Winnowed
Matthew 25:14-30
November 13, 2011
Words tell us deep and wonderful things, but there are times when they trap and pin us down, limiting what we can know. The Church is full of those terms, though not really any more than politics, finance, science, the law and medicine, but we are easily stuck on things like “the kingdom of heaven.” Come to think of it, I doubt there is anyone here, me included, who can precisely define what that actually means. Foolishly, I will try.
“Kingdom of heaven” is a metaphor that is full of problems. In the Gospel according to Luke, the phrase is “kingdom of God,” but Matthew, usually read as the evangelist who sticks to a more Jewish vocabulary, calls it ‘kingdom of heaven’ because Jews believe that the sacred name of God should not be uttered. So the expression ‘heaven’ which people have traditionally understood as the hangout of the divinity was used by Matthew as a gentler substitute.
In recent decades the worldly term of ‘kingdom’ has been under fire as being patriarchal and also too political for a spiritual reality. Next week is the Last Sunday after Pentecost, now called the Reign of Christ, whereas it used to be Christ the King. It is true that while everyone, including the disciples, expected Jesus to be the King of Kings, they were always disappointed for Jesus never thought or practiced it that way.
Jesus never actually offered a description of heaven - no scenes of pearly gates and streets paved with gold in the Gospels. He used this phrase to point towards the way of life one lives when you are grasped by God. The kingdom of heaven is not a place far far away, but right here when we happen to live in a God-filled way. So he points to a story, “For it will be as when…” I have heard many refer to the kingdom of heaven on earth – it is always on earth.
It’s like when a businessman goes on a long journey and leaves his assistants to take care of his investments. Clarence Jordan has the right feel for it when he says that with one assistant the boss entrusts $500,000 and $200,000 with a second, and $100,000 with a third, the different amounts related to how good he thought they were with such things. You know how it goes from here: a modern lesson in venture capitalism as the first two fellows double the investment, but the third assistant digs a hole and puts the money into the ground, well, maybe a safe-deposit box, and ventures nothing. There is a little edge to such a tale, by the way, in the first century world. Anyone who makes such a profit is by definition depriving, if not cheating someone else. Big profits are always suspect, but then it’s only a story.
When the boss returns and asks for an update he is immensely pleased with how the first two have doubled his investments, but outraged at the guy who was afraid to risk anything. The story breaks down here, not as a lesson in divine economics, but as a challenge to do something. The third assistant’s blunder was not a sin of omission, but a refusal to do something with the boss’s gracious opportunity. The useless critter is to be thrown out into the back alley.
Now, just who are these guys? This is where it gets sticky, for most readers today realize that a lot of Jesus’ parables were likely jokes and stories circulating around the watering wells at that time, and so if you try to make every detail count precisely, you may miss the point. Anytime there’s a boss or owner or father involved, the first notion is that the character represents God - a God who goes away for a long time, so that for much of the time we are not aware of his presence. A God who entrusts us with large gifts we did not earn, although our skills and trustworthiness may or may not have anything to do with the kind of gift we receive and someday there will come an accounting.
Since every parable seems to have a surprise that does not make sense, the poor guy who justifiably characterizes his boss as someone whose decisions and judgments and employment practices are often not up to our own standards of what is ethical and fair, is the one who gets tossed out. The boss reputedly reaped where he had not sown and collected what he had not winnowed.
He kept the money safe and sound, and note that the boss said he could have given it over to the bankers and would have received interest on his investment. One, bankers in that period were not that trustworthy a lot, and two, usury was frowned upon as an unethical activity. Why go so hard on the overcautious fellow? He did nothing with the grace given him, didn’t even admire it, just hid it in a hole in the ground because he was afraid he would lose it. He did.
Clarence Jordan dubs the kingdom of heaven “God’s Movement,” emphasis is on the moving dynamic part. It’s not a place where you stay put. You can’t remember this parable staying put.
Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan