Sermon - November 19, 2017, Proper 28A

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18; Psalm 90; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

The Rev. Maurice C. Frontz, STS, November 19, 2017

‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:14-30)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

‘I believe that God has created me together with all that exists.

God has given me and still preserves my body and soul;

eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses;

reason and all mental faculties.

In addition, God daily and abundantly provides

shoes and clothing, food and drink,

house and farm, spouse and children,

fields, livestock, and all property,

along with all that is necessary and needful for this body and life.

God protects me against all danger and defends and preserves me from all evil.

All this God does out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy,

without any worthiness or merit of mine at all!

I therefore owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him.

This is most certainly true.’

This part of Luther’s Catechism, explaining the first article of the Creed,

was memorized by children for generations.

It is a triumphant song of thanksgiving and trust in a good God

who provides for his people,

who gives them everything they need,

who acts as a loving father to his beloved children.

If we have this good God,

would we not as a natural response thank and praise, serve and obey him?

Loyalty begets loyalty.

Trustworthiness begets trust,

Faithfulness begets faith.

The first two slaves have these kinds of hearts.

Both the one entrusted with five talents of money

and the one entrusted with two talents

trust that the master knows what he is doing,

and that he desires not only his benefit,

but their benefit; their success.

They are quick to act because they have confidence.

I love words, and the word ‘confident’

combines the Latin prefix ‘con’

which can mean ‘with’ or ‘joining together;’

think ‘confluence’ or ‘conjoin’

with the word ‘fide’ which means ‘faith’ or ‘trust.’

The first two slaves act with confidence in the master,

their faith in him is joined up with his faith in them.

But the third slave in the parable Jesus tells

does not believe in the God Luther tells us about in the Catechism.

Listen to his words about the master in the parable:

‘I knew that you were a harsh man,

reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed,

so I was afraid, and hid what was yours in the ground.’

He who was given the one talent to trade with until his master returns

believes that the master does not provide for him,

is jealous of the gifts that the other two have received,

and believe that he has been set up to fail.

And so he does not thank and praise, serve and obey the master.

He does not act for the master’s advantage,

but for his own safety and security.

In fact, it is not the ability of the slaves

that is the true difference between them.

It is in their attitudes.

It is in their concepts of who their master is.

It is in their hearts.

It is in their confidence in the master.

But why should the third man be confident?

After all, he has not received the five talents, nor the two.

He has received one measly talent.

No wonder he has no faith in the master,

and has to put his faith in his own ability to keep himself safe.

The third slave accuses the master of being unjust.

Is this true?

True, the master does not give him as much money to trade with as he does the others,

but he gives ‘to each according to his ability.’

If the master were unjust,

if he truly were setting him up to fail,

he would have given ten talents to the man who only could have handled one.

So the accusation of injustice falls short of the mark.

I have, in the past, been critical of a popular phrase,

‘God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.’

If a person burdened with grief, depression, or fear

is given this slogan,

it might not be a helpful word.
But when we are faced with the question of who we are,

and called to invest our lives in God’s service,

it can be quite a helpful word.

God knows who we are,

God has created us,

Nothing we do in God’s service is wasted.

He frees us from worry about ourselves,

for he has given us gifts according to our abilities.

We can have confidence in him,

and therefore throw ourselves into the life that is joy;

a life of thanking and praising God,

serving and obeying him.

So what is your concept of God?

Who is the God you believe in?

Is it the one who is a hard master,

who will judge you for every mess-up you make,

and so it’s better not to reach out,

not to do something outside your comfort zone,

not to give away without hope of getting back,

not to risk getting hurt and being tired

and not knowing whether or not you’re doing the right thing?

Or is it the one who has created you,

who has given you everything you need to know him

and to love him and to love your neighbor as yourself?

Is it the one in whom you can put your confidence,

because when he tells you, ‘Do something for me,’

he has given you exactly what you need to do it?

Isn’t that a joyful vision of God?

When the master says to the faithful, to the confident slaves,

‘Enter into the joy of your master,’

it is because the slaves already were living in his joy.

Let’s not waste time thinking about the times

we have been fearful and self-invested,

because we’ve all been there.

At least I have been.

Often.

But let us joyfully and confidently confess,

‘For all that God has freely given out of pure, divine, and fatherly goodness and mercy,

I owe it to him to thank and praise, serve and obey him.

This is most certainly true.’

Spaghetti Dinner this Saturday!!!

Sermon November 12, 2017

Amos 5:18-24; Psalm 70; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

The Rev. Maurice C. Frontz, STS

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.”But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.' Matthew 25:1-13

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ten people were invited to a wedding, and the wedding day came,

and five of them had gifts ready and five did not.

Certainly they couldn’t piggyback on someone else’s gift,

and so the five rushed off to get what they needed.

And while they were at Wal-Mart,

dodging the other customers,

desperately searching for something, anything appropriate,

the wedding occurred,

and the reception took place,

and the five wise ones celebrated and ate and drank and danced with the happy couple,

sharing in their joy;

and when the five foolish came with their presents,

cheaply bought and hastily wrapped,

they found, to their great confusion and consternation,

that the party was over, and that they had missed the whole thing.

The bride and the bridegroom had left for the honeymoon,

and the happy guests had all gone home;

there was nothing left to eat or drink,

no music or dancing; nothing left to celebrate.

Only five foolish ones looking foolishly at each other,

embarrassed, ashamed, alone,

with their suddenly useless party clothes

and utterly meaningless gifts.

Well, this story is a little unrealistic.

The story Jesus tells is a little unrealistic too.

Parables aren’t always realistic.

But they do make a point.

The celebration is going to happen,

and when it happens, we’d best be ready to celebrate,

or we’ll miss it.

The celebration is the reunion of heaven and earth,

that time when there is no evil or death or sin.

God is the one who will reunite heaven and earth

through his Son Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus was born, and was died, and was raised,

his kingdom has already invaded the earth,

the reunion has already begun.

But it is not completed;

it is not fully realized.

If we look around at the world, we can certainly tell that.

If we look into our lives, we can certainly tell that.

God is still working; through his Spirit he moves in our lives,

he moves in the world.

Even though the kingdom is present,

it is still to come.

So Jesus’ command is ‘keep alert.’

Some people take Jesus at his word.

They buy up the books about the Rapture and the tribulation

and see every bad event in the world

as the sign that everything is getting worse and worse

and hope that Jesus will come soon to get us out of this mess.

I sympathize with that.

The whole Christian church prays, ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’

And yet, I don’t think that’s what’s meant here.

Because keeping alert is not simply counting the days on the calendar,

saying, ‘Maybe it will be tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day.’

I wonder if, in Jesus’ parable,

the foolish bridesmaids were like that.

‘Surely he’ll come in the next hour, or the next, or the next’

and meanwhile they had forgotten the most important thing,

the oil they needed for their lamps

to welcome the bridegroom whenever he arrived.

You can get exhausted by the things of the world.

You can lose your faith when a terrible event occurs,

You can wait and wait and wait for the tide to turn,

but when the fullness of the kingdom is delayed,

it can be overwhelming.

This is what the evil one counts upon.

I am reminded of the story of James Stockdale,

In 1965, he was shot down over North Vietnam 

and imprisoned for years in the place

which became infamous as the ‘Hanoi Hilton.’

Much later, when he had been released and completed his service,

having become an Admiral after almost literally having been to hell and back,

he was asked by an interviewer,

How did he make it through his torture and confinement?

"I never lost faith in the end of the story," 

was Stockdale's answer.

"I never doubted not only that I would get out,

but also that I would prevail in the end

and turn the experience 

into the defining event of my life,

which, in retrospect, I would not trade."

Stockdale, second from left

His interviewer asked him, "Who didn't make it out?"

and Admiral Stockdale replied immediately:

"Oh, that's easy. The optimists...

They were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.'

And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go.

Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.'

And Easter would come, and Easter would go.

And then Thanksgiving,

and then it would be Christmas again.

And they died of a broken heart."

"This is a very important lesson.

You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end –

which you can never afford to lose –

with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality,

whatever they might be."[1]

Jesus speaks to the people exhausted by life,

who will become weary in the midst of the world,

who despair that they don’t receive what they feel they need,

physically, emotionally, spiritually,

and who in their darkest moments wonder if God will provide.

He promises them that the celebration will occur,

that the kingdom will indeed come in its fullness,

and calls them to keep a candle of faith lit until that day.

To carry themselves 

if though the kingdom is fully present,

even when it is not evident.

To live as God’s children in the world,

letting their light shine before others,

so that others may see their good works

and glorify their Father who is in heaven.

That is wisdom, to trust in God’s promises 

and to act accordingly,

no matter what the external circumstance.

To feel sorry for oneself is foolish;

to let yourself go under difficulties is foolish.

It takes discipline to make it through these times.

Jesus’ words are encouragement for us 

to keep the lamp lit.

But those who are comfortable with the world as it is,

and with their lives as they are,

are also like the foolish bridesmaids,

who will have no oil in their lamps at the celebration.

Those do not mourn, with Jesus, 

the evil and sadness in the world and in their hearts

and simply take what they can get

and become judges with hardened hearts,

they will miss the celebration of the new world,

because they love the old world

where there are just winners and losers, and they are winners.

We must take this warning to heart,

for those who exalt themselves will be humbled

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

But those who mourn shall be comforted.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied.

Those who yearn for the celebration

and live lives of faith and discipline in this world,

being the hands and feet of Christ until he comes again,

will be those who rejoice when all comes to fruition.

Finally, what about those of us who believe,

who want to keep the lamp of faith going in times of doubt and despair,

but who feel as if the disappointment is too much?

We are encouraged to look for the light in the world

that can never be put out,

and for signs of God’s goodness and mercy

wherever we can find them.

We need, with this word of God, to hear another word from God

about Jesus and a light.

‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,

my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles…

He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick

until he brings justice to victory.’

Do not be foolish, but be wise.

Keep your head up.

Be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world.

Do the work.

Keep the candle lit.

And never lose faith in the end of the story.

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[1] http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com/show/battlestar-galactica/sometimes-a-great-notion-1/ and http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com/show/battlestar-galactica/sometimes-a-great-notion-1/2