One of my favorite parables of Jesus is the parable of the talents in Matthew's gospel. The ancient equivalent to a One Percent-er entrusts three servants with his fortune (sorry--it was definitely a he, given the gender roles at the time). The three servants are given, respectively, five talents, three talents, and one talent. The servants that are given five talents and three talents invest the money and double it, while the servant who is given one talent buries the talent in the ground and returns the money to the master when he returns. The master praises the two servants who invested the money and gives them greater responsibility. The master punishes the servant who buried the treasure in the ground, claiming that he wasted a great opportunity.
In the ancient Middle Eastern world, when your master entrusted you with a large treasure, the only prudent, responsible thing to do was to bury the money in the ground. Think about it. There were no banks or financial institutions. Even paying for an armed guard over the treasure is risky; if someone knows about the treasure and the master's absence, they could try to overpower the guards. More importantly, it was considered sinful and profane in Jewish culture to invest money. Investing money would have brought shame and dishonor on the master and the master's family. Everyone listening to Jesus tell the parable would have been appalled and shocked at the two servants who invested the money, and shocked even more by the master's response.
God has entrusted us with a treasure that is greater than anything that we could possibly imagine. The treasure that God has given us is our life; free will, choice, and consciousness. We were not responsible for earning this gift. We are just given it, unexpectedly and surprisingly.
God does not want us to play it safe with our gift. God wants us to do daring, surprising, even shocking things to maximize God's investment in us. God doesn't want us to be concerned with what is considered prudent, responsible, or socially acceptable with our life. God wants us to do amazing things. Like the servants in the parable who invest the money, there is no limit to the amount of good that we can do in this world if we aren't afraid to invest our lives in something that will maximize God's investment.
Supporting the work and mission of Caney Spring United Methodist Church and Berlin United Methodist Church, two churches partnered in the ministry of making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world, located in Marshall County, Tennessee.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Fleeing from Freedom
It is fitting that one of the first Sundays in the Season after Pentecost is from Paul's Letter to the Galatians. The problem that Paul addressed in his letter was symptomatic of one of the greatest problems with Christian Church, both in Galatia and down through the centuries. Paul's answer similarly crystallized and clarified a central motif to his own theology.
Let's begin with stating the heresy that Paul addressed. When Paul established the Christian community in Galatia, he stressed that Jewish and Gentile Christians could and should co exist peacefully. That is, it was acceptable, but not necessary, to express one's discipleship by practicing Judaism. After Paul left, the Church in Galatia had begun stressing the necessity of complying with all the rules and regulations of the Jewish religion in order to be a follower of Jesus, including dietary restrictions, circumcision for males, and other rules regulating personal conduct.
What is surprising about the Galatians' insistence about embracing a strict Jewish expression of Christianity was that the Galatians were not Jewish. The Galatians were Gentiles. Specifically, they were an ethnic group with Celtic roots that had settled in Asia Minor centuries before. They had no connection with Judaism. So the problem was not persons refusing to turn away from Jewish roots and traditions, but Gentiles with no prior connection to Judaism choosing to be bound by it.
Paul responds to the problem in Galatia by making the first written articulation of his radical antinomian theology: being a disciple is about freedom from "religion" as the term was understood. The very notion of religiosity in Paul's day (and, I would argue, in our own) was associated with following a detailed set of rules and regulations. For Paul, Christ brought a revolution that was all about freedom from religion itself. The fact that the Galatians were embracing Judaism is incidental--what they were really embracing was an understanding of religiosity. The Galatians were literally choosing to flee from freedom.
Paul reminds the Galatians, and us, that in Christ, we are bound only by following the winds of God's Spirit. However, this does not make our discipleship less strenuous and challenging. It makes it more so. It means that we are not given an exact blueprint for what our discipleship will be about. It means that we are given the example of Christ and asked to make a blueprint that is unique for us. That is a terrifying and wonderful freedom to embrace.
Let's begin with stating the heresy that Paul addressed. When Paul established the Christian community in Galatia, he stressed that Jewish and Gentile Christians could and should co exist peacefully. That is, it was acceptable, but not necessary, to express one's discipleship by practicing Judaism. After Paul left, the Church in Galatia had begun stressing the necessity of complying with all the rules and regulations of the Jewish religion in order to be a follower of Jesus, including dietary restrictions, circumcision for males, and other rules regulating personal conduct.
What is surprising about the Galatians' insistence about embracing a strict Jewish expression of Christianity was that the Galatians were not Jewish. The Galatians were Gentiles. Specifically, they were an ethnic group with Celtic roots that had settled in Asia Minor centuries before. They had no connection with Judaism. So the problem was not persons refusing to turn away from Jewish roots and traditions, but Gentiles with no prior connection to Judaism choosing to be bound by it.
Paul responds to the problem in Galatia by making the first written articulation of his radical antinomian theology: being a disciple is about freedom from "religion" as the term was understood. The very notion of religiosity in Paul's day (and, I would argue, in our own) was associated with following a detailed set of rules and regulations. For Paul, Christ brought a revolution that was all about freedom from religion itself. The fact that the Galatians were embracing Judaism is incidental--what they were really embracing was an understanding of religiosity. The Galatians were literally choosing to flee from freedom.
Paul reminds the Galatians, and us, that in Christ, we are bound only by following the winds of God's Spirit. However, this does not make our discipleship less strenuous and challenging. It makes it more so. It means that we are not given an exact blueprint for what our discipleship will be about. It means that we are given the example of Christ and asked to make a blueprint that is unique for us. That is a terrifying and wonderful freedom to embrace.
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