Houston Preaching Mission Oct 2014, Sunday evening Dr Thomas Long Central UMC

8:48 One of the fascinating things that biblical scholars are teaching us these days is about what might be called the literary dynamics of the Gospels. What they mean by that is that the writers of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, didn't just plod along, just the facts, please, just the facts. They were trying to tell the story of Jesus in a way that Jesus would come across to us. And so they used some of the same literary techniques that we might find in a short story or in a novel. For example, some of the literary writers of the gospel use foreshadowing. That's where they say something early in the gospel. It starts vibrating like a tuning fork and then resonating with things that come later in that gospel.

9:44 In that light, I want to read two brief passages from the gospel of Matthew. The first one is something that Jesus said early in his ministry in the Sermon on the Mount. And the second is one of his parables that comes later in his ministry, late in the gospel. Now the first thing that he said requires a little background because it's about the human eye. And we think we know how the human eye works. Light streams through the pupil and hits the retina, generates electrical impulses to the brain, and then that creates images. Well that wasn't of course how they thought the eye worked in Jesus' day. In the first century they thought of the eye not simply as a receiver of light but also as a source of light so that when you looked at something it was sort of like a flashlight in your body that would shine on the thing that you were looking at.

10:47 And the eye quite quickly became a symbol or a metaphor for the quality of of your inner life or your soul. This is what Jesus had to say about it. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness. How deep is the darkness? Then later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells this parable. It's about a wealthy man who has a problem. He wants to go on a trip, but he doesn't know what to do with his money when he's gone. You can't take it with you. There are robbers out there. There are no federal deposit insurance corporation banks to put it in.

11:49 They're bankers, but they're sort of a set of the table in the marketplace. You don't want to leave a lot of money with them. Most people would have left their money with a relative or a trusted friend. But this wealthy man makes a very unorthodox decision. He decides he is going to entrust his fortune to some of his servants. So he calls three of them and to the first one he gives five talents of money. That's about two and a half million dollars in today's terms. To the second one he gives two talents of money, that's a million dollars, and to the third one he gives one talent of money, that's a half a million dollars, and then he goes on his trip. Well he is hardly out of sight before the first two guys run lickety-split to the marketplace with the money they've just been given, they start wheeling and dealing with it and somehow manage to double the money. The third guy, the one with one talent though, is much more cautious, much more fearful, and he takes that one talent, he puts it in a clay jar, he buries it under a tree in the backyard for safekeeping. Well eventually the rich man comes back from his trip, he calls those servants and says, what about my money. The first two say, we doubled your money. Bells ring, trumpets blow. Well done, good and faithful servants. You've been faithful in a little. I'm going to make you faithful in much.

13:31 Enter into the joy of your master. But then there was the one talent guy. Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward saying, Master, I knew you were a harsh man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed. So I was afraid. I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, have what is yours. But his master replied, more will be given and they will have an abundance. But from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

14:53 In one of his wonderful and witty essays, the humorist Roy Blunt Jr. talks about how early it is in life that all of us become storytellers. I'm a storyteller. I love stories. You probably do too. We tell stories to each other. We tell stories at the family dinner table, on the back porch, at the funeral home. It's how we make sense out of our lives and we've been doing it ever since we're children As a case in point Roy Blunt talked about the time he was visiting his daughter and her family And one afternoon during the visit he happened to be babysitting for his two-year-old grandson At one point in the afternoon the little boy toddled over to the fireplace in the den There was no fire burning, but the little boy started fiddling with the fireplace screen.

15:52 Grandpapa became concerned that he was going to pinch his little finger. So he went over and ever so gently took the fireplace screen away from his grandson, managing, of course, in the process to pinch the little boy's finger. His grandson looked at him with an utter look of shock and betrayal and then said, Papa, boo-boo. The next day Roy Blunt was flying home and his daughter and grandson were bidding him goodbye at the airport and as he headed toward the gate his grandson remembered what had happened and he looked at his mother and said Papa, boo-boo, bye-bye. It was at that point said that my grandson had become a storyteller, a narrator of the human condition. In fact, that three-part sequence, Papa, Boo-Boo, bye-bye, is the plot of most of the world's great tragedies. Adam and Eve, Papa and Mama, boo-boo, bye-bye. King Lear, Papa, boo-boo bye-bye Martha Stewart mama boo-boo bye-bye the one talent man in Jesus parable one talent man boo-boo bye-bye now what I'd like to ask you to do is to put on your thinking caps a little this evening and help me try to figure out exactly what the boo-boo was in this parable or to put it in more adult language, what did the one talent man do wrong? According to the story, he was thrown into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is by the way a Semitic way of saying that his life unfolded into tragedy. But what did he do to deserve that? He didn't steal any of the money, he

17:58 didn't lie about it he gave it all back what did the one talent man do wrong now some of you may be saying well I know what he did wrong he buried his talent in the ground it says it right here he buried his talent in the ground and I say so what that's what you did in the first century to keep money safe you may remember that Jesus told another parable about a man who found a treasure hidden in a field. Well, how do we think it got there? Some unlucky person buried it for safekeeping. If we can figure out what the one talent man did wrong, I think we can hear the word of this parable that shapes our faith. So what did he do wrong? Well, it's interesting to see what preachers down through the generations have said about that. If you were listening to this sermon in the late 19th century. If this were the late 19th century, North Carolina is building textile mills, Pittsburgh is building steel mills, America is building railroads.

19:06 We're in the middle of an industrial revolution and the preachers of the late 19th century could tell you in an instant what this one talent man had done wrong. He was lazy. Those other two guys, now they got out into the marketplace. They rolled up their sleeves and they got to work. But this third guy, he was a couch potato. He sat on his hands. He was a lazy disciple, and Jesus does not want any lazy disciples. By the way, this is when we're singing really masculine and muscular hymns like, rise up, O men of God, have done with lesser things, give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the king of kings. This guy didn't do it. Fast forward however to the 1950s and preachers have changed their tune. 1950s we're watching color television for the first time, we're driving Thunderbirds, we're twirling hula hoops, we're wearing Davy Crockett coonskin caps. It's the optimistic 50s. And the preachers of the 1950s could tell you in an instant what the one talent man had done wrong. He didn't know he had a talent. Now let me hasten to say that the word talent in this parable is an amount of money, period. It has nothing to do with Miss America talent. But the verbal similarity was irresistible to the preachers of the 50s and so this is what they would say, you know everybody here tonight has got a talent. You may not have five talents. You may not be able to preach like Peter or pray like Paul, but everybody here tonight has got a talent. Don't bury that talent. Use your talent for God. Fast forward to the 1970s and preachers have changed their tune again.

21:04 It's the 1970s we're reading I'm okay, you're okay. It's the psychotherapeutic 70s and the preachers of the 70s could tell you in an instant what the one talent man had done wrong. He lacked self-esteem. He thought poorly of himself and he projected his sense of inadequacy on everybody and it paralyzed him ethically. In other words, the preachers of every generation have looked into the Rorschach blot of this parable and seen reflected there the anxiety of their own age. Well chastened by that I'd like to take another look. But this time instead of putting stuff from our time onto the parable let's stay within the confines of the story as Jesus told it. What would happen if we stayed within the limits of of the parable as Jesus articulated it.

22:06 What would we say then about what the one talent man did wrong? Well, we'd start, I think, with the words that come out of his own mouth. I know who you are. You're a harsh man. You reap where you do not sow. You gather where you do not scatter. I'm afraid of you. Here, take what is yours.

22:34 Now let me ask you, is there anything that has happened in this story up to that point that would justify that little speech, that would justify that verdict to the Master? Quite to the contrary. This master has entrusted millions of dollars to his servants. No first century master would have done that. Not only that, when they do well, he praises them. No first century master would have done that. That violates social protocol. Well done, good and faithful servants. Not only that, he empowers them. You have been faithful in a little. I'm going to make you faithful in much. And the most shocking of all, he welcomes them right into his house and hearth. Enter into the joy of your master. This is a benevolent, trusting, empowering, gift-giving master.

23:36 I know who you are. You're a hard man, and I'm afraid of you. That's not who he is. That's who he sees The eye is the lamp of the body If your eye is healthy your body will be full of light But if your eye is unhealthy Your body will be full of darkness and if the light in you is darkness How deep is the darkness?

24:08 This is what Matthew is trying to say to us about faith that faith is not just a sentiment not just a feeling about God it's actually seeing God right that if we see God in the face of Jesus Christ we see a God who is full of grace and mercy hope and love and we build our lives around that and they unfold into joy but if we see God as pinched and punitive then we build our lives around that, and they unfold into tragedy. Think about the people, not only in here, but out there. How do they see God? How do they see God? In the Gospel of Matthew, the God you see is the God you get. The great theologian Karl Barth once said, I have spent my whole career trying to make the word God a cheerful word again.

25:14 Several years ago I visited a minister friend of mine at his church in New Jersey. We sat in his study and we talked for a while and then he did what ministers love to do. He took me on a guided tour of the church plant, the church building. We saw the beautiful and reverent sanctuary. We saw the color-coordinated Sunday school rooms. We saw the well-equipped fellowship hall. And then we went out for the coup de grace on the front yard for a panoramic view of the building as a whole. It was a beautiful building. It was neo-Gothic. And it had a beautiful four-sided tower, Gothic tower, that rose up toward heaven. And as my eye was traveling up that tower, I noticed something very odd at the top. At the top on all four sides, there were openings like where there ought to be stained glass, but they were covered over with plywood.

26:12 I didn't think that vandals could get rocks up quite that high, and so I said to my friend, what happened up there? He said, oh, the townspeople asked us to do that. I said, the townspeople ask you to do that. He said, yeah, yeah. We used to have stained glass on all four sides. It was stained glass windows of the eye of God, you know, like on the back of the dollar bill. It was illuminated at night. You could see it from all over town. You could see it from the mall. You could see it from the high school. And people said it gave them the creeps. They believe in God, they just didn't want God looking at them all the time. You know where that image comes from, the eye of God? It comes from the Psalms.

27:04 The God who keeps watch over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, but cares for us like a father, tends to us like a mother. I know who you are. You're a hard God. I'm afraid of you. Here, take what is... Where do people get that view of God? Some people get it from bad preaching.

27:32 Hellfire and damnation. Some people get it from bad experiences in the church. But most people get it from just plain living. If you live long enough, you will have experiences that raise questions about the goodness of God. Several years ago, I lost a good friend. He was 62 years old when he died. He was a college professor, taught music. He was loving his courses. He was a composer, composing the best music he had composed in his life, loving his family, loving his grandchildren. And a fast-moving and very painful form of cancer took his life in a matter of months. He was a person of faith from a family of faith, but his younger brother has lost his faith. And he used the occasion of the family gathering at the funeral home to vent his rage, pointing at his brother's casket.

28:31 He said to the family, well, this is what your God does. My brother was enjoying his life, but your God can't stand that, can he? He can't stand it. And this is what your God does. My brother loved your God. this is what your God does to people who love him. After a moment of shock silence his mother who was in her 80s then said, when John was born he was born with a childhood disease that was almost always fatal but within a few weeks of his birth a treatment was developed that saved his life by the grace of God we had him 62 years. The eye is the lamp of the body. What do you see? This is what you're... or by the grace of God we had him 62 years. One Sunday I had been preaching somewhere and I was standing at the door greeting the congregation and I noticed this woman kind of hanging back waiting for everybody else to go through. When everybody else had gone through she came up and she said I don't don't know what it was that happened in the service that makes me want to do this, but I want to tell you about the day I lost my husband. I said, okay. She said the children and I were in his hospital room. We were gathered at his bedside. We knew that the time was short, but we didn't know how short.

30:03 I went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I had not been down there five minutes when the charge nurse came down and said, I think you better come back to the room right now. So I went back and I could tell this was the end. But my husband was fighting it. His body was fighting it physically, like he couldn't let go. I knew him so well. I knew exactly what was going on. He had always been the provider. He had always been the one who had cared for me and the children, and he couldn't let go.

30:42 So I walked over to the bed, she said, and I took his face in my hands, and I said to him, You old redhead, I have loved you ever since I was in high school, and I am never going to stop. Now, sweetheart, if you need to go, it's going to be okay. You can go. You know, God has always cared for us and God will continue to care for us. If you're worried about me, just send a little redbird every now and then to remind me of you.

31:17 And in great peace and tranquility, he let go. She said the children and I wept at his bedside and then we went home and we were sitting in the den and we were telling stories about him and we were laughing and crying at the same time and Reverend Long, I swear to you, a little redbird came and landed on the windowsill and stayed there for 45 minutes.

31:44 Now to tell you the truth, there was a time when if I had heard that, I would have thought, uh-oh, bad theology, sentimental piety. But the older I get and the more I see the face of God and the face of Jesus Christ, The more I know that there is more mystery and wonder and kindness and goodness and grace in the world than the little tweezers of my theology can possibly hold. And I am trying to make the word God a cheerful word again.