Thirty-third Sunday, 1996 (#1)

Relationships between people

In regard to this first reading, from the Book of Proverbs about the capable wife, I think the only appropriate comment is an apology. Why they chose that reading is beyond me, frankly. I think there is a good deal of stretching to fit it into this whole notion of the end of time and the parable that I just read from Matthew; it would be all right, you know, if there were a comparable passage in the book of Matthew about a capable husband. Unfortunately, there’s not. Quite seriously, this is a good example of, certainly, the patriarchal environment out of which the scriptures, both of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, came. But, if you know anything about the Book of Proverbs, always women are depicted as slightly slippery characters, and so, when you get a good one, according to this writer, you know you have a real predator will. There are major problems with that..., not just major, but severe and agonising problems with that. Okay. But, as I said, the only way you can save it is in the context of these last few Sundays, last Sunday with the parable of the ten bridesmaids, and this one about the delay of the return of this master... This parable too, like last Sunday, was probably constructed to give some kind of reassurance and allay the disappointment of those people who were waiting for the return of Jesus, and the culmination of God’s creation, and its delay. So, just like last Sunday the word was "be prepared," so this Sunday it’s set up somewhat differently. What’s the point of this story? Well, there’s a bunch of points, like most parables. But, what can we reasonably do with that? Well, I’d like to make a proposal. I think the question that is in play here, at least , certainly one of the questions that’s in play, is the nature of relationships between people. Now, we have this Master-Slave relationship here, the Master, obviously is allegorised here as God. And it is possible to use the metaphor of God as Master and us as slaves but when you do that you have to remember that the Bible uses all kinds of other metaphors; God is Husband and we are wives, God is Shepherd and we are sheep, God is rock and we are... People are stabilised by God. So, it is really important that you keep this whole array of metaphors in mind. I think the critical issue here is contained in the response of this third phrase: "I knew that you were a harsh man, and I was afraid." What is that? I mean, is there anything in the parables to indicate that this guy is harsh? He disposes of this enormous amount of money, millions of dollars, or the equivalent, to these three people. If there is no indication in the parable of this sense that the master is harsh, what is going on then, with this act of protestation. I think the key word is "I was afraid; I was fearful." Of course the great synonym for "I was fearful" is "I was disconnected from you." And I would even make a further proposal that is that the fact of disconnection that engenders the fear, rather than the other way around. I mean, in other words, we have a fairly self-serving, self-exculpating, statement as to "why I did what I did" in the mouth of the third slave. Because I did not trust, because I did not live out my life trusting you, because, you know, that’s the word that is precisely given, "trust-worthy servant..., trust-worthy." Trust is always mutual. In other words, the third slave was so self-engrossed that he was unaware of, incapable of, seeing that he was trusted, and, therefore, he could not trust. And, of course, the playing out of trust takes time. You can say "well, I trust you, now let’s get on with it and forget it." No, no--trust precisely says duration. And that’s the point of the parable. To trust in a God that is known, often enough, by God’s absence. Yet, to be animated in one’s life, to live, to take risks, to expend one’s self... That’s, I think, what is going on here.

The third slave was simply self-enclosed. And , so he just said, "well, I knew you were tough, I’m gonna play it close to my vest. Safety first. Cover your backside." And it’s precisely the connections of the first and second, and I don’t think this is romanticising, or sentimentalising, there was some sort of human connection--the text itself talks about trust. And the point of trust is, very clearly, mutual enrichment, to put it in the terms of the parable. And trust is proven by being exercised. I mean, a very simple thing, I think, is going on here. If you look at those times in your life where you have been trusted, where you feel you have really been trusted, that does not make you passive--I don’t think. In fact, I suggest that’s the only thing that gives us the energy to really live... with some exuberance. And so, that’s very clear that that’s eminently absent here in the case of the third slave.

So, the message is succinct: if we believe that God exists, if we believe that God is real, if we believe that our very lives, the very world we live in, this splendid, multicoloured, often enough messy, certainly turbulent reality that constitutes the human scene, then we can engage in it. If not, of course, there is a brittle and, often enough, self-pitying, self-regarding self-enclosure that seems to be the only alternative. And, of course, as we shall see with the culminating reading of next Sunday of Jesus Christ the King, the great Judgement scene, which finishes the same chapter from Matthew that we’ve been reading from. Trust goes someplace; it’s not just an endurance test. The dynamic of trust that we believe that God has for us, and that we are supposed to reciprocate, goes someplace..., eventuates in this great community. So, that’s for next Sunday. Here, I think, we are called to some fairly profound and searching questions about the quality of our own lives. Where do I stand in my life, really? I get by, I survive, I’m indistinguishable from most of my piers...but where am I really? This is a very useful question: if God exists, I think, then that is a very urgent question.

To other sermons