10/29/06 Partnership and Perspective, Part 2

The Parables of the Faithful & Evil Servants, the Wise & Foolish Virgins, and the Parable of the Talents* (Matt. 24) focus Jesus' continued narrative regarding both His place and our place in what Fr. Christopher calls the "Divine Economy."
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The Kingdom of God is not a democracy. The idolatry of the individual we see in our culture is not found in the Kingdom of God. Our culture deems it the ultimate respect of a person to allow them to choose their own destiny, though we childishly interpret that as license for any behavior without consequences. God, both as Merciful Redeemer and Righteous Judge shows ultimate respect for the decisions we individuals make and shows even more respect for us in that He does not shield us from the consequences of them. We like to think of ourselves as "Master of our Fate," or "Captain of our own Ship," or at least beholden to no one; the fact of the matter is we are servants waiting on the good pleasure of our Master

What we must understand is that God has created the order of things to operate by His rule, and in His rules, He rules as Master. He alone reserves the right of judgment, of separating the sheep from the goats (24:31ff). In Revelation 5, it is the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ Himself, who is alone found worthy to open the seals on the scrolls of judgment. None other in heaven or on earth can do it. The English phrase, "Lord of Lords" could accurately be translated "Master of Masters." Jesus makes it clear in Matt 24: 29ff that His role at the closing of this age is that of Master, returning to close the era of human history by claiming His rightful place as Ruler of Creation, then naturally stepping into the role of Judge. The accompanying parables zero in on our place in this economy. We are told in no uncertain terms what our role is and what is expected of us.

All three of our parables consist of contrasting pairs of wise & foolish people, but they are all servants. All have been appointed tasks by the Master: one is given rule over the Master's house, "to give them food in due season (24:45), some are young women of the household whose task it is to wait for the Master's arrival & usher him into his house with his new bride (25:1-13), others are given specific financial responsibilities, charged with increasing the Master's wealth (25:15).

Jesus makes the point that each set of servants has been assigned their tasks, but regardless of the task, it is the obedience that matters. It appears that the task itself is less important than the attitude of the servant. This is consistent with Jesus' teaching about defilement coming from the heart, that it is "what comes from the mouth of a man that defiles." (Matt 15:1-20) Lest we think that we have only to make our heart right, and that nothing else matters (which I often see used as an excuse for not doing anything), Jesus makes it clear that the act of obeying the Master shows the inward attitude. "The tree is known by its fruit." The servant is judged by the act of obedience.

It is popular these days to assume that our "works" do not save us, but that God's grace is the sole source of the "currency" of what we consider to be a transaction of salvation. Our culture of obsession with material and legal matters has led us astray if we think that our relationship with God is so limited. In a transaction between buyer and seller, or in a legal contract for services or goods, there is a finite, limited relationship that comfortably defines the boundaries of the relationship. We like a neat, clean transaction. Unfortunately for our sensibilities, the Kingdom of God is not so comfortable.

When we consider ourselves as servant of the Master, we must recognize that our position is one of complete dependence on Him. Consider the song of the twenty-four elders/rulers of Revelation (commonly understood as the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles/churches) whose obedience in life led to them being crowned as rulers in heaven (as the faithful servants of the parable being given more responsibility -- see Mt 25:21). They cast their crowns at the foot of God’s throne and sing:

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power,

For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.

--Rev. 4:10-11

These mighty rulers who sit at God’s own throne acknowledge that God alone is the Creator whose will is the source of existence itself. We can do no less.

The miraculous thing about this aspect of God’s economy is that God actually cares about and respects us even ythough we are servants. He is not a cruel, uncaring master, as were many of the gods of antiquity (and as are some of the gods of today). We actually find ourselves in a relationship of mutual respect, a partnership of servanthood of which Jesus is the supreme Servant. As we progress in our study, we will see how much more than servants we will become.

* For those unfamiliar with the origins of the word "talent," it comes from a Greek word denoting a very large sum of money, equivalent to some thousands of dollars, perhaps as much as a year's wages. The word has come to mean a personal gift or skill in English due to the obvious link to the various gifts, spiritual and otherwise, bestowed by God upon His people for the continuation of the work of God on earth. Unfortunately, our age has completely divorced God as the source of any such gift from the gift itself, which, except for rare occasion, is used in our culture for selfish gain.

A Wild Party: Fig Trees, Talents, Servants, Virgins, Sheep & Goats

These Parables, The Fig Tree, The Talents, The Faithful & Evil Servant, Wise & Foolish Virgins, The Sheep & Goats, are considered together for our study because of their similar points they address, and the context in which they appear.

All of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, & Luke) include the Parable of the Fig Tree in a narrative of Christ's regarding the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the tribulation*, the end of time, and the judgment of mankind. Matthew records the additional parables as part of an extended discourse in Matthew 24 & 25.

As Fr. Christopher is fond of pointing out, it is out of fashion these days to dwell on the “Reward & Punishment” aspects of Jesus teachings, but it can hardly be ignored in both Jesus’ parables and His more direct teachings. Jesus makes it clear that there will be a reckoning at the end of life for what transpires here, but there is more than a mere pointed stick in Jesus’ words.

Christ’s reveals Himself as the Righteous Judge, the Lamb of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who is worthy to judge all mankind. To reduce His roll to mere “boogeyman,”
who can frighten us into toeing the line, is to reduce us as well as Him.

In the brief parable of the Fig Tree, it is not the fig tree that is the point. It is our own willingness to look at the sign God has built into the fabric of creation, and the signs God has built into the world when it strays from Him that show us how near He is in time and space.

The Faithful and Evil Servants serve the same Master, but it is their remembrance of the Master’s wishes and character that sets them apart. Who is our Master? Christ, of course, Who reminds us that the Church is full of people who have forgotten the face of their Master. Our task is to remain faithful to the truth we have and to serve His household, “giving them food in due season.”

The Talents (a Greek word meaning a measure of money, which has come to mean skill or gift in English) make it clear that we are counted on to do our part while the rich man (Christ) has traveled to a far country (gone to prepare a place for us in Heaven). Our disposition when He returns for us, either in death or at the end of time, is of great import. God has trusted us to continue the work Christ has begun, and it is our responsibility to follow through according to the measure given us.

Likewise, the Wise and Foolish Virgins are waiting for the same Bridegroom, Christ, who will return for His Bride (the Church). Who among the Church will be foolish and who will be ready?

Ultimately, the Righteousness of God will be used as the measure of all men, but not in the way you might think. The sheep and the goats are divided from among all nations not by adherence to some creed or membership in some organization; certainly not by any measure of success that the world uses. It’s not even about correct theology or four spiritual laws. It’s about serving God.

The one constant through all of these parables is the partnership between man and God.

Yes we will be judged, but we will be treated with great respect by God, Who allows us to choose and to live or die by our choices. God never forces Himself upon us, because He created us in His image and wants us to come to Him of our own volition.

It was the unilateral decision made by Eve and Adam that broke the partnership agreement between man and God. Likewise, it was the servanthood of Mary, whose obedience and partnership with God that laid the groundwork for the Second Adam to restore the partnership to all of us through His sacrifice. Cooperation between man and God, including the joining of Manhood in its fullness with the Godhead, in its fullness, that is the ideal, the model, the perfection of the whole of creation. It’s all there in the cooperation/partnership/union between Man and God.

Continued in the next installment…

*I consider it significant that all three quotes of Jesus make it clear that His return will follow the tribulation mentioned. Combined with a simple reading of the events of St. John's Revelation, the concept of believers being spared the suffering of the end of time appears to be wishful thinking (the idea of a "pre-tribulation rapture" was invented in the 1800's, never appearing in Christian history & writings prior to that). Believers have never been exempt from any of the trying times of human history. Thankfully, our Lord promised to be with us "always, until the end."

Bishop Kallistos Ware on Lessons from the Parables

I promised this quote to the group Sunday morning. Bishop Kallistos Ware is an Anglican who became Orthodox, and later was ordained a priest, eventually becoming Bishop of Diokleia under the Ecumenical Patriarch.

As Jesus teaches us the way to the Kingdom of Heaven through the pen of St. Matthew, (Chapters 13, 20,22. 25), we see that it is a journey of inspired discipline winding through the shoals and vicissitudes of life. Its means of progress are the sharpening of our most acute perceptions, the gaining of true manhood in the image of God by ennobling the best in us, and the harnessing of the clamoring forces of our nature to serve God. It's guiding star is love. These are the qualities it calls for in us:

• Faith: we must know the potential of good, of God's image in us. Like a grain of mustard seed, it can grow to tremendous proportions.
• Purity and Trust: we must become a "good seed," able to grow up unaffected by neighboring tares. The evil will be separated out and burned at the end of time.
• Receptivity: We must become a "good soil" to nourish good seed and bring forth abundant fruit. Jesus says, "By their fruits shall you know them."
• Patience and Hope: We must be like the leaven hidden in three measures of meal which will in time leaven the whole.
• Knowledge of the Real and the False: We must be like the man finding a treasure in a field or a pearl of great price, who sells all that he has to buy the find.
• Freedom from envy or pettiness: We must look only to our own commitment, without regard to the circumstances of others, unlike the laborers in the vineyard.
• Preparedness and Steadfastness: Like the wise virgins, we must at all times keep the light of our love for God and determination burning, not part time, and only when things are going well.
• Activeness: We must invest our strengths and talents actively to do God's will. Grace is a gift to be magnified.
• Universality: Jesus said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me."

With these qualities we can bring the Kingdom of Heaven into the world; we can redeem time, all mature and ourselves, for the Kingdom of God is within. The rewards can be two-fold: a place in heaven for eternity, and joy and peace on earth.

-Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Bible and the Holy Fathers

10/8/06 The Parables of the Mustard Seed & the Leaven

These two parables (found grouped together in Matthew 13:31-33 also in Luke 13:18ff/Mark 4:20-32 [the Mustard Seed] and Luke 13:20ff [Leaven]) point clearly to the out-of-proportion effects of the work of the Kingdom of God in this world.

Jesus uses the familiar mustard seed as the point of departure for His parable. Arguably the "smallest of seeds," or "least of seeds," Jesus states that after being sown, it grows "greater than the herbs" (to which family it belongs) and becomes a tree (alternatively, "shoots out large branches," in Mark)*

The fact of the matter, which was undoubtedly not lost on His audience, is that mustard seeds do not grow into trees. The largest mustard variety, even in the time if Jesus, grows to about 10 feet high, and is more a bush than a tree. In fact, butterflies are fond of mustard pollen, but birds are not noted for making nests in bushes where they would be vulnerable to predators. There is, as in the other parables, something of the miraculous at work here.

Matthew places this parable next to the parable of the leaven, perhaps so we won't miss the point. The effect of the leaven on the bread is profound. Imagine a tortilla, pita bread or matzoh, all made without yeast, then imagine a loaf of sourdough bread. Better yet, if you are a baker, think of the phenomenal growth of bread dough after it has been leavened and left to rise. That's the kind of expansion we are talking about here. The effects are all out of proportion to the cause.

So it is with the mustard seed. Not only does it grow larger than expected, it even becomes something other than what it was at the beginning: a small seed grows into a tree large enough to shelter the birds of the air, not a bush with pretty yellow flowers.

Thus it is with the Kingdom of God.

As our discussion today noted, Jesus did not choose to go about the process of establishing a beachhead of the Kingdom of God in the territory of the Enemy by a frontal assault. He did not run for office. He did not establish a foundation. He didn't start a revolutionary movement. He didn't even have a bake sale.

His entire approach to establishing the Kingdom of God was "counterintuitive." It was the smallest seed that He chose as His disciples (some 70 or so at most in His retinue, 12 chosen for special appointment & teaching, and 3 as His supportive, inner circle), rather than doing a market saturation plan with spots airing during the Gladiator Superbowl.

Despite being born in a small town, spending several years out of the country as a tot, and being raised in a backwoods, rural town ("can anything good come out of Nazareth?"), the impact of the Kingdom of God He established is all out of proportion to what you would expect. Like the mustard seed, the establishment of the Church in the few, scared followers who gathered after abandoning Christ to the cross, has resulted in something miraculous.

I don't think one can overstate the impact that Christianity has had on the history of the world over the last two thousand years. While the human, fallen side of the Church has had many things to repent of, it is also true that the Roman Empire was staggered and eventually transformed by the presence of faithful Christians who could not be cowed by the threat of death or torture. Christian ethics and values seeped into every culture where it penetrated. Northern tribes of disparate origins were fused into great cultures with the advent of written languages created from scratch by Christian missionaries. Emerging kingdoms were steered toward justice and mercy where violence and vendetta were the norm. Slavery is now universally condemned as a result of campaigns and civil disobedience begun by Christians in Europe, Africa and North America. Child labor laws are the result of Christian struggle and efforts (thank you Charles Dickens, et al). Governments the world over take seriously the need to help widows, orphans and the poor (with varying degrees of success and seriousness, of course) largely due to the influence of the Christian imperative to do such things. The list goes on.

While there are certainly examples of cultures that have displayed (or at least given lip-service to) values that reflect the selfless, outward-reaching focus that is central to Christian service, I submit that the impact of the faith of believers since the planting of the seeds by Jesus is far and away the most significant factor in the improvement of the world's way of being that can be singled out in the sweep of history.

Even if you have a different analysis of these things, I will say that the small acts of kindness, compassion and mercy that I have experienced at the hands of Christians and done for others in His name are the most significant events in my life, with far-reaching effects that outstrip the size of the seeds planted.

If we are to follow the "foolish" model of the Kingdom of God, perhaps we should spend more time planting mustard seeds of mercy, grace, kindness, generosity and love to the other people in our lives and in our local communities rather than forming committees, electing candidates or having bake sales. Perhaps we would see outrageous harvests in our own lives and continue the building of the Church into the great tree of shelter that it has been and can be still.

*A footnote about so-called discrepancies in the Gospels: It is estimated that the significant similarities between the events and sayings of Jesus' life as recorded in the Gospels (particularly the "synoptic" Gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke, but including John's Gospel) lie in the range of about 95%. In other words, the differences are less than 5% and those are insignificant in that they do not tell radically different versions of the same event or contradict each other.

It is also my contention (and this is not me alone) that the majority of the teachings of Christ that are recorded are gleaned from the repeated preaching of Jesus to large crowds as He journeyed from place to place. The teachings were recorded or reported by eyewitnesses who, traveling with Jesus, had heard the major public words of Jesus many times, making them ingrained in the minds of the Disciples, and are likely to be accurately retold from their memories with some insignificant changes in wording.

9/24/06 The Parable of the Sower

The first parable in our study is the Parable of the Sower. (for future reference, just click on the underlined name of the parable and you will be taken to the complete biblical text on BibleGateway.com)

I first thought that the parable was misnamed until I read verse 18 where Jesus Himself names the parable. The obvious clue from the naming is that the parable shows us much about the Sower even though the soil constitutes most of the story.

Jesus never specifically identifies the Sower, but given Who we know Jesus to be (especially in light of John 1) and how He describes His ministry in vv. 10-16, it's apparent that Christ is the Sower of the "word of the kingdom"(v.19). The very reason He teaches in parables (vv. 11-17) fits into the responses of His audience. See especially the reaction of Jesus' hometown to His teaching in Matthew 13:53-58 immediately following this set of parables. The irony of Nazareth being something other than good soil, yet being the home of the Messiah Himself was surely not lost on Jesus.

When we examine the behavior of the Sower, we see some unusual tendencies. Most sowing, whether by hand as in Jesus time, or mechanical as in our technological farming era, is performed to maximize the chances of a plentiful harvest by focusing on placing the seed in good soil exclusively. Not so with our Sower.

The seed of the word of the kingdom finds itself flung on surfaces that must have made the farmers in His audience cringe. Throw the seed on the hard, compressed path; toss some in the rocky, uncleared edges of the field; spread it to the thorn patch where growth is almost guaranteed to fail. The Sower apparently doesn't care.

The message to us about God is one of abundant profligacy. God has seed to spare, and is embarrassingly careless (in human terms) on how He spreads it. God's "wastefulness," though, is really mercy and grace. Christ Himself taught us that, "God makes it rain upon the just and the unjust," and so it is with the word of the kingdom. Christ the Word comes to all men, and it is our response to Him that is key, even in this parable.

The curious turn in the parable becomes evident when we consider the soil.

It is variously described as "the wayside" (v.4), "stony" (v.5), "thorny" (v.7) and "good" (v.8). In each case, there is an outcome that is directly related to the condition of the soil, a result which depends on the readiness of the soil.

Now when Jesus explains the parable in 13: 18-23, he personifies the soil as the receivers of the word of the kingdom. That means those who heard Jesus during His earthly ministry, and all of us as well, who hear the Gospel through the various means God brings to bear in our lives.It is no accident that Jesus uses the word, "anyone." It is us to whom He speaks.

The soil, it seems, being personified so, has some responsibility for its own condition! There is no mention of the soil being prepared by another (though, to stretch our perspective beyond the parable we can see the merciful hand of God at work in our lives even before we respond to His call), only that the soil is in a certain state when the seed is presented. The parable points to the things which block the seed, or kill it, or take it away.

Our ongoing struggle then, is to take responsibility for the soil of our lives, to prepare ourselves against the things which would render us barren when the word of the kingdom would have us be fruitful. I have to ask myself whether the Evil One is prowling around (always) looking for my vulnerabilities. Are the cares of this world (my job, my money, my obsessions) choking out the work of God before it even gets started? Is my faith putting down roots that will sustain me when the hards things of this life inevitably come (suffering, death, persecution)?

...He who said..."He that has ears to hear, let him hear," was referring, beyond doubt, to the ears of the heart. See then that the discourse which you hear takes root in your heart. Take care that it does not fall by the wayside, lest the wicked spirit come and take it away. See that it does not fall on stony ground, and shoot up in good works without the root of perseverance. --St. John Chrysostom, Parables of the Gospel

9/17/06 Learning from parables

Our discussion of parables will focus on three aspects of parables:

1. What they teach us about God
2. How we need to change our perspective and actions in light of the Kingdom of God revealed
3. The outrageous/foolish/miraculous perspective of God
   

The first and most fundamental aspect of parables is that they reveal to us God's character. They show us Who the King of Heaven is by the way He acts in His power and His mercy. Aspects of His nature and personality are variously described, including the tension between God/Adonai in His righteous judgment and the LORD/Elohim in His Mercy and compassion. *

In keeping with my commitment to root out the sin, misunderstanding and rebelliousness of my own heart, I look to the parables as challenges to my limited and skewed perspective on reality. Christ has been kind enough to describe to us arcs (parabolas?) of earthly reality that come near (the Greek word for "near" is parabolou) to describing the ultimate reality of the Kingdom of God. It is our duty to readjust ourselves to the Kingdom's way of looking at things, to evaluate ourselves, our priorities and our responses to align with the One Whom we serve.

Perhaps the most intriguing discovery in the parables is the outrageous, the foolish, the miraculous that is hidden (not too deeply) in each parable. It is not surprising, though, to find an otherworldly (read: not the same as the world's) reality exposed when the corner of the Kingdom of this Age is peeled back and something of Ultimate Reality shines through. God makes me laugh, scratch my head and wonder, when I see how wrong is my way of seeing.

We will be looking at all three components in each parable, and trying to avoid our head exploding. Humility and humor are two indispensible tools whenever one cracks open the Word of God!

*I must state for the record here that it is the position of the historical Church and all orthodox Christians everywhere that the teachings of Jesus are completely in accord with the the revealed nature of God of the Old Testament. Any apparent contradiction is merely a problem of our understanding, which is part of the struggle for us to be remade in His likeness. As the song says, "I am not making it, it is making me."

INTRODUCTION: Why parables?

The first question asked about parables is usually, "Why did Jesus teach in parables?" Why didn't he just explain things clearly? Considering that parables constitute the lion's share of the direct teachings of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, it's an important question.

I like to think that Jesus understood some very fundamental realities of the workings of the human learning process. This is not surprising given that Christ Himself is the Image of God after whom all mankind is patterned. (Thanks to Fr. Christopher for his clarity of teaching on the PreIncarnate Christ)

Parables first reach out to us in a basic, emotional sense. We react with resonance to things we understand at a level that is beyond our rational thought process, or we find ourselves puzzled, our curiosity piqued. We are engaged by a good story, a good joke or a wry comment because we are built for an empathetic response, designed to relate what we hear to ourselves and our life, looking for parallells and contrasts. The human mind is clearly designed to take in what we hear and filter it into some form we can place alongside our own life and understanding.

Once Jesus has our attention, we can then engage our rational mind, our heart and our selves in the process of respondng to a parable.

Make no mistake: we are required to respond to the teachings of Jesus as they are made for that purpose. We are challenged by the parables, primarily because they reveal the mind of God.

The phrase, "The Kingdom of God is like..." shows us that what follows is shown to us from the perspective of the place where God rules. The Kingdom of God, both here on earth, where it has an imperfect toe-hold in the beachhead invasion of the Realm of the Evil One, and the Kingdom of God in heavenly realms where God rules Supreme even now, is a place that reflects His ideals, His rules, His perspective. The Kingdom of God is a reflection of the King Himself.

Each time Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is like...", he is giving us a glimpse into the mind of God. What better way to begin to get a hold on who God is? What more brutal challenge to our small, imperfect way of looking at everything than to hold it up next to the mind of God?

Yet we cannot shrink from such a task, just because we are challenged. We need to welcome the challenge because it is the entire point: putting on the mind of Christ that we will become like Him and joined to Him.

So suck it up, quit your whining, and come with me on a journey through the Parables.

"He who has ears let him hear!"