he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem
and they thought that the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.
It was widely believed that once the messiah appeared the Kingdom of God would follow almost immediately. Many modern commentators seem to believe that even early Christians were surprised by the delay in the full realization of the Kingdom on earth. Whether they were or not we will not speculate. Yet if they were, they need not have been, since Jesus himself told a parable precisely to explain it. There would be time after his coming when he was visible absent, before his return, and the final establishing of the Kingdom. He explained with what his disciples would need to contend during this time since there would be those who would say that they did not "want this man to be our king", and who would do whatever they could to harass and interfere with the followers of his who remained during his absence.
A nobleman went off to a distant country
to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.
Jesus brought his risen human nature into heaven, there to share the throne of kingship that was properly God's own. He planned to return to bring the full blessings of that kingship to the world through the resurrection on the last day. But he did not plan to do this immediately. In order to allow a full and free response to his plan he gave his disciples time to put the gifts he gave them to use, good or otherwise. By doing so they could open up their capacity to participate in his Kingdom when it arrived. What mattered to Jesus was not that they prove themselves by cleverness, skill, or success. Rather, he was looking for them to demonstrate faithfulness. The reward of cities was entirely disproportionate to the small level of faithfulness that was required of them. But it was precisely this faithfulness, and not the results, on which they were judged. Everyone who even chose to participate received a reward that ridiculously exceeded their efforts. True, the one who made ten additional coins seemed to receive a larger result, as though his effort was involved. But it is more likely the case that he was able to produce such results because he was more willing to trust in the master's gifts, which functioned almost automatically. He had perhaps opened himself more completely to trust in the master and thus had a larger capacity to receive the master's blessing when he returned.
'Sir, here is your gold coin;
I kept it stored away in a handkerchief,
for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man;
you take up what you did not lay down
and you harvest what you did not plant.'
The man that returned the master's gold coin with nothing to show for it was punished, not because he failed, but because he was faithless. The master had said "Engage in trade" and he had instead hidden the gift away, where it was powerless to bear fruit. This is a common temptation for us as well. It feels safe, in the moment, to hide our gifts and not take the risk of obeying the command of Jesus. But it is only when we trust him enough to put them to use that they can bear fruit. And it is only by opening ourselves in trust to his will that we grow in our capacity to receive the reward he wants to give us. This reward is not cities so much as it is more of himself.
He replied, 'I tell you,
to everyone who has, more will be given,
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
Our stewardship during our mortal lives is a feed forward mechanism in which the more we participate the more we grow. But unwillingness to participate makes it increasingly hard to begin. We should remember our trust in the master who has given us the command to engage in trade and therefore also trust in the power of the coin of the Spirit with which he has entrusted us. And we should remember that he does not necessarily expect great things, but rather faithfulness in the little things, like Terese of Lisieux and Theresa of Calcutta were fond of repeating.
No comments:
Post a Comment