Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
November 14,1999
The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Apocalypse Now
The Rev. William A. Kolb

Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-15, 19-29

This morning's collect reads in part,

"Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them..."

The prayer was written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who also wrote the first Anglican prayerbook. This collect goes back to the English reformation in the 16th century and reflects the efforts of the Church to get the Church back to the practice of reading the entire bible in one year of Sunday services. It also reflects Archbishop Cranmer's conviction that Scripture is the touchstone of truth for all things in life. That continues to be our ideal as almost-21st-century Christians, but the modern world and modern tools of research have propelled us into a world
of uncertainty about some texts. From the dead sea scrolls to Albert Schweitzer's "Search for the Historical Jesus" to the "Jesus Seminar" and its declarations of inauthenticity of much biblical text attributed to Jesus, we find ourselves at times on a slippery slope wondering what
to believe. It is enough to make me yearn for the black-and-white sureness of childhood.

However, we live in an age where logic and fact seem so important that we sometimes lose our sense of security and mystery as we search for what we think is truth. Only a few weeks ago we looked at the famous and beloved line from St. John's Gospel, "no one comes to the Father but by me," and we made, I think, a pretty good case for the position that that was not in fact Jesus' position on the matter.

And now, today, we have the parable of the talents, the ancient tale that has spurred many to great energy in ministry, business and capitalism. In it, those who are industrious and willing to take a risk, come in for some kudos from the Master, who is generally thought to represent God. On the other hand there is the slave who fears the loss of what he doesn't own, and is intimidated into clutching the money tightly and returning it as soon as possible. He comes in for some condemnation, and gets no new assignments except presumably to be assigned to wailing and gnashing of teeth.

What are we to make of this? Over the many centuries many commentators have interpreted this parable in many ways. For William Barclay, the slave who was afraid to risk represented the Scribes and Pharisees. Like Archie Bunker, who said, "Things were better when they were the same," the Scribes and Pharisees are perceived by Barclay as having resisted change with every fiber of their beings. The talents have translated for some into just plain money, for some into gifts and abilities, for some into the potential that we have for spiritual development. One contemporary observer feels that the entire parable is Jesus' condemnation of fortunes built on the backs of slaves, or in today's world, on the backs of low-wage, powerless workers.

In this parable, for me, however, the slippery slope dries out and gives me great traction. Because what I think I see in it is a great example of the lasting, bedrock permanent truth of Scripture but at anotherlevel than that for which we often look. There are truths in here that
have nothing to do with profit and loss, nothing to do with whether God actually approves of one and condemns another.

Some examples:Use it-lose it: We know that if we don't exercise we lose what muscles
we used to have. Same with love. The old saying is, "Love is the only thing that grows the more you give it away." And so here with our spirituality and growth in our relationship with God: If we use it it grows and if we don't use it it can become stale, weak, even non- existent. I am talking about our relationship with God, not God's love for us, which never goes away. Now by saying "use it" I am not exhorting you to be at the church door every time it opens. We each have ways of using and exercising and deepening our own spirituality. Some find that
happening through prayer, some by reading Scripture, some by regularly attending worship. Others use it and grow by going through painful times in life and realizing how much we need God. Some grow by giving money or time or help to those who have little. The lone slave who
buried his talent represents, I think, the truth that we must use it or lose it.

The second truth that I see in the parable is actually derived from what I think is not a truth in the parable. Stay with me here. It has to do with Y2K. Yes, Y2K. The lone slave is punished and probably cast into eternal darkness. We see a lot of this in the New Testament. To
believe that failure to "use it" results in death and eternal punishment is linked closely to what is known as apocalypticism, or apocalyptic expectation, which is defined as "a doctrine concerning an imminent end of the world and an ensuing general resurrection and final judgment."

Apocalypticism, according to a contemporary commentator, is at its base world-denying and vindictive. The apocalypse is a protest against injustice in this life, which is what makes it appealing. But it is also ethically crippling -- because the apocalyptic mind looks for
rectification in another world, rather than seeking justice in this one. In addition, the apocalyptic vision anticipates that those of us who have suffered in this life will be freed from pain in some future existence. That seems unobjectionable. But apocalypse adds that those
who have prospered here, and especially those who have harmed us, will suffer in the hereafter.

Those who advocate the apocalyptic solution are seeking vindication for their mistreatment in this life and punishment for someone else's corresponding unmerited good fortune. This desire to reward and punish in the next world is self-serving in its most crass, pathetic form. To
believe that that is the way things get evened out is to greatly underestimate, I think, the never-ending love that we see in our Creator and in His Son, the lover of all human souls. To believe that horrible things will happen when God takes over is to deny the God of love.

Apocalypticism would also support the idea that when we turn the calendar page at midnight on December 31st, 1999, terrible things are going to happen and they will be brought about by God. I am not talking about the trolley cars in San Francisco coming to a halt, which may
possibly happen. I am talking about those who say the end of the world is coming when the new millennium dawns (I won't go here into my conviction that the new millennium will not come until we turn the calendar page on December 31st 2000!). This belief in the end of the
world on a certain date suggests, a) that God is angry and when angry will destroy us; b) that God has a calendar and recognizes our system of years and centuries. Isn't that silly? Did the world end at midnight on December 31st in the year 999? Did they have a hullabaloo about "Y
ONE K?"

Recently one of our Calvary children came home from Church camp, anxiously asking his mother about the rapture, the subject of that day's Bible teaching at his camp. The girl wanted to know if all of the family would get to go, and if any of her friends might be left behind. She was kind of scared.

All these portrayals of God can be very seriously harmful. God as a violent and uncaring supreme being can make our lives much less "the abundant life" than God intends. How we view God can determine the quality and the degree of spiritual growth of our life. If we are
afraid of God, if we feel we have to earn God's love and will be punished cosmically and eternally if we falter, we are likely to stay as far from God as we can. And we are likely to live walking on eggshells. The lone slave said he did not go forth to make the most of
what he was given, because he knew the Master to be "...a harsh man...I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground."

I imagine that ever since Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of the Law, God has been used by countless leaders to get people to behave. To offer God's word is different than beating people about the head and shoulders with it. We will learn the final truth as soon
as we leave this earth. In the meantime, the preponderance of experience of God's people is that our God is a loving God. To know God as loving is to tap into eternal Truth and receive the life-giving strength, patience and power that comes from that belief. To believe otherwise is to live in fear. Fear blocks any possibility of living a life of faith, love and generosity of spirit.

And so we have Scripture, to read, learn and inwardly digest. I heard a great saying the other day: "manna happens." God gives manna; God gives only goodness. The truths of that reality may be found throughout Scripture. Not always in the words but sometimes between the lines.
But it is there. And so is God. And so is God's chesed, God's never-ending love.

Amen.

Copyright 1999 Calvary Episcopal Church.

Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-15, 19-29
"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. Then he went away. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 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." NRSV

[back to top]