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Homilies by Rev. Andrew Collis unless indicated otherwise.

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Ordinary Sunday 33, Year A
South Sydney Uniting Church
November 19, 2017

Psalm 123; 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11; Matthew 25: 14-30

‘You are not in the dark’

The apostle Paul writes to a community of people who may well feel as the psalmist feels – ridiculed by the rich and powerful. He writes: “You, sisters and brothers, are not in the dark ... So encourage each other and build each other up (edify one another), just as you’re already doing.” Loving words. You are not in the dark, no matter what people may say or threaten. Encourage each other, give courage, recognise and affirm courage. Edify – I like that word. Build up, hold each other, draw out the best in each other. Celebrate community. God be with you ...

I begin with Paul as a way of acknowledging encouragement, in particular from serving Elders and office bearers. Also in acknowledgement of working bee volunteers whose love for the community extends to practical care for church walls, windows and floors, picture frames, kitchen cupboards, rubbish bins and bathrooms. To them, and to those who prepared nutritious and delicious food for yesterday’s morning tea and lunch, thank you.

Let us turn to the Gospel for today, a parable Jesus tells about a very wealthy and powerful household ...

We have some silver coins here to represent the talents (each one represents about 15 years’ wages for a labourer) ...

Perhaps we can act out the parable. We’ll need four actors to play the parts ...

Mindful of parallels in Luke and the historian Josephus to the murderous Herod Archelaus, we might retell the story like this ...

The head of a large and powerful household goes away leaving three able employees, the senior management team, in charge of eight million dollars. The first two managers do what it takes to double their money ...

It is helpful to know that the Greek word translated “interest” means something like extortion. In biblical times, in the early church and medieval period, and, for the most part, the Reformation in the 16th century, lending money at interest was considered a sin.

Of the first two managers, we are meant to think: Those terrible so-and-so’s. We all know someone who’s lost out to them. Perhaps a poor farmer who couldn’t afford to pay back a loan and forfeited the farm …

In the story, though, it’s polite conversation. “You entrusted me with five talents; here are five talents more”; “here are two talents more”; “Well done! You are a good and faithful worker ...” No mention of people thrown off their land ...

The third employee is the hero. For whatever reason, s/he decides s/he cannot take part in this culture any longer. S/he decides to become what is now called a “whistle blower”. Instead of using the money to make more money, s/he takes it out of the system where it can do no harm. When the boss returns, there’s no polite chit-chat.

The third employee says the unmentionable, making plain where the landowner’s wealth comes from. Telling it straight to the boss: “Knowing your ruthlessness – you who reap where you did not sow and gather where you did not scatter – and fearing your wrath, I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here is your money back.”

The reaping refers to the taking of harvests and properties. Harvesting real estate value ...

The boss does not take kindly to this, giving the usual slander of idleness and immorality that accompanies any act of whistle blowing: “You worthless, lazy lout!” (The boss, however, does not deny the accusation of corruption.)

The third employee is stripped of all responsibilities. No longer part of the bureaucracy that has supported him/her, this one will soon be destitute, living alongside the poor – in the outer darkness where people do indeed grind their teeth, in anguish or anger; where there is wailing.

Jesus wants us to hear and see, to laugh and cry, to understand and feel this reality (to be alert and awake) so we might be drawn to him, a God of the poor.

God is not a boss who makes people scared, greedy and violent. God is the one in the outer darkness, there to assure us of love and our infinite value as beloved creatures.

It’s heart-breaking that a parable like this – with such obvious cruelty – continues to be read flatly, bluntly, as though greed and tyranny, wrath and delight in punishment were natural attributes of the divine. Or – I’m not sure which is worse – as though there were no reference to cruelty at all. It’s shocking what we do and don’t see.

It’s heart-warming that a parable like this continues to provoke us into Christ-like acts of solidarity with all those who protest abuse in the name of truth, hope and life. The God of love calls us into a kindom of peace where the hungry are fed, the thirsty are given something to drink, strangers are made welcome, the naked are clothed, and those who are ill or imprisoned (in any way afflicted, in any way suffering in darkness) are visited with kindness and dignity.

The third employee is a Christ figure. The ground in which the talent is buried is a figure for Christ’s tomb. The meaning, indirectly, deeply, has to do with preserving gospel values and treasures. It has to do with risking love, with prosperity for the sake of others, one another. Compassion. Loving action and enterprise. What Matthew elsewhere calls “the weightier matters of Torah: justice, mercy and faith” (23: 23).

How thoroughly heart-warming this past week to witness a resounding Yes to same-sex couples desiring marriage! You, sisters and brothers, are not in the dark! 

On Thursday night I attended a Sydney Alliance gathering at St Stephen’s in the city, where Christians, Jews, Muslims, trade union and political groups and others celebrated a campaign that has delivered free TAFE courses for refugees in NSW. You, sisters and brothers, are not in the dark! 

Of course, there’s still a lot to be done. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you’re already doing. Amen.



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