The parable of Jesus this morning may be most appealing to financial advisers who recommend appropriate investments to their clients. What they’re actually doing is to persuade their clients to trust their choice. “Invest in this bioenergy company I recommend. If you give me five, I’ll give you five or more in the next ten years. It’ll never be less.” For certain, they will never bury their clients’ investments in the ground but do their best to multiply.
The parable of Jesus is not about how much each servant profits from the talents their master entrusts. There are at least two things that matter. One is what to do with what’s entrusted to them, and the other is the servants’ attitudes and perceptions of the master. Let’s reflect on the issue of attitude first. The first three servants have the same attitude. They recognize the master trusts them so that they’re given the task of managing his finances. They’re serious about the trust their master shows to them. Their attitude is “good and trustworthy” according to the master. On the other hand, the last one has a peculiarly feisty and rebellious attitude toward the master. He’s afraid to lose one talent entrusted but is not afraid to share his perception of the master who is “a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed.” The master is considered the one who just wants profit without taking any risk of investment. We can imagine his behavior of entrusting his finances to the servants may have felt like a trap. In the last servant’s mind, he might wonder, “What wicked intention does he hide behind that he would entrust his talents to the servants? What if I lose his talent and am told to pay back with a penalty?” He chooses to do nothing about it and keeps it somewhere safe by burying it in the ground. So he says to his master, “...I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” This parable can easily be interpreted as Jesus’ way of teaching how important it is to use one’s resources and abilities productively. I’m not at all convinced that Jesus is interested in productivity management. Productivity management is an academic discipline that looks at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of individuals, teams, and organizations. I don’t think it needs Jesus to prove why time management, work-life balance, or process management matters. This analogy of talents must be congruent with the gospel of Jesus. This parable may well be about the life in which one discovers and cultivates the kingdom of God present in the depth of being. What’s entrusted to the servants or Jesus' followers is not that of resources, abilities, gifts, or talents but that of the indwelling presence of God. This talent or “talanton (τάλαντον)” in Greek originally meant “pair of scales, weight, definite weight, anything weighed.” This weight or what Jesus would call “my yoke” that is light or “holy burden” that is easy is available to all. But it is intentionally entrusted to those who have decided to follow his way of life. (Matthew 11:28-30) Let’s recall that Jesus teaches this parable as well as all the other ones to his disciples, which takes up two chapters of Matthew 24 and 25. It’s not taught to all. This parable is specifically for his followers. For them, the weight of the presence of God is the weight of crucifixion and resurrection. The more one sits and sees oneself in the radiant light of God’s presence, the better one sits and sees oneself in the world, knowing what one is called to become and behave skillfully and wisely for the sake of others in the name of love and compassion. The deeper one contemplates the Presence, the deeper one is involved in the world, becoming the peaceful presence. Metaphorically, this may be what five talents bear fruit of five more, two with two more. “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” Friends, the weight of God’s presence is entrusted to those who have chosen to follow the way of Jesus. This is never an easy way to live life but a good and trustworthy one as Jesus invites, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” I have three points for us to reflect on as we celebrate the feasts of All Saints and All Souls this morning.
1. About the Beatitudes The Beatitudes are the eight (or nine) blessings Jesus recounts in the gospel according to St. Matthew. These blessings can be considered as a spiritual recipe for one to become a saint or Christlike. If we substitute wherever “blessed” appears with “ Jesus,” we can easily see the Beatitudes describe the life of Jesus. Jesus is poor in spirit. He mourns for those who suffer. He is meek. He hungers and thirsts for what’s right in the eyes of God. He is pure in heart. He seeks inner and outer peace. And he’s courageous and persistent for the kingdom of heaven to be actualized both inwardly and outwardly, which provokes spiritual and socio-religious resistance. The way the Beatitudes depict who Jesus is works the same for the infamous passage used in a wedding ceremony from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” Replace “love” with “Jesus.” Saints are not some special people with superpowers but the ones who live like Jesus, whose rule of life is based on the Beatitudes and love. 2. How do we become saintly? Always the heart of any teaching is how. How do we become Christlike? Let’s notice the very first blessing of the Beatitudes, which I see as the key to the rest of the blessings. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I think we’ve heard enough (at least from me) about the kingdom of heaven or God’s inner presence. It’s always the kingdom of God that matters. That’s the essence of Jesus’ gospel, and it’s truly “good” news because it’s available to all. Placing oneself in quietude (the state of being still) is the first step to enter the state of being poor in heart. This type of poverty at first feels more like material poverty. In quietude, one faces total poverty of one’s socioeconomic accomplishments such as financial wealth, possessions, social recognition, etc. as well as well-respected identities one has built. In the stillness of the body and the stillness of the mind, we are completely stripped of all we have. No materials can have an impact on this process of stilling the mind and the body. Money can certainly help one find a luxurious place or seat to meditate but it is still the person sitting on it that has to do the work. It might produce anxiety or emotional discomfort to be naked in silence but it’s the place where we simply are without any wonderful or distasteful masks we put on. Everything becomes baggage to detach from. We then enter into spiritual poverty in our hearts only to concentrate on God’s presence. We enter the kingdom of God inwardly through our brokenness that is created by unhealthy clinging and craving. 3. Mr. Rogers’ 10-second practice as a way to celebrate the feast of All Souls Mr. Rogers facilitated this 10-second practice at the 1997 Daytime Emmy Awards and the 1999 TV Hall of Fame. I would like us to try this as we remember all those who are gone before us on the feast of All Souls. “So many people have helped us to come where we are right now. Some of them are here, some are far away, and some are even in heaven. All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. On the feast of All Saints and All Souls, let’s keep those who are no longer with us physically. Would you just take along with me 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. 10 seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time. 10 SECONDS OF SILENCE Whomever you’ve been thinking about, imagine how pleased they must be to know you’re thinking of them right now.” “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” The Pharisees’ question is a trap for two reasons. If Jesus says yes to paying taxes to the emperor, he’s not only unpatriotic but also religiously unfaithful in that he’s supporting the Roman regime. If he says no, he can be reported to the Roman authorities as a political rebel, risking his life in jail.
Despite the Pharisees’ attempt to put Jesus in religious and legal trouble, they are amazed by his response and leave him alone after all. Yet, Jesus’ response, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” escapes the Pharisees’ trap. He does sound like “yes to paying taxes to the emperor” as well as “no to paying taxes to the emperor” on what’s God’s. He sounds like separating God from the political realm. For this reason, some interpret this particular saying of Jesus as the main source for the separation of church and state. Yet, how differently and creatively the saying of Jesus is interpreted among scholars or priests is not our concern. We would like to focus on what Jesus is doing here. Despite knowing the Pharisees’ question is deceivingly packaged in respect and honor with the hostile intention of troubling him religio-politically, he does what he is called to do. That is, to remind them of the gospel of the indwelling kingdom of God. He brings God’s presence into the presence of the emperor. God’s presence is dismissed in the question of the Pharisees. The kingdom of God is unimaginable because they look for it outside their hearts. So they strive for a political revolution, probably envisioning a theocratic nation. Jesus confronts it. So he says, “Render unto God the things that are God’s.” This asks us to ponder on what belongs to God. To be more specific, it’s about who belongs to God. Do we belong to God? Or Does God belong to us? The latter question doesn’t make sense because that version of God would just be a god we create in our image. The former question of whether we belong to God or not depends on whether we live in the presence of God or the kingdom of God. If we’re in God’s kingdom, we’re in God. Jesus’ teaching of rendering unto God then returns to his core mission of the gospel that God is to be sought, found, and experienced in our minds. This inner experience, this internal encounter with God is the greatest grace that is available to all human beings. There’s nothing more precious or valuable than one’s experience of God’s inner presence. It trivializes everything there is, especially that of the emperor. Today’s lesson can simply be summarized with the well-known phrase, “in, but not of.” Christians are in the world but not of the world. I would add one more phrase to this, reflecting Jesus’ consistent focus on God’s kingdom: “in, but not of, to dwell into.” (Yes, “dwell into,” not “dwell in.”) We are in this world, but not of it, only when we dwell into the presence of God. St. Paul would say, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) To actualize the “in, but not of, to dwell into” we are to renew our minds in contemplation, in silent prayer, in meditation, in alertness, ardency, and mindfulness. The fruit of it all is that we cannot help but practice the virtues of generosity and compassion. Not because we would like to do it but because we just cannot do otherwise. Our lives are not of ours but of God. We render ourselves unto God because we’re God’s. This rendering, of course, is nothing new. Don’t we all know what happens at the act of christening in the liturgy of Holy Baptism? (BCP, p. 308) Then the Bishop or Priest places a hand on the person's head, marking on the forehead the sign of the cross [using Chrism if desired] and saying to each one N., you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever. Amen. In the philosophy of language, there are three fundamental principles according to Gottlob Frege, the 19th-century German philosopher. The second one is called the context principle: “never to ask for the meaning of a word in isolation, but only in the context of a proposition.” For example, let’s think of the word “wafer.” If someone at a grocery store is looking for a wafer, we know what it is. But if the word is used in a church setting, we know it means a communion bread or host (hostia in Latin, meaning a victim). A corny dad joke plays with words used in different contexts. Here’s another example of the context principle: “Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?” “In case they get a hole in one!”
Not only in language but also in reality this context principle can be applied. In order to function appropriately, skillfully, and wisely, one needs to know the context in which one is situated and surrounded. Knowing the context, and recognizing one’s reality here and now is the key to understanding the king in Jesus’ parable whose character appears to be moody if not deceiving. Let’s be quite frank about the wedding banquet in the parable. Would you honestly want to be invited to the wedding? For me, no. My reason for nay is that I might be thrown into the outer darkness if I don’t properly dress up for the wedding. Why would I put myself in trouble of being imprisoned for breaking the dress code? Let’s not forget what happens to those without a wedding robe: “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 22:13) What about you? I have no desire to defend the king’s erratic behavior. Yet, there’s a consistent pattern. He’s actually quite fair to all the invitees as long as they themselves are mindful of the very fact that they’re invited to the wedding banquet, not to a birthday party, etc. In the parable, there are four groups of invitees. Group 1 is the one who declines the king’s invitation. They’re busy with their busy everyday routines and have no time and interest to spend their precious time elsewhere even if it’s the king who invites them. Group 2 is a bunch of murderers who intend to kill the king’s messengers. Group 3 consists of random people, good and bad, who are invited from the streets. Out of Group 3, Group 4 is the most unfortunate one who is at the banquet without wedding robes. It makes sense that Group 2 is punished according to their evil behavior. What may be most puzzling is the case of Group 1 when compared to Group 4. When guests in Group 4 are thrown into the outer darkness, nothing happens to the ones in Group 1. There must be something between the behaviors of Group 1 and Group 4. What is it then? The context principle mentioned above can be applied here. Group 4 isn’t aware of their context of being invited to the wedding banquet whereas Group 1 is mindful of what this event is about and says no. Knowing where they are makes a radical difference in them. Radical enough that Group 4 ends up in the outer darkness, probably in prison and Group 1 continues to carry on with their lives. The key is to know one’s reality, context, here and now. It’s to be fully alert and mindful of the present moment. This might sound like too easy or trivial. But is it really? How often do we get stuck in the past or jump in the future? The past brings regrets, guilt, or even shame. The future creates anxiety and fear. The past we cannot change and the future we cannot know too often becomes our unreal and nonexistent reality so that we do not live in the present. The present carries our past actions as well as their corresponding results. The future depends on the results of our present actions. What matters is our present actions yet we don’t live in the present. This situation is where guests in Group 4 are stuck. They don’t realize where they are right now and do not act appropriately to their present reality, which is to wear a wedding robe. One of the numerous expressions to describe God is God as the Ultimate Reality. Our thoughts about the past and the future get in our way to the Ultimate Reality, which is in other words the kingdom of God. Thoughts are like the dust of our unskillful becoming of who we are or simply the ego. The Ultimate Reality is available to every single one of the entire humanity. Yet, who among them is available to that reality? Thus says Jesus, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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