Catching Fog

“The one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:24-30)

Jesus didn’t ask us to play it safe. He wants us to risk it all. The poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a famous poem called If in which he described what it meant to be an adult. One part of being an adult was the willingness to take risks and accept failure. In concluding the parable of the servants that were given talents, Jesus ends with the one who, given the least (of a still enormous sum of money) chose to do nothing with it. Instead, he claimed fear as his excuse: fear of losing what he’d been given

The master doesn’t accept fear as the real reason for the servant’s behavior. Unlike the servant in the parable in Luke, the servant in Matthew’s story not only has the single talent taken away, but he is cast into “outer darkness.” The weeping and gnashing of teeth is indicative of the regret the lazy servant suffered—his too late recognition of his bad behavior.

Jesus’ parable describes the kingdom of God. The wealth is distributed unevenly and the results are uneven. You can multiply only if you have something to multiply with. You can’t multiply by zero and get anything. An unproductive servant is no servant at all. Like a broken light switch, you might as well toss it out. Jesus wants us to risk everything for him.

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When one of those who sat at the table with Jesus heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ” (Luke 14:15-24)

What’s your excuse? Jesus had just told his host that when he invited people to a meal, he should not invite people based on whether he’d get a reciprocal invite. Instead, he should think about how he’d get repaid come the resurrection. Then one of the dinner guests proclaimed how happy those would be who shared in the banquet in God’s kingdom.

So Jesus taught about who would be invited to share in the banquet in God’s kingdom. Jesus perhaps adapted an ancient Jewish tale about an ambitious tax collector who tried to gain social standing with the aristocrats by inviting them to dinner. But they rebuffed his offer. In order that the dinner not go to waste, the tax collector invited all the poor instead. Jesus wanted his audience to understand that God offered everyone a seat at his great banquet. God doesn’t care who comes, only that they come. Those who miss out have no one but themselves to blame.

Jesus wants us to understand how easy it is to get into God’s banquet and how hard he’s working to get us there. We have no good excuse for not showing up.

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“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 11:21-28)

It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. While Jesus was talking about the behavior of demons, a woman in the crowd made a statement that seems very odd and out of place, almost as if she wasn’t even listening to him. Her words don’t seem to fit the context of Jesus’ discussion.

She offered a blessing on Jesus’ mother. What did she mean by that? Apparently, she thought that Jesus was wonderful because he was a teacher and because he had power over demons. So she wished that she could have a son just like him so she could be just as happy as Jesus’ mother must be.

Jesus responded by telling her that the real happiness was not in having power over demons. It was not in having a son like Jesus. Instead, Jesus said that real happiness came from having a relationship with God, listening to what he said, and then doing what he asked. What does God want of us? He wants us to love him and the people around us. He wants us to help make the lives of those we know better. Too easily do we become distracted by what we want in life, that we forget to focus on what God wants. The woman in the crowd thought happiness came from having a perfect son—rather than from having a perfect relationship with God thanks to His Son.

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“Suppose one of you goes to a friend in the middle of the night and says, “Let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine has dropped in, and I don’t have a thing for him to eat.” And suppose your friend answers, “Don’t bother me! The door is bolted, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you something.”

He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.” (Luke 11:5-13)

My children don’t need a pony. I don’t need a Cadillac. But God always gives us what we need. Our trouble comes in not always being able to distinguish clearly between our needs and our wants. In the time of Jesus, people usually slept together in one room in one bed. They did this, not because they liked the togetherness, but because their houses were small and cramped, often with only one room.

Therefore, it took a lot of effort for a man to rise in the middle of the night, crawl over his entire family, and find his way to his front door in the dark. On top of that, three loaves of bread for someone else’s guest in the middle of the night wasn’t even a reasonable request! But even so silly an appeal could get results if one were persistent enough. It was hard to sleep with someone pounding on the door.

Sometimes we give in to our children just because we get tired of listening to them whine. But God is never in bed, he’s never broke, he’s never had a bad day at work. He’s happy to give, because he loves us. Since even grumpy neighbors and tired parents will respond to our requests, how much more then will our Father in heaven take care of giving us what we really need!

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When He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.” (Matthew 10:1-11)

Nothing builds faith better than experience. So, Jesus sent his twelve disciples out into the region around the Sea of Galilee, to all the villages and towns in it, to proclaim that God’s kingdom was near. To demonstrate the truth of their words, Jesus gave them the ability to perform all the miracles that Jesus had been performing: they healed the sick, they cleansed the lepers, they raised the dead, and they cast out demons. None of the gospel writers give us any details about their activities, where precisely they went, or how many people were raised from the dead.

When they discovered they could raise the dead and heal the sick, did the disciples stop worrying about their rather precarious financial situation? Jesus hadn’t let them take any money or extra clothes. They were forced to be dependent upon God and those they served.

When one miracle happened, and then another, as they found their needs provided for at each step of the way, their confidence inevitably grew. Jesus was training his disciples for the time when he would be gone, when these men would be on their own with only the Spirit to guide them. We, as followers of Jesus today, have been sent out into the world with no less than those first twelve disciples.

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As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, “My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along.

Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can just put a finger on his robe, I’ll get well.” Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: “Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you’re well.” The woman was well from then on.

By now they had arrived at the house of the town official, and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and the neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: “Clear out! This girl isn’t dead. She’s sleeping.” They told him he didn’t know what he was talking about. But when Jesus had gotten rid of the crowd, he went in, took the girl’s hand, and pulled her to her feet—alive. The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region. (Matthew 9:18-26)

Jesus made it all look so easy. When Jesus healed someone, there were no explosions, no sparkles in the air, no waving of wands or muttering of spells. He didn’t flap his hands about. When the woman who had suffered a hemorrhage for twelve years needed healing, she was the one doing all the physical effort by attempting to sneak up and touch him. Just her belief and her touch was enough for her to become well. When the local official’s daughter was dead, all Jesus did was walk up to where she was lying. Then he grabbed her hand and helped her get out of the bed. She was simply alive.

The miraculous became mundane in Jesus. It was no more spectacular, seemingly no more out of the ordinary, than the work he had done as a carpenter. In fact, it was usually less time consuming and less labor intensive. Jesus, like any carpenter, could take some wood and with a bit of diligent effort, turn it into a table or a chair. With the sick or the dead, Jesus transformed them even more easily.

The miraculous is God’s normal. In fact, if resurrections were as common as sunrises, we’d stop paying attention to them. Which says, perhaps, that we might want to pay more attention to sunrises. God performs miracles all the time. But most of them we’ve learned to take for granted.

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