Truth Justice and God's Way

Matthew 24:14-30

This past Friday was Veteran's day here in the United States. By a show of hands, who among you have ever served in the Armed services?

We all had different motivation to serve. Some were drafted, some volunteered. Some made a career of it some served the minimum amount of time required. Some liked the military lifestyle while for some it didn't suit them as well. Some served during times of conflict while others served during peace time. What ever the experience, one does not serve in the U.S. Armed forces and come away unchanged or unaffected.

I never went into a combat situation but the realization that whether or I went or not depended completely on the decisions of people higher on the chain of command forced me to give up the illusion of control in my life.

Control is an illusion. Despite our strongest efforts or our deepest desires, life happens to you. Challenges come. People are unpredictable. The only control we have is what we do with our own actions. We have to decide what our motivation is, that will guide our actions. Our nature will be formed by our motivation to please the one we serve.

We all serve something. Even if it is ourselves. If we are self serving then we obviously will have a selfish nature. In the military there is a strong motivation to serve the Nation. Even when we as a people get things wrong I still love this country. I like patriotic songs and I love it when we get lots of gold medals at the Olympics.

There are those who may serve there work, or their children, their political affiliation, their union, or their college football team. Or any combination of a variety of other things. The motivation to please the one your serve will shape your nature.

The farm where I grew up.  It was a dairy farm when my dad was a kid,
 a beef farm when I was a kid and now it is  practically a farm in name only.
Earthly circumstances change.  God is eternal.  

In the Gospel lesson today Jesus is, again, describing what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. “It is as if a man is going on a journey. He summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them.” We are tempted to think that this man going on a journey is supposed to be God. Because indeed Jesus ascended into heaven and had promised to come again. So it would seem to fit. However, I don't think that is the point that Jesus is making here.

Jesus tells the story about the man going on a journey and the gives 5 measures of wealth to one, 3 to another and 1 to the last. The slave that receives the one measure gets himself into trouble when the master returns because he didn't do anything with the money. He just buried it and waited until the master came back. Then he dug it up and gave it to him.

The reason I don't think that Jesus was comparing the landowner to God is in the description of the landowner by the slave. He said “Master, I knew that your were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid...” This is not a description of God. This does not paint a picture of a loving and forgiving master. However in the parable that Jesus tells, the master does not dispute this description of himself. Yet he is still displeased with the slave. He is displeased because this slave knew exactly what sort of man his master was and yet he did not do as his master does. The other two did. When the master went on his journey they continued to conduct business as usual on the masters behalf. The slave with the one talent did not and therefore displeased his master.

Remember the story of Jesus childhood when he and his family went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover? When it was over Mary and Joseph and the rest of the family were heading home and discovered that Jesus wasn't with them. They had to go all the way back to Jerusalem and they found Jesus in the temple and they were getting on his case about it and Jesus said to them, “Why were you searching form me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49)

If they understood his nature they would have known where to find him.

How about one of the many times when Jesus was challenged and he said “If I a not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37,38)

Proof of his nature lies in what he says and does. Jesus and the Father are one.

The parable of the Talents is not a description of God's interaction with us but rather it is a description, or rather an illustration that shines light on the fact that we should be about our Fathers business in his absence. While we are waiting for Christ's return we will conduct his ministry as he would.

If we fail to do so. If we bury our talent, even if we have just one, we are of no use to the Lord. We are called to do the work of God and to use what we have at hand to do so.

We talked a little earlier with the young disciples about Justice. Justice can mean different things depend on who you serve and who your master is. If justice means that you should get everything you want, then you are probably serving yourself. Justice means that we are obligated to use what we have to serve our God according to His will. The challenge and the difficulty comes when we try to figure out just what that is. Because like the slave in today's Gospel lesson we may have a particular understanding of the one we serve that may differ from our brothers and sisters in Faith.

If you see God as a God of unconditional love only, then you are obligated to follow suit and love unconditionally. That means acceptance of those that hate, those that victimize and those that prey on innocence. If you see God as a god of justice then you may have strong views about law and of punishment. Perhaps you see God as the giver of good things to those who are faithful. Then perhaps as a good servant you are trying to determine how much God loves you by the amount of good things in your life. The fact is that God is a god of love and justice. God does bless us with good things. However we have to be careful not to minimize God as to serve our own purposes. God is bigger than our minds can fathom. God is both transcendent and present. God is three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit and yet God is One.

As faithful servants of this marvelous god we must be about our Fathers business. God came as the person Jesus. Jesus affirmed that the greatest commandments tell us to love god and to love each other. Jesus embodied that. Jesus lived that. THAT we can understand. That we can wrap our mind around.

So how is it with you today? What is your view of the God you serve? Know that God, through Jesus Christ expects us to conduct business as he would in his absence. And on that day when we see him again, may He say to each one of us, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of may things; enter into the joy of your master.”