Reaping Where You Haven’t Sowed: The Parable of the Talents

(Matthew 25: 14-30)

“Sir, I had heard that you were a hard man, reaping where you had not sown
and gathering where you had not scattered…”  --Matthew 25:24b

This is another passage that has always frightened me –always troubled me; I relate to the poor servant who has heard and believed that the master is ruthless and hard.  He panics when the master gives him the single talent and does what seems to him most prudent: he hides it in order to protect the master’s money –so that it can be safely returned to him when called for.  He avoids the risk of investment that the other two servants undertake, because in his heart he fears the master will take payment out of his hide if he loses the money.

So, he acts in what must have seemed a prudent way and is able to return the master’s money safely to him.  But, the master challenges this approach –this caution—and the servant is punished anway.

One thing I am troubled by when dealing with parables, when studying the teachings of Jesus in general, is the rush to allegorize or spiritualize everything.  The rush to disengage from the actual and make everything neat and tidy by turning it all immediately into symbols and a simple lesson; dismissing complications in order to create an easily digested lesson.

Of course a lesson is there, that was part of His mission –to teach us—but I like to remind myself: don’t be in such a rush to sum it up. To package it with a bow.  Don’t be in such a rush to make everything clear and simple and safe.  Spend some time with the actuality of His words.   Remember what He said about why He taught in parables:

“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” –Matthew 13: 13

Clearly Jesus is using parables not because they are the clearest form of communication, but for another reason –perhaps their staying power: the memorable nature of a brief, simple, narrative with a couple of memorable characters makes parables easy to remember and therefore easily transmittable by an oral culture.

But, for me, this speaks to an intent not to be clear and simple –but to be a little bit mysterious and definitely not to be afraid of being a little confusing.  So, I have to often remind myself: Don’t be in a rush to make everything clear and simple and safe.  Spend some time with the mystery, with the actuality of Jesus’s words. 

Spend some time with the actual of the story; contemplate the actual events, characters, images He chose.  Contemplate the whole of it –or find yourself one little troubling verse or line or word –even—and spend some time with it.  Don’t try to make it make sense. Don’t try to force an answer to appear before your eyes.  Just let yourself be a little troubled and maybe a little agitated.  Let the seed of that truth work its way into your soul, your mind, your heart. Inside you.

In this parable the master never denies what the servant says –that he is a hard master, and he never denies that he reaps where he has not sown.  He simply repeats to the servant what he has said.  Why?

Spend some time today with that master; with that servant. Why did Jesus use these two characters? Why did He tell His followers this particular story? And why did He use it to create an image of the Kingdom of God?  And –perhaps most importantly—why is He telling it to you, now, over 2000 years later?

Don’t rush to clarify it. Don’t rush to make sense.  Don’t bury the word in a mound of scholarship and footnotes and academic theological interpretations.  Those have value, and may help you at some point.  But first, just spend some time with that hard image, with that hard master, and see where God leads you.  Let God plant His seed in your silence, so that you can reap what He has sown.

Which son are you?

The Ways of the Lord Are Not Fair

Matthew 21: 28-32

 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son,
go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed
his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He
answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to
show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors
and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

 (The mass reading for this past Tuesday (Dec 13) has always troubled me.  I think my problem is, I take the Bible very personally.  I think God really is speaking to us (to all of us) through His word and I find it sometimes very challenging and very troubling (and very personal).  For instance, here I see myself in both of these brothers.  And so, here are a few thoughts on the Gospel. I prepared them for a homiletic class I was taking.  Let me know what you think.)

The ways of the Lord are not fair…

There were two sons.  And one day their father asked each to go out to the vineyard and work.  The first son said, NO. 

Maybe his NO meant, I don’t have time right now. Maybe it meant, I have other plans.

Maybe his NO meant I was hoping to take a nap.

I was going to hang out with my friends. Maybe it meant: The ways of the Lord are not fair!

But in the end, he repented and went to the vineyard and did what the father asked.

The second son said, YES, SIR. Very politely. Very respectfully. Possibly even sincerely.  And yet he didn’t go. He didn’t do what his father wanted.

The ways of the Lord are not fair.

Two sons. Two calls to action. And two very different reactions.

Which son are you?

Are you the one who says YES, maybe with the best of intentions, but somehow you just don’t do it? 

Or are you the one who says NO, perhaps you even make a fuss and say, “No way! I am not going to wash those dishes or take out that trash or clean the cat litter. Again!  It’s not fair! Why am I always the one who has to do it?  I washed the dishes last night! It’s just not fair.” But then… after you’re done fussing… the next thing you know you’re drying your hands and the dishes are done, the trash is out… or maybe you’ve trained the cat to change its own litter…

            Which son are you? 

            And what about those of us who say YES… We don’t mean to be hypocrites, do we?  Aren’t there always extenuating circumstances?  Isn’t it possible that the YES son really meant to do what his father told him?  Isn’t it possible he even set out immediately for the vineyard with the best of intentions but got distracted? Maybe he met a servant with news that the goats were loose and wandering in the street again or maybe there was a shepherd offering to round up the missing goats but he had needed his 1099 form signed and then a peddler came to the door selling GPS tracking devices for wandering goats so they’d never get lost again…  You see.  There are lots of reasons why the second son may have neglected his YES to the father.  Extenuating circumstances… right?

            By golly, if I were that second son, I might start thinking: The ways of the Lord are not fair! 

           So which one are you? 

            Well, I’ll tell you which one I am.  Like most of you, probably,  I’m both. How many times have I said, NO, but then had a change of heart and done what I was asked anyway? 

And how many times have I said YES but for some reason or another I just didn’t do it… Sadly, I couldn’t even begin to count.  A perfect example from my own life would be prayer.  How many times have I promised God that I would spend more time in prayer, if only He would help me with whatever trouble I was in? How many times have I promised to get up 30 minutes early to pray if only God will… fill in the blank!… Help me find my keys… Make the policeman not notice that I just ran a red light…   And in that moment of promise, that moment of desperation I am always very sincere. Yet, how quickly after the emergency passes do I begin to realize that my promises to God… My YES to God was unrealistic?  I can’t get up early to pray because I stayed up too late cleaning the cat litter and washing the dishes… Anyway, if I don’t get enough sleep, I’ll be cranky. And God doesn’t want me to be cranky.  And after all, I intended to do it!  I meant YES when I said it.  I really did!  I just… I just… I just didn’t do it. Does that ever happen to you?

So, truly brothers and sisters… I am both sons.

            So… what’s the big deal? We all do it. We all act like both… sometimes… Anyway, it’s pretty clear which one is the better son… The first one. The one who said NO.  Even the elders and the high priests tell Jesus that son at least did the father’s will. He at least went to the vineyard and worked.

And there is something to be said for that.  But, there is a risk in it too… saying NO can become a habit… Think of a two year old who has just learned a new word...  And we all know how hard habits can be to break.  They become part of us. They begin to shape us, to form our character and our conscience… We may start off saying NO simply as a way of asserting ourselves; you can’t boss me around. You can’t tell me what to do. I’m not your servant!  It’s our pride… Then one day –instead of repenting and going to the vineyard to work-- we just keep saying NO.  It’s become a way of life.

And, clearly there is also a risk in saying YES.  Late one Sunday night our next door neighbor called.  She was in the hospital. She felt anxious, alone. No family or friends visiting her. She was afraid. When my wife got off the phone she asked me if I would go visit this neighbor in the hospital. Without hesitating, I said, “YES. I’ll go tomorrow night.”  But then Monday night came and the washing machine was acting up and I had to fix it, and then it was dinner time and after that I was supposed to join a conference call to discuss a presentation. And then Tuesday night came and we had parent teacher conferences at school, so we didn’t get home until after 8pm. Then Wednesday night there was class at the seminary and then suddenly it was Friday and I realized I hadn’t thought of our neighbor for two days.  But by then she was already home.  I had meant to live me YES, but I didn’t do it.  And that too can become a way of life.  We say YES to so many things, good things, important things… constantly YES… but it’s unrealistic… and it can become a habit. A way of making ourselves look good and asserting our importance, by showing the world how busy we are…Look at all the important things I do (or plan to do)… And yet I forgot to make time for my neighbor who was sick, and lonely and afraid…

Which son are we supposed to be?

Well, there is one more son in today’s Gospel—a son we haven’t talked about yet—the one telling the story. Jesus is also the son of the Father.  And He truly is our model, the model for all sons and all daughters everywhere. When his Father calls Him to go to the vineyard not only does He say YES, but He lives YES. As Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians (2:1-11): This Son empties himself, and takes on the form of a slave.  He submits completely to the will of the Father “… becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” That is our model, hanging there on that cross on your wall or in any church, that is our model --complete self-emptying to the will of God.  That is how we are called to live. That is the son we are called to be.  We are called to say YES, and we are called to live it.

God's YES to us hangs on that cross; it is a YES that died for our sins.   

Ask yourself:Are the ways of the Lord unfair?   

You bet they are.  Blessed be the ways of the Lord.

“…worse off than before…”

12 December 2016

Matthew 12: 43-45b

  

“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and cannot find one. Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I came from.’ But on arrival, finding it unoccupied, swept and tidied, it then goes off and collects seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, and so that person ends up worse off than before.”

How is it that the best of our efforts often seem to only leave us “worse off than before…?”  We drive the evil spirit out and we feel a sense of relief and of release and of achievement.  The evil spirit that has plagued us has fled and we are back in control of our life. No more sin. No more of this addiction or that abuse or this habitual behavior.  No more resentment and bitterness. No more gossip and back-biting.  No more gazing at others with jealousy or as if they were merely objects for my own contemplation and pleasure.  No more letting the air out of my boss’s tires when the security guard is on break.  I am free of that demon and I am free to move on with my life.

But, it isn’t true.  As the Lord says here: the demon may leave for a time, but when it comes back and finds my house in order, it will return to take up residence –bringing “seven other spirits more wicked than itself.”  And then, I will be worse off than before.  I might as well not even try. I might as well just continue with my sin and my one demon –better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t, as the old saying goes. 

Sometimes when I am reading scripture, I simply want to throw up my hands and cry out:

What on earth do you want me from me?

I’ve been reading Matthew for the past couple of weeks and find many things in this Gospel to comfort me in my affliction and to afflict me in my “comfort.”  But this particular parable is simply perplexing –and fearfully so.   What is Christ saying?  To the early church perhaps He was giving an eschatological lesson and warning of troubles to come, as I find implied in a footnote to my New American “Study” Bible.  However, it seems to me that this is also very clearly meant as a lesson for the individual –as well.  A lesson with psychological as well as spiritual insight.  For me, the paradox in Jesus’s words is often the most important element. And here I find in this apparent lesson about driving a demon away, and cleaning up our spiritual house, the paradox that by making things better, we may –in the end-- only make them worse.  And that troubles me.  And that trouble makes me think that perhaps God is speaking something true, because the truth –though it will definitely set us free-- should rarely make us feel comfortable.

What is the lesson Jesus is really teaching here? Is it a lesson in resignation?  Acceptance?  Or is it a lesson in in vigilance and perseverance?  Yes –you may break your bad habit.  Yes, you may stop your sin.  Yes, you may even have the best intentions and a strong prayer life and good meditation practices and you may have begun praying the Rosary every day and maybe you’ve begun to tithe finally and you are intentionally turning the other cheek and avoiding near occasions of sin –Yes! You are cleaning your spiritual house.  But, watch out.  Sin isn’t about your strength or your habits or your will-power.  Sin is the state of a fallen world, and –like a spilled glass of milk—it spreads into every crack and crevice it can find. 

I wonder if Jesus wasn’t simply offering a fearful prognosis for our fallen state or for the future of the church.  I wonder if, perhaps He was simply explaining a truth of the spiritual life.  That yes, our best efforts will tend to be met --not with glory and hosannas! But with more trials. Despite our best efforts, the demons will come and they will only intensify their efforts to work on us. The more we clean our spiritual house, the more the demons will come to spend time there: tempting us and testing us.  And that makes me wonder if --perhaps-- the real paradox here is that the presence of these demons is a sign of our making spiritual progress? The more we try to clean house, the more we try to be the people God calls us to be --the more demons will come to test our resolve. The more they will try our patience and our perseverance.

As I pray on this, I think:  Herman –wake up.  Be vigilant.  You can’t escape these things.  You cannot escape these trials. The demons are real, and they are coming –even unto seven times seven times seven.  But, don’t be afraid.  Remember –you aren’t alone. And remember it isn't about you or your efforts.  it is about putting your faith in Christ! Trust Him.   Even in my darkest hour, the darkest night of my soul, I am never alone.  Remember: “I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth.”

When you fail, when your spirit falters, when the demons return (as we know they must) –do not despair.  You are not alone.  It is a hard path to follow, but on His way to the Cross our Lord showed us what we need to do. 

In the words of the prophet Isaiah, I offer you, dear friend, this invitation: 

“Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain…”