This week's scripture passage is among the most compelling, problematic and enigmatic stories that Jesus ever tells. On the surface, it's about a landowner who goes on a long trip and entrusts his servants with varying amounts of "talents," which translates literally as "bags of gold." If you don't know the story, I encourage you to pause for just a moment and read it here.
This story is about many things, but what strikes me most is how
deeply affected the third servant is by his perception of the landowner. The story gives no other hint about the landowner's character. The first we hear about it is from the lips of the third servant: "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed."
Neither the first nor the second servant voices this concern or affirms this sentiment, and the landowner himself neither confirms nor calls this assessment into question either. Notice that the landowner's retort is in the form of a question. We might therefore hear it as, "If you thought I was so awful, then why didn't you choose another strategy?" The landowner's response might be a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as he decides to act in just the way the third servant has characterized him.
It makes me wonder how often this happens in our relationship with God. We imagine God primarily as an enforcer of rules, and we get hung up by the legalism of religion. We visualize God as stern and prone to punishment, and we come to believe that everything bad in our lives is punishment from God. We see God as arbitrary and capricious, and that's what we experience, a fickle and unsympathetic God who meets our expectations.
On the other hand, when we view God primarily in terms of grace, we are surprised and uplifted by the numerous gifts and moments of grace we experience all around us. And when we imagine God to be a God of love, we find it far easier to experience God's love in our own lives and to share it with others.
When it comes to the life of faith, what we see, all too often, is just what we get. As a friend of mine says, "Default perspectives lead to default behavior which leads to default results." So perhaps it's worth examining closely the pictures of God and the life of faith we carry around inside us and exploring how they shape our behavior.
Finally, this Sunday, we will have one service in the Sanctuary at 10:30 a.m. We'll enjoy great music offered by a combined Chancel Choir and Worship Team, youth music, and a number of other uplifting dimensions of worship. In addition, we'll go from the Sanctuary to partner sites all over the city for what we call "Covenant Impacts Charlotte." If you would like to volunteer, click here.
Or you can simply show up on the Circle after worship and ask to be put on a team.
See you this weekend. Come, and bring a friend.
