day couldn't read: tragedy.

In the year 70 AD Rome conquered Jerusalem, sacked the city, and destroyed the Temple, the sacred dwelling place of God that was the second already of its kind because King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his army to destroy the first in 587 BC, when Babylon conquered Jerusalem.

The Jewish people were deeply traumatized, and infuriated. They were taught always to expect a great Messiah to come and save them, to overthrow their enemy, and to bring all their people back home to Jerusalem. And Jesus said he was going to come back, that there would be trials and tribulation and suffering, and then he would come back. What time could the Son of God pick to return and save his righteous people other than this time?

Mark belonged to this community of Jews who believed, now is the time. The world is ending, and Jesus is coming again. So in haste, he sat down and wrote an account of the Good News of Jesus as fast as he could. And if his words sound kind of intense, it's because they were written during this crisis.

Yet, as intense and hard core as Mark's words could sound, particularly the words of this morning's Gospel reading, they really are a Gospel--they really are Good News. Mark's loving message to his community was yes, things are terrible now, but don't distress, Jesus is coming, and he's going to take care of us.

Here in the United States we don't presently live in a community plagued by a domestic war, and yet, we can relate to Mark's Good News: stay awake and watch, Jesus is coming.

When we turn on our TVs and see footage of the riots in Ferguson, MO following the St. Louis County grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson: stay awake and watch, Jesus is coming.

When we continue to see our country involved in warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan: stay awake and watch, Jesus is coming.

When Black Friday rolls around, and we see crazed retail shoppers trample each other for the last big screen TV: stay awake and watch, Jesus is coming.

When we have our own personal struggles of illness, sadness, anger, and despair: stay awake and watch, Jesus is coming.

When Mark sat down in 70 AD and frantically scribbled down the stories of Jesus he thought, never have we needed Jesus more than now.

Two thousand years later, in a world that, in some ways, is just as broken as Mark's, we know, never have we needed Jesus more than now.

When Jesus is coming back, no one knows. But as we begin this season of Advent, this season of patiently waiting for a Savior's birth, we celebrate that the spirit of our Christ is always being born anew within us, and if we watch and wait, we will experience Jesus among and within us again, in a world that needs him.

Two thousand years ago, a group of shepherds got to be the very first to witness the miracle of Jesus, dwelling among us. Few others noticed, because it was night, and the town was asleep.

Mark tells us, watch. Stay awake, and watch.

It can be easy to become so distracted by the noise of this world, by the things we're used to seeing, hearing, and doing, and by our own assumptions about the way things ought to be that we don't even notice the subtle moment when Jesus inconspicuously is born in our hearts and comes to lead us to God.

It's easy to not notice Christ among us.

This season of Advent we celebrate Emmanuel: God with is.

The voice of reason and truth. The teacher. The helper in the chaos. That part of ourselves that gives us the strength and courage to keep going and do even what little we can to set the world right. It can be so subtle that you can blink and miss it.

Be aware. Be aware for that grace, that moment when Jesus is born in our hearts and in our world, and once again, even when things feel chaotic and bleak, there's hope.

This Advent, may we be awake when the star shows up in the sky and the Savior is born.

Amen.

11-23-14: Words to Live By

Words to Live by

Matthew 25: 31-46 (NIV)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

What's your favorite Bible verse?

This Sunday is the last Sunday of the year. No, not the calendar year, 2014. We've still got a little over a month to go there. But of the Church year. To the Church, this is the end of the year. By and large, on Sundays you've heard stories from Matthew's Gospel this year. Starting next week, when Advent begins, we'll be hearing more of our Gospel stories from Mark.

Liturgically, the Church calls this Sunday "Christ the King" Sunday, a day to honor and celebrate that Jesus is our King, our Lord over all that we are and all that we do.

And on a day that we are called upon to remember that, Jesus gives us these last words of advice, in this morning's Gospel passage.

Feed the hungry, and give the thirsty a drink. Welcome the stranger and clothe the naked. Visit the sick, and visit the prisoner.

The last two weeks Jesus has been teaching his disciples what they need to do while he's gone, and what he expects to see when he comes back. This week's Gospel message is the conclusion of those teachings. And really, it's all you need to know to be a good person and a faithful disciple of Christ, summed up in just a few sentences:

Feed the hungry, and give the thirsty a drink. Welcome the stranger and clothe the naked. Visit the sick and visit the prisoner.

If you do those things, you are following Christ. In fact, you're serving him, because Jesus has taught us that he stands in total solidarity with the people who need his mercy. When we serve them, we serve him.

It's a great mission statement, and perfectly sums up how you should treat other people and what your world would look like if we really all did respect the sovereignty of Jesus.

And it's one of my favorite Bible verses.

What are your favorite Bible verses?

I took that question to several friends and family members this week, and really wasn't surprised by the answers.

I heard John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A friend of mine reminded me of the verses of God calling Moses to lead the Hebrews out of slavery. She was particularly touched by Moses protesting that he couldn't confront Pharaoh because he had a stuttering problem, to which God responds:

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭11-12‬ NIV)

The same friend also loved reading about a Jesus' gentle humility in the Garden of Gethsemene:

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭26‬:‭39‬ NIV)

Another friend of mine liked to read about Joshua's very simple declaration of his faith:

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭15‬ b NIV)

But for a lot of us, our favorite verses are the ones that comfort us in trying times, like this one from the book of Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬ NIV)

Or the incredibly familiar words of Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (‭Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭1‬ KJV)

Or these words from Matthew's Gospel:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭25-26‬ NIV)

Or these words from the prophet Isaiah:

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (‭Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭7-8‬ NIV)

Or King Solomon's reassurance of the order of the world that we read in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬ KJV)

Although you may be more familiar with the nice bouncy '60s song with those lyrics.

And some of us love the verses that teach us something we didn't know, and even challenge us to a more mature form of discipleship. I think of several spots in the Sermon on the Mount:

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭44‬ NIV)

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭20-21, 24‬ NIV)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. (‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬ NIV)

Though, of course, I might not even be able to guess some of your favorite Bible verses, because sometimes you find your favorite verse for very personal reasons.

I really like this one, from the beginning of Jeremiah's story, when he questions how a person as young as him could do everything God asked him to do:

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. (‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1‬:‭7-8‬ NIV)

And I love this verse, from the prophet Micah, which beautifully articulate what I strive to do in my ministry:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭8‬ NIV)

What is your favorite Bible verse?

Yours might be among the ones I read this morning. Yours might be one that will come up on a Sunday, soon. Yours might be one that you have bookmarked in your own Bible. Yours might be one we hardly ever read in a worship service. Yours might be one I'd never guess.

You might not have a favorite verse. You might just really like the whole Bible.

If that's you, you're in rather good company. Because when the words of our Scripture first came to be they didn't actually see paper for several generations. Rather, they were memorized, and repeated, and passed down between friends, and from parents to children, so no one would forget them.

Our forefathers and -mothers in the faith wanted us to have everything we find in these words: familiarity, comfort, reassurance, hope, support, and even challenge.

Whatever your favorite verse of the Bible is, know that that's one special way that God speaks to you, that God nudges you to discipleship.

And, more than anything, know that honoring Christ as our King means making his words words that we live by, and using them to strive all the more to be like him.

Amen.

11-16-14: Talent

Talent

Matthew 25: 14-30 (NIV)

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

If you've ever worked with money or investments before, then the parable Jesus tells his disciples in the morning's Gospel reading will make a lot of sense to you.

Like with last week's Gospel reading, Jesus is trying to get his disciples ready for the near future, when Jesus won't be with them anymore, and they will need to carry on his ministry without him, prepared for an ultimate day when Jesus returns.

So Jesus is trying to explain to them what exactly it will mean for them to carry out Jesus' ministry in his absence, and be ready for him to come back.

Last week, Jesus talked about something most of us can relate to: a wedding. This week, Jesus is relating to his disciples with something even more common than weddings: money.

We all have it, we all need it, we all spend it. Like it or not, money is so common we can all understand this story.

So this story is about a master and three servants. We really don't know what it is this master does for a living, just that he is super wealthy, and he's made his incredible wealth through excellent returns on his investments.

Now, for some reason, he has to go away for a while, and he needs to leave not only his land, but also his work, in the hands of his servants. So he leaves each of his three servants with a ton of money. It's worth noting that even though the translation I read from this morning, the NIV, says that the master left his servants with "bags of gold", other translations say the master left his servants with a specific form of currency called a "talent".

The master goes away, for a long time, and then comes back, and immediately wants to judge what his servants accomplished in his business while he was gone. One servant had five bags of gold, and invested it, so he could return to his master ten bags of gold. The second only had two bags of gold, but also invested it, and doubled it, returning to his master four bags of gold. But the poor third servant was entrusted with one bag of gold, and was so afraid of his master, and so afraid he would lose his master's money, that he didn't do anything with the money but bury it. The master, Jesus tells us, was ecstatic with the first two servants, and commended them on their good work, but was furious with the third servant, and took his bag of gold away and gave it to the first servant, the one who had ten bags of gold, effectively kicking the third servant out of his business.

So those are the facts. But what are we supposed to learn from this Gospel story?

The unfortunate truth is that this story has been seriously misinterpreted and misunderstood, by some. Some people have gotten hung up on the fact that Jesus talks about money in this story, and a number of outspoken televangelists have proclaimed that Jesus teaches us through this text that God blesses rich people. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just do a Google search for "prosperity Gospel".

No offense to those preachers, but I don't think that's what Jesus is getting at with this parable. So let's get past the symbol of the gold bags, and get to the real meat of this story--the work of the servants.

Yes, Jesus is telling us a story about three people working with money. But the more important detail here is what the master actually asked his servants to do while he was away. He asked them to do three things:

• Continue his business
• Act like him
• Take a risk

So let's talk about where we fit into this story. If you haven't figured it out, we're the servants, and Jesus is the master. Jesus, over the course of a year, planted a strong ministry with many very dedicated followers. He did as much earth-side as he possibly could. Then he died on the cross, and went on to heaven. Now he's left his life's work, his ministry, with his servants--us. He's entrusted his ministry to us.

And, like the master in this story, he's done the work of dividing his ministry up amongst us, rather than leaving all the work in one piece and making us divvy up the responsibilities. Not everyone has been entrusted with the same thing. Jesus has entrusted some of us with a ton, and some of us with only a little.

But, from now until he comes back someday--whenever that is--he expects us to take what he's entrusted us with and do three things with it:

• Continue his work, his ministry
• Act like him
• And take risks

And, since we're not really dealing with money here, what was it that Jesus entrusted us with? Talent.

And the scripture says that master left his servants with certain amounts of his gold "according to their ability", so the first bit of Good News is that Jesus only expects us to do our personal best, what we can. The master in this story was just as impressed with the servant who raised up 2 more bags of gold as he was with the servant who raised up five more bags of gold, because they both worked to their own potential. They both gave it their all and did what they could.

The master in the story had a business of making investments, and he wanted his servants to continue that business by doing exactly what he did to make that fortune--invest the money and get a big return on that investment. If you've ever made any kind of an investment before, whether it was buying a savings bond, or starting a business, or buying a house or paying college tuition--any kind of investment--you know you're risking what you're putting inin the hopes that you'll get much more out of it.

Jesus' business was planting the seeds for the Kingdom of God in this world. Jesus' business was changing the way we all treat each other, and changing our priorities. His business was to radically love the people who had nothing to offer him in return--to cure the sick, to befriend the people no one liked, and to stand up for the people who couldn't stand up for themselves, like women and children. By doing this, he wanted to make a world ruled by love, justice, and servanthood, with no one in charge but God.

That's the work he's entrusted us with until he comes back. That's a very tall order, so rest assured that he doesn't expect any one of us to take all of that on. The master in Jesus' story was fabulously wealthy, but only handed out a few bags of gold to each of his servants. In the same way, Jesus has entrusted each one of us with just a very small part of the work it would take to bring about the Kingdom of God, a world that's ruled by God and reflects God's image.

That's what Jesus wants to see when he comes back. And he's entrusted us with our own unique abilities, or with our talents, to do what we can to minister to this world the same way Jesus would. We can't all do the same kind of ministry, and we can't all take on the same amount of ministry work, but we can all do something, and whatever that something is, Jesus expects us to do it.

He expects us to risk our time and resources to do what he would do: to take care of the sick and the hungry, to be a friend to someone that doesn't have one, and to speak up for people who have been silenced.

However you do that in this life, you are doubling the talents Jesus entrusted to you. But when we fail to bring that kind of love to the people who need it, we take the precious gifts Jesus' trusted us with, and we bury them so they can't help anyone. Don't bury your talent. Use it.

And when you do, know that someday you will see Jesus face to face, and he will say, Well done, good and faithful servant.

Amen.