Loading...Years ago, a friend gave me a jar of dilly beans — green beans which have been flavored with dill. They taste a bit like pickles, or so I’ve been told.
She canned these dilly beans herself and, for my birthday, gave me a jar plus a few other home-canned items.
As if I could predict the future, I took those dilly beans to church the next Sunday as an object lesson, you might call it.
Indeed, this very jar right here.
That Sunday, oh, six years ago or so, I said something like:
a gift is a wonderful thing, and once given it is fully that of the recipient.
But, what does the recipient do with the gift?
If the gift is not used, it’s a bit like the gift was never given.
God’s gift of love, of forgiveness, of welcome and grace is yours. Absolute.
Yet, what do you do with that gift?
Keep it wrapped up somewhere safe?
Hold it close to yourself?
Carry it around, but never really open/believe it,
much less share it?
It’s like this jar of dilly beans:
A gift given to me and it’s fully mine now.
Not a loan, didn’t pay for it, didn’t earn it.
But, if I never open it, I will never enjoy it —
the flavor, the crispness of the beans
the love that my friend had for me as she was making and
canning them.
Sure, it’s a gift, but it’s not appreciated and used.
Ummmmmm.
I have moved this beloved gift of a jar of dilly beans three times since I received it.
I have yet to open them.
I haven’t really received the gift yet, have I?
Oops.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This parable from Jesus has so many “hooks” in it.
So many words and phrases that distract us from Jesus’ teaching.
slaves
talents
wicked and lazy
take the talent and give to the one who has ten
worthless slave
outer darkness
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I would like to gently unhook all of those words and phrases from you.
I’m not one to tell you to ignore scripture or to cherry pick what fits a comfortable perspective.
But, I do want to de-thorn this rose.
First of all Jesus is telling us about what the kingdom of heaven is like.
And, he’s using a parable (which means we have to be careful to not make it an allegory which is all about understanding the story as though this character is that person; or that detail really means this thing).
A parable is MEANT to be provoking and disturbing and make us think.
Next, this parable is not telling us that God’s dream for the world
is that we have to prove ourselves to God,
or improve upon what we’ve been given,
or escape a vengeful God.
Rather ...
Well, let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time there was a woman named Lisa
who wanted to be brave and strong,
but who was, instead, frightened of many, many things.
When she was about 8 or 9,
she lived in a neighborhood that had one big empty lot.
Except it wasn’t really empty — it just didn’t have a house built on it.
The lot was actually a big woodsy area and the neighborhood kids
loved to play in the woods.
There were trees to climb, games to play, and imaginations to soar.
But, Lisa was scared of falling of the trees
or that the branches of the bushes would pull at her.
Indeed, her imagination got the better of her in that woods
and she was afraid.
As Lisa grew up, she was a good student and smart.
She got a scholarship to study at a really good university,
but it was a big school in a big city.
And, she feared being in a city that big with all those people.
Crime? Strangers? Unknown places? No way!
So, Lisa, chose to stay in her hometown.
True, she didn’t get to study the literature that she loved at a university,
but she still read.
And she got a job in town.
It was fine. She was fine. Still afraid of trying new things and taking risks.
But, she was OK.
Except, she didn’t always feel fine.
She worried about things — didn’t matter what it was
a body ache or making phone calls (even if she knew the person), or....
She was anxious that she had missed something important in life.
She wasn’t really content, even if she was “fine”.
Lisa lived in her hometown for years and years.
She knew the people there, she knew her way around town and to the big city down the highway where she went if she needed to go for an appointment or something (although she really did prefer to stay on the roads she knew!)
She knew her neighbors, her job, and her co-workers.
When she had the chance to go on a trip to Europe with her sister
who was always more adventurous,
Lisa hemmed and hawed, and finally demurred.
She told her sister to find another traveling companion.
One day, Lisa was reading one of her new books — she did like to try out new stories! It was about a woman who got tired of living afraid all the time,
so decided to take a huge leap and go on a trip:
to Italy (because she liked Italian food so much!).
Lisa stopped reading and let the book slip out of her hands into her lap
and she realized that SHE was living afraid all of the time.
SHE was missing out on Italian food in Italy.
But flying could be so dangerous! And she read somewhere that pickpockets in Italy were the worst!
Yet, she was also tired of being afraid all the time.
She called her sister and asked if she could still go with her — if they went to Italy, for the food, you know.
Great trip, by the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The kingdom of heaven is like someone who calls the staff together
and asks them to take risks, even when the owner is gone for a long time.
Two of the staff members step out and try.
One is too afraid of the repercussions of failure, so does nothing.
The staff members who take the risks
use the gifts they’ve been given.
They grow, they learn, they bring others into community.
The one who is afraid to fail,
also ends up being afraid to do anything, or connect with anyone.
That one cuts himself off from the owner, from co-workers, from community,
and from anyone out there in the big, wide world who might be curious and kind and interesting.
The kingdom of God is like we who are gathered
who have the gift of listening, compassion, hard-work, asking questions, encouraging others, hilarity, creating community,
encouraging play and fun, or whatever.
The dream of God is like those of us with the gift of mercy, forgiveness, belonging, and love
sharing that welcome and embrace with others,
even if it means taking a risk (and sometimes failing to connect).
God’s vision for the world is that we share.
We share what we have — and yes, that does mean our financial resources, not so we can pay the bills so much as so that we can engage with the world around us with the good news of great joy,
the love of God, the welcome of Christ, and the courage of the Spirit for all.
Amen
