Copyright 2008 – The Anglican Parish of Stephen & St Mary, Mt Waverley
Not to be copied or republished without written permission
http://www.stephenandmary.org.au
PENTECOST 27 A (Proper 28)
November 16 2008
Risking With God
By Grant Bullen
Marriage and Risk
Counselling young couples prior to marriage is one of the more futile things a parish
priest does. Once people hear those wedding bells, all words are useless, no matter how
well chosen. But you’ve got to try… it’s expected of us. My ‘little chat’ runs something
like this…….
What you’ve been given in your relationship is the most amazing treasure. And it’s so
precious you’ll never want it to change. So the temptation is to put it away in a safe
deposit box, so it won’t be exposed to risk in any way. ‘This is so fabulous I’m going to
hold this love forever, just the way it is.’ And having secured this relationship in the safe
storage of marriage, you’re then free to get on with life… with career, with home, with
travel… knowing that this treasure waits for you. Even if everything else is taken from
you, this will always be there.
But in the safe deposit box, there’s no air… no light. Yes it’s very safe... but without risk,
without adventure, without investment, the treasure of your love must eventually go
stale… and die. And one day you’ll go back to the safe deposit of your marriage, and
find nothing there.
You’ve got to risk it. You can’t hold it safe – your only hope is in daring to let it fly, to
let it grow, to let it change into something new and entirely unexpected. Sure it’s a risk,
sure it’s not safe… but think of the rewards on offer… and it is the only way.
At this point the young couple smile sweetly at each other… and you know they didn’t
hear a single word… and we retreat to the safer ground of how many bridesmaids she’s
having...
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The Story of the Talents (Matthew 25. 14-30)
Today we receive another subversive parable from Jesus. And as always we need to
shake ourselves free of old misconceptions. This is story, not allegory – the harsh master
is not supposed to represent God. And this is not a divine affirmation of speculation in
real estate or the share market.
Lets look briefly at how economics worked back then. A tiny elite were rich and most
people were poor. In a society like ancient Palestine the ordinary people had been stable
– small land-holdings, traditional crafts and a village society that emphasised hospitality
and sharing. But this whole world was destroyed with Roman occupation – the rich
became ruthless in their avarice. The sort of trading this parable refers to is only too well
known by the peasants listening to Jesus. The richi used their capital to make loans to
peasant farmers for seed to grow their crop. Interest rates were outrageous – between
60% and 200% – and when the crops failed, as they will always do periodically, the land
was appropriated as collateral. Large numbers of peasants in Jesus’ time had lost their
land and were hired casually as day labourers on large estates owned by absentee
landlords... or were indeed actual slaves. And so the whole village structure collapsed,
socially as well as economically, as people gave up communal sharing and retreated to
that mean ‘every man for himself’ mentality... hiding away the little they had left from
their neighbours... reserving it for ‘me and mine’.
So economically, that’s what’s happening in this parable. The absentee landowner is
expecting his ‘staff’ to increase his wealth. The trading they are doing is this business of
extending loans at exorbitant rates in order to grab land from the poor – that’s where the
fabulous returns are coming from. So don’t expect the crowd to approve of the first two
‘successful’ operators.
And what of the third? The crowd would identify with him for his honest fear. He’s
right – the landowner is a hard ‘bastard’ and he is ruthless in his expectation and
violence. That’s the way it was. This third ‘staffer’ is afraid and so tries to play it safe
by hiding his master’s money away. But it’s no use. He fails the boss’s expectations and
loses everything.
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There’s the parable... Do you get it? (It’s a tough one!) The key verse is (29)...
“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.”
This is what a peasant standing in the crowd hears... This is not the voice of God, but it
is the voice of the world… a world the poor knew all too well. No matter how hard they
laboured, no matter how hard they struggled, the big-men, the kings, the masters, the
soldiers and even the priests, took the tiny little they had... all of it and more. The rich
got richer while they, the ordinary people, were ground into servile poverty. Jesus’
parable confirms what they know from bitter experience.
So what is Jesus’s subversive intent here?
Well... imagine a village elder trudging home to his broken impoverished village after
hearing this parable... turning it over in his mind. ‘It’s true – they’re going to take
everything and leave us with nothing.’ At first there’s only bitter sadness, but then in a
moment of grace the light goes on... ‘Jesus is right… there is no point in playing it safe,
in trying to hold onto the little I’ve got, because it will only get taken from me in the end.
I might as well risk it all for the Kingdom. I might as well risk it all with God, because in
the end, it’s the only hope we’ve got.’ And so he goes home and pulls back the hearth
stone and gathers the pathetic little hoard of small coins he’s hidden there... calls a
village meeting... and spreads his stash on the table... looks the men in the eye and says...
‘This is our money. We’ve got to risk it with God. Who’s prepared to share the little
they have left?
Do you hear the good news now? At that moment that village elder who was formally
chained in fear and despair... is free... and his village has a chance of new life.ii
Application
So where in your life are you trying desperately to protect something you are afraid to
lose... where are you withdrawing from God and life in order to keep a treasure safe? My
opening illustration was of marriage... Or I could speak of a couple... who can’t have
children and yet somehow miraculously one beautiful child comes. So precious... and all
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their temptation is to protect that child, keep her safe, smother her in 24 hour watchful
care. But they somehow hear the wisdom – when you love some-one (or something)
you’ve got to open your hands and let them be free... to risk them with God in the
adventure of life...
But what’s your example? Where does your life and this parable meet?
Today I want to finish by talking about the connection of this parable with the churchiii...
indeed our parish... Which is so good in our lives, such a help and comfort, that the
temptation is to keep it safe... untouched... preserved for us... And the more we feel it
threatened, the more desperately we hold on...
Two vignettes and three questions...
Vignette 1
I was once priest in a church of wonderful people – a lot like here, except this church was
very small... and thus quite poor... and thus precarious. On the day when this same
gospel was read, we were standing around the altar at the Offertory (CE style) – only
about 20 of us. When the collection bowl was put on the altar, by way of a joke I said,
“If we were serious about today’s gospel we’d take this out and risk it with God.” One
woman said, ‘The Melbourne Cup?’ I said, ‘Which horse?’ ‘SAINTLY of course’ was
her reply. I looked at her... she looked at me. I gave her the collection bowl... Great
peals of laughter and the Spirit crackled in our midst. The year? 1996! (What’s your
history of Melbourne Cup winners like?)
Vignette 2
Same parish, six years later... We’re much stronger now; in fact we can even afford an
Assistant Curate. Most of the congregation are under 50, and 75% of them have come in
my time... so we’re strongly bonded. But I must have pushed too hard one Sunday and a
delegation came to see me. ‘We want you to leave it alone Grant… we like it this way…
it works for us this way… this is a treasure in our lives and we don’t want it disturbed.
It’s not easy for us living how we do – the pressure of work and family. So much is
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expected of us. We just want to come here on Sundays and have some peace and some
comfort. Just leave it alone will you.’
In next Sunday’s sermon I tried to reply...
“I understand these feelings… they are absolutely reasonable. But as your priest I need
to say with all the clarity I can muster… the crisis is upon us… If we don’t risk this
treasure in hoping it will deepen and change and grow, if we don’t take this wonderful
capital and invest it, then we’ll come one day looking for it… and it’ll be gone.
Three Questions
1. At what part of the journey was that church closer to living out today’s parable?
2. Which vignette are we closest to as a parish?
3. If we were to live out of this parable as a parish, what would we need to do?
Conclusion
I’d love to have a crack at answering that third question, but I’ve used my allotted time.
If you’re interested in chatting about it, come and see me – certainly there’d be coffee...
and perhaps even wine!
Can I leave you with the image of that village elder, spreading his last coins on the table.
He’s a free man... and if the village responds they’ve got a chance again. Not because
the world is any less ruthless or cruel, but because they’re risking with God in the hope
of the Kingdom. And that’s where LIFE is!
Not all of whom were actually Romans resident in Palestine. Most in fact were people who’d become
rich through collaboration.
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There are strong echoes of that startling teaching of Jesus, “For those who want to save their life will lose
it, and those who lose their life…will find it.” (Matt. 16.25)
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Because certainly at the time this story was collated into a gospel, it was directed more at a church
community than individual listeners. What would Matthews community, the church for whom this gospel
is written, what would they hear? They were a small dispersed Jewish community surrounded by a
disinterested Gentile society, wrestling with a crucial decision… do they withdraw behind closed doors and
become a little ghetto of purity, or do they take the risk and engage the foreign world around them? The
latter path is one of high risk, because it inevitably means change… radical change… and they may end up
losing everything. This story speaks directly to them – play it safe, dig your treasure into a secure hole and
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you’ll lose even the little you have. There’s only one way of any hope – risk it all by flinging open the
door.
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