ST
JOHN AMBULANCE SERVICE 13 Nov 2005
– The
Ven. Dr. Sarah Macneil
Readings: Judges 4: 1-10 Psalm 90 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 Matthew 25: 14-30
In the name of Christ, who challenges
and embraces us. Amen.
Today’s
Gospel passage is one of those puzzling parables which seems to cast God in a
judgmental and unloving light. Often we interpret the ‘master’ figure in
parables as God but if God is the harsh master of this particular
parable, what do we do with our understanding of God as the one who loves us
unconditionally? What about the bit from today’s second reading that says that
God is not a God of wrath?
Clearly,
there is more to this text than is obvious on a first reading!
Let’s
look a little more closely at it. This parable of the talents is the last in a
series of three in this part of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus uses them to
illustrate to his disciples what he meant by the command, "Watch!" The
opening words of today’s Gospel link it to the first two parables, and it
reflects the same basic pattern of a master who goes away and leaves a certain
company to fulfill a task till he returns. Here is the introduction again:
‘For
it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his
property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one,
to each according to his ability.’
The
talents are, of course, money – the talent was a unit of currency at the time
– and on the master’s return, the slaves are called to account for the use
they have made of his money. It is clear that they were expected not just to
look after the master’s property but to have put it to work for the master’s
benefit.
This
parable, like all the parables, is intended to teach us something about God and
about our relationship with God. It is not a bedtime story or a slightly odd
tale about a harsh master and his servants, it is intensely personal and has
things to tell us about how we should live.
What
might those things be? What is this parable telling us?
I
believe that it is about risk – it is about living our lives audaciously for
God’s sake, about using all that we are and all that we have for God’s
purposes.
At
one level, I’m not deeply into risk-taking. You won’t see me in the queue
for the bungy-jump or driving around Mt Panorama at 250 km/hr in a V8 supercar.
And so far, thanks be to God, I have not felt a strong call from God to indulge
in any radical physical or financial risks.
However,
it could be argued that this parable is calling us to a much more profound kind
of risk-taking. We are being called to do nothing less than stake everything on
God, to take what we have been given and use it for the kingdom of God. After
all, all that we are and all that we have are gifts to us from God.
But
how does this risk-taking manifest itself day by day? Our lives have within them
multiple moments of choice. At each moment we can choose to follow a godly path
or we can choose to listen to other voices.
It
happens in many ways. Sometimes we are confronted with moral choices. It might
be a question about our work: "Should I accept this new promotion, even
though it involves some questionable ethics; or should I give up, the things the
extra money would buy?" It might be a question about our social lives:
“Should I be involved in this conversation? I feel really part of the crowd
but what is being said about other people is malicious.”
And
sometimes we are faced with life choices that are about
how we will spend our time, about where our
gifts are to be exercised and our money spent. "Should I respond to this
inner urge to invest my life as a social worker in a slum area for Christ's
sake; or should I play it safe and continue my present plans to be a lawyer
where I can still help people but be more financially secure?"
Or,
a more challenging question, with a less obvious answer: "Should I get
involved with my neighbour's seemingly endless problems; or should I use the
time to read, and study, and pray?"
There
is a fundamental question we need to answer as Christians – how are we to
spend our lives? The answer is the same for each of us – we are to spend it in
the way which is of most profit to God. And how do we do that?
The
answer will be different for each one of us. We do all have different
opportunities, different capacities. But we know what God wants of us. Jesus’
message is clear: we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength
and to love our neighbour as ourselves. We are, in short, to risk ourselves in spendthrift love, just
as Jesus did.
It
is this kind of risk-taking, of stretching beyond the everyday and daring to do
new things, which has led to the establishment of so many of the caring
organizations in our society. The Order of St John, which we celebrate today,
was revived in the Nineteenth Century by a group of people who drew their
inspiration from the example of the medieval Knights of St John who offered care
and shelter for pilgrims and crusaders.
St
John Ambulance was subsequently formed to put its humanitarian ideals into
practice in the new industrial society, promoting the cause of first aid for the
sick and wounded through volunteer effort - a novel concept at the time. The
movement spread to Australia in 1883 and has since developed into the
organisation that we know today. Truly a remarkable legacy of some inspired
risk-taking!
What
is Jesus telling us in this story? I believe we can interpret it to mean: Step
out! Risk! Live dangerously! Take constant chances with our lives and goods for
his name's sake. Don't try to bottle up your life so as to hang on to it at all
costs. For if you do that you will surely lose it, just as the slave who buried
his talent lost his. But we should surrender ourselves to God’s cause again
and again. That is the way to find life. That is the way to watch for his
coming.
Let
us love dangerously! Not in the romantic sense but in the Christ-like sense. To
live for Christ is to love one another with his compassionate, all-encompassing,
fruitful love. And that is always a risk. Our hearts will be broken, our trust
abused. But, paradoxically, as the parable tells us, we run a much greater risk
if we do not do it – we run the risk of not knowing God as we might know God.
It is only in loving service that we fulfil our calling as Christians, that we
use the talents we have been given. And in loving in this way, we come to know
God and draw ever closer to the very heart of being.
And
so, let us live boldly, using the life we have been given, to serve God
wholeheartedly, in whatever way we are called. Amen.
Sarah Macneil