Oration for the
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Righteous God, our merciful master, you own the earth and all its peoples, and you give us all that we have. Inspire us to serve you with justice and wisdom, and prepare us for the joy of the day of your coming, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Additions to the
Prayers of the people:
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· For our bishops, Susan and Michael and the local
deans,
Let us pray… |
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· For
retired rostered pastors (not serving congregations): Jack Dressler, Jim
Garey, Tom Ristine, Jo von Schmeling, Glen Sellick, Bob Zimmerman, Paul
Sodtke, let us pray… |
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·
For
all the needs and prayers we hold in our hearts…
(a time of silent prayer)… let us pray…
Amen.
Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
7 Be silent before the Lord God! For
the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has
consecrated his guests.
12 At that time I
will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest
complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, "The Lord will
not do good, nor will he do harm." 13 Their wealth shall be plundered, and
their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
14 The great day of
the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is
bitter, the warrior cries aloud there. 15 That day will be a day of wrath, a
day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness
and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of trumpet blast and
battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. 17 I
will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like
dust, and their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be
able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath; in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of
all the inhabitants of the earth.
Psalm 90:1-8 [9-11] 12
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back
to dust,
and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away;
they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are consumed
by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 {For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the
power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.}
12 So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
Second
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do
not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say,
"There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon
them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4
But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a
thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not
of the night or of darkness.
6 So then let us not fall
asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for those who sleep
sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we
belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and
love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for
wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died
for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.
11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are
doing.
Reading:
Matthew 25:14-30
14 "For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves
and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another
two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16
The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with
them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two
talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent
went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 After a
long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20
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.' 21 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.' 22 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.' 23 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.' 24 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; 25 so I was afraid, and
I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26 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? 27 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. 28 So take the talent from him, and
give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 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. 30 As for this worthless
slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.'
‘…you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will
put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
·
As we come to the end of the Church year (Next Sunday is the festival of
Christ the King and the Sunday after that is the first Sunday in Advent), our
Sunday readings focus more and more on the end of things and the return of
Jesus. This parable – of the three servants given talents to invest and care
for – is one of those. Jesus’ telling of the tale even includes a master who
goes off and later returns.
·
It is a parable of the Kingdom that is to come while still letting the
hearer know that the Kingdom has already arrived in a certain way.
·
The parable appears to deal with the works of the servants of the absent
master; that alone should make it sound familiar. If we listen to the telling
of the parable, it appears to make the master out to be demanding and even
cruel: Master, I knew that you were
a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not
scatter seed… The third servant appears to cover his inaction by
saying “At least I didn’t lose anything!” It may help to know that the
“talents” spoken of are huge measures of money, not something like the ability
to paint, write, speak, or play the saxophone. A talent is roughly 42 kilos/85
lbs of silver. (so maybe $1,400,000 per talent) That just sets the stage to
understand how high a level Jesus’ parable was working with.
·
So with all this investing and accounting and rewarding for use of the
talents, where does grace come in? By now, we’re sure that parables have
nothing to do with the things of daily life besides using them as a setting
that the listener could understand. Grace is here, no doubt.
·
The giving of the talents is a gift of grace. The master indicates trust
and confidence in his servants by giving them the talents, to each according to his ability.
Giving more or less to handle has nothing to do with getting “more grace.” The
first and second servants took what they were entrusted with and were able to
give a great return and beyond that, to
enter into the joy of your master.
·
Servant #3 appears to have little trust in the master and did not make
use of the gifts he was entrusted with. We might say he was a prisoner of his
own suspicions and fear, so afraid of the giver of grace, that even the idea of
the joy of his master would not keep him from burying his silver talent in some
pit. He could not or would not see what he had received. I wonder if he was
grateful. As the old saying goes “There
are none so blind as those who will not see.”
·
The gift of grace has been given to each and every one of us and we are
saved by grace through faith. The question come up – do we live by grace
through faith? We can realize that we have received something worth more than silver
or gold and live our lives according to the grace we’ve received. The parable
give us a very broad hint that the end of the life of grace is to enter into
the joy of our Master.
·
This whole parable reminds me of Jesus’ other parable earlier in Matthew’s
Gospel that says No
one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the
lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the
same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Mt. 5:15-16) Our faith will be shown in what
we do, each according to his or her ability, but the gift of grace is present
for all, without exception. Even Servant #3 was given his talent.
·
Our faith permits us to look forward to entering into the joy of our
Master and to anticipate it in our lives of faith now for that graced life is
one of cooperating with God, not in salvation, but in restoring creation to
what God meant it to be.
‘…you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will
put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
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