Lectionary Reflection—19 November 2017
14-18“It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money.
19-21“After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he’d doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
22-23“The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’
24-25“The servant given one thousand said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’
26-27“The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could’ve done would’ve been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would’ve gotten a little interest.
28-30“‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’
As we’re preparing for the season of Advent, the Lectionary seems to always have us read about the “Second Coming” of Christ. I always find this problematic. Not least because I don’t agree with their view of “the end times” but because I feel that the gospels offer better pre-advent reading. But, I’m not in charge of the Lectionary so we’re kind of stuck with these “Second Coming” readings.
In the Lectionary reading this morning, we’re given two such passages—1 Thessalonians 5.1-10b and Matthew 25.14-30. As I’ve already addressed 1 Thessalonians in another series, I thought I’d continue my look at Matthew 25.
Last week we looked at the first part of Matthew 25. There I stated that the story Jesus tells about the ten women deals with the delay between his ascension and the then soon coming war between the Jews and the Romans. So I love the way The Message starts out the next story Jesus tells. Jesus says, “It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip.” That means this story is another story about the delay between Jesus’ ascension and the war with Rome. And we can certainly see that. As the Groom returned to the same women he left, so too does the Master return to the same servants he left behind.
But what of the contents of the story?
The answer is something that my Reformed friends won’t like.
The story is all about works.
The story shows us that there’s more to being a follower of Jesus than just “belief” or “blind faith.” We’re supposed to take that faith and do something with it. James, a brother of Jesus and one of his follower, wrote—
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in [living the Christian life] if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
“God-acts”.
I love that.
Notice that “God-acts” equates to taking care of the poor.
Peppered throughout James 2 is this faith and works tie-in:
Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
“The full meaning of ‘believe’ in the Scripture…includes…action.” I love that.
I’ve been told most of my Christian life that it doesn’t matter what you do, you can’t “earn your salvation.” And that’s absolutely true.
However…
The faith one has must “include…action.”
As James states later, “The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse” (vv. 26). Or, as it’s said in the Common English Bible, “As the lifeless body is dead, so faith is dead without actions” (adapted).
In other words, like the story Jesus tells above, it matters what one does with their faith. We’re not supposed to just hide it away, buried from life. Our faith is supposed to make us act. And as James shows us, it’s to act on behalf of those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It’s because of our faith that we should side with the outcast, be they human or non-human.
If our faith doesn’t produces “God-acts” we should re-examine our faith. As James says, we’re just a corpse. Perhaps our “faith” isn’t really faith at all but just opinion.
~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
~~~
- Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Comments