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You’ve probably heard the one about the kindergarten teacher who was observing her class during their art period. She would walk around and comment on each child’s drawing, but occasionally had to ask what it was going to be. As she came to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.

The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.”

The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.”

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”

It is one of those remarkable questions though: what does God look like? We know that Abraham saw him as one of three men who visited him – two of which turned out to be angels. We know that when Moses was up on the mountain, he wanted to see God, but was only allowed to see his back. We know that Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord as the Lord departed from Jerusalem. We know that Elijah heard him in a whisper. And we know that Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. There is, however, one other characteristic of God that you may have never considered.

In the third chapter of Joshua, we read about the Israelites crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and the crossing began with twelve priest carrying the Ark – think Indiana Jones – walking into the Jordan River. As soon as their feet touched the water, the river stopped flowing and backed up several miles away so that the people could cross on dry land. The scripture tells us that these priest stood in the center of the dry river bed as all of Israel crossed. How many crossed? That number is hugely debated—anywhere from 100,000 up to 3.5 million. Whatever the case, even if it was only 100,000, it would have taken awhile for that many men, women, and children to cross, along with all their possessions and livestock, all the while, the twelve priest are standing there, holding the Ark.

Now the Ark itself is also described, in scripture. God gave very specific instructions on how it was to be constructed: wood, gold, etc. Given the materials and size, it is estimated that the Ark would have weighed 300 to 400 pounds. Add in the two stone tablets that God gave to Moses with the ten commandments written on them and you’ve got a rather significant load, even for twelve men. So, if someone crossing the dried up river turned to one of these twelve and asked, “So, what’s God like?” They very well may have responded, “He’s heavy!”

That is a humorous answer, but it is much closer to the truth than you would think. Heavy or weightiness in Hebrew is the word kabod. Kabod is also the same word for glory. He’s heavy. He’s glorious. And for the Israelites, where did this heaviness of God, this glory of God reside?

Back in the book of Exodus, God gave the instructions for building the Ark. The lid of the Ark was to have two cherubim of gold constructed, one on each end, with their faces facing down and their wings outstretched toward one another. It was the lid of the Ark, but it had a special name: the mercy seat. And of this mercy seat, God said to Moses, “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites.” (Exodus 25:22) The Prophet Isaiah wrote, “And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: ‘O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.’” (Isaiah 37:15-16) The presence of the Creator of the heaven and earth, the kabod of God, the heaviness, the glory of God rested upon the lid of the Ark, the mercy seat and from there God gave his law and was present to the people.

So what does this kabod, the heaviness of God have to do with today’s parable?

The master gave one slave five talents; the other, two; and the last, one. What do you think of when you think of a “talent”? We often translate it to mean a talent is a gift, a skill, something we can use for working in the Kingdom of God, but perhaps there is an even deeper meaning.

In the context of the parable, I have often considered a talent to be like a coin, maybe a silver dollar, but talent does not refer to a unit of money, it refers to a unit of weight, particularly that of precious medals, like gold and silver, and it weighed about fifty pounds. So when the master gave the first slave five talents, you should read that as, “The master gave the first slave two hundred and fifty pounds of gold.” The second, a hundred pounds and the third fifty. Biblical scholars have suggested that Jesus’ audience would not have focused so much on the gold as they would have the kabod, the weight of all that gold and in considering that kabod, they would have been immediately reminded of the mercy seat, where the kabod of God resided. With that understanding, the parable is not necessarily about God giving a gift or skill; instead, it is about God giving a part of himself – his mercy, his glory, his love… his Spirit.

Consider this: God gives a man a talent for playing the violin. He is actually very good at it, and could do a lot of good work in the Kingdom of God with this talent, playing in the church on Sunday, teaching others how to play, helping kids discover outlets other than roaming the streets, etc., but then one day the man decides he doesn’t want to play the violin anymore, so he wraps it in some cloth and buries it in a field. On the day the man dies and goes to heaven, God says, “Tell me about the violin.” The man replies, “You know, I got tired of playing, so I gave it up.” According to the parable that Jesus told, God would then say to the man, “You wicked and lazy slave! Take his violin and give it to someone who will play it like it was a Stradivarius, and then take this man and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Now, far be it from me to question the judgments of God, but doesn’t that seem a bit severe for not wanting to play the violin? But then consider this: God gives a man a talent. God gives the man a part of his kabod, his presence, his glory, his love, his mercy, his Spirit. God gives the man a part of Himself. However, the man looks at this gift with complete indifference, he looks at the presence of God within himself, and says, “Eh!”, then he casts it in a hole and buries it. This man dies and comes before God and God says to him, “Tell me about the part of me that I gave to you.” And the man says, “I didn’t think much of it, so I buried it. Here… here it is,” and he hands God back that part of His Spirit, covered in dirt and decay. Far be it from me to tell God what to do, but that man has earned the outer darkness, the weeping, and the gnashing of teeth.

David prays in Psalm 51:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

It is this Holy Spirit of God that is the real “talent” which is given to each of us and from it all else proceeds. Yes, we have God given talents, skills, and gifts that we are to use for the increase of the Kingdom of God and for His greater glory, but His Holy Spirit, his kabod, His self is what he has given to us, and we are not to squander it. We are to be bold and to use it, to share it: his love, mercy, glory, grace, and in doing so, that same love, mercy, glory, and grace—as with the servants who received the five talents and the two—will be increased in us. What did Jesus say in Luke’s Gospel? “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:37-38)

Be bold in the giving of this presence of God that is within you. With St. Paul, pour yourself out like a drink offering, holding nothing back, and its God’s promise that it will return to you. He will anoint your head with oil and your cup will run over. His goodness and mercy will be with you all the days of your life. And you will dwell in His house forever.

Let us pray: God, our Father, You have promised to remain forever with those who do what is just and right. Help us to live in Your presence. The loving plan of Your Wisdom was made known when Jesus, your Son, became man like us. We want to obey His commandment of love and bring Your peace and joy to others. Keep before us the wisdom and love You have made known in Your Son. Help us, through the presence of your Holy Spirit, to be like Him in word and deed. Amen

 

The Podcast can be found here.

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An old tale from the Middle East – with many variations – speaks of a merchant from Baghdad who sent his servant to the market one day. Before long the servant came back, white and trembling with fear. In great anxiety, he said to his master, “Down in the market I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned around, I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Master, please lend me your horse, for I must hasten away to avoid her! I will ride to Samarra and there I will hide. Death will not find me there.” Wanting to be helpful, the merchant lent him his horse and the servant galloped away in great haste. Later the merchant went down to the marketplace and saw Death standing in the crowd. He went over to her and asked, “Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make a threatening gesture?”

“That was not a threatening gesture,” Death said. “It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

Whether in Samarra or Baghdad or Enid, that “appointment” is not one we like to consider, and before you go thinking you will be leaving today completely depressed, I’ll let you know that we’re not going to be talking about that appointment itself, but the time leading up to it. That would be today and more specifically, this very moment, for this is all that is guaranteed.

The parable of the ten virgins or bridesmaids that Jesus told has the point where all ten girls become tired and fall asleep. They all wake up when the cry comes that the bridegroom is on his way. Some are ready to leave for the celebration, while others don’t have enough oil for their lamps to help them find the way.

This sleep that overtakes them can be understood in different ways. Perhaps the most evident are death and the second coming of Jesus. It can be either of those, but the point of the parable is the condition of the individual before they fall asleep.

Falling asleep is natural, but watching someone fall asleep who is trying to stay awake is quite comical (just watch the congregation today and you may witness it). It begins with the eyes struggling to remain open and progresses to the head bob, as they keep waking themselves up. It ends with their chin resting against their chest and drool running down their shirt. If this happens in public, they wake up looking rather sheepish and wondering if they were snoring, but no harm was done. Compare that with falling asleep while you’re driving. I remember driving along as a teenager and waking up with my front bumper edging up underneath the rear bumper of a semi. I was awake very quickly with my heart pounding furiously. I also remember driving along late one night, desperately wanting to get home. I should have pulled over long before. The person I was with looked over and asked, “Are you awake?” My response: “I am now!”

I’ve fallen asleep watching a movie, woken up, and the worst thing I had to do was hit the rewind, but falling asleep driving, puts you in a state of sheer panic.

If we say that the ten virgins falling asleep is a way of speaking about our death or the second coming of Jesus, then the five who were prepared are like those who fall asleep and wake up innocently and peacefully, while the five who were unprepared are like those who fall asleep while driving, waking in a dead panic, unprepared.

I believe that most would like to find themselves in the first group of the wise, those who are prepared; however, even though most desire this, there are many who fail to achieve due to one particular lie of the devil.

Three apprentice devils coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan about their plans to tempt and to stop humankind from coming to God. The first said, “I will tell them that there is no God.” Satan said, “That will not deceive many, for they know that there is a God.” The second said, “I will tell them that there is no hell.” Satan answered, “You will deceive no one that way; they know even now that there is a hell for sin.” The third said, “I will tell them that there is no hurry, you can continue like what you want.” “Go,” said Satan, “and you will stop many from turning to God.”

Many hear that lie – you’ve got time… you can think about this later… there are many days left in your life to consider the things of God – many hear that lie and when the end arrives, they are in a panic, and they find themselves outside, knocking on the door to be allowed entry into the celebration.

But I do not think you would be here today if you were not seeking to be prepared for your last, but the meaning of the parable does not speak only about the end of our days. It also speaks of how we can be unprepared in our daily lives, and this type of unpreparedness crushes our ability to live each day in peace and it arrives through the death of hope.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet begins his monologue:
“To be, or not to be? That is the question.”

He is asking whether it is better to be alive or to die. Is it better to keep up the day to day struggle of his life or take his chances on the next, for to him, dying is only sleeping, but then he begins to question:

“To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.”

Who’s to say, he asks himself. Perhaps death is worse. We just don’t know; therefore, we struggle for long days in this life and continue to toil along. What he is describing is a life without hope. Hope in the promises of God. It is a life that does not find rest in God. It is a life of panic and a furious running about in search of anything to fill the void within that only God can satisfy with his peace.

When we are robbed of that hope, we are unprepared for now. We become restless and panic. We listen to the world and those around us and hear the death they speak and we become infected with it and they rob us of our hope, or perhaps a better way to put it is to say they take our hope, because, so often, we just give it to them. In doing so, we allow despair and death to enter our lives, where God would have us joyful and alive. What remains is a panic that ask those same questions Hamlet asked: is this all there is? The answer is a resounding, “No!” Yes, there will be trials and there will be difficulties, but in the words of our Bishop, “The world does not have the final say.” Therefore, be prepared each day, give yourself permission to enter into the celebration, and the peace and joy of the Lord. For Jesus says, “I will never turn away anyone who comes to me.”

When I struggle with this, I remember what Mother Teresa is reported to have written on a wall in her room. Forgive me if I’ve shared it with you before:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

That is the inner workings of a soul that is preparing for the last day and the soul of one who is also prepared to live this day. It is a soul that has acquired that unquenchable hope. That refuses to give it away or to be robbed of it.

You are a gift from God and the life he has given you is also a gift. Live it in the peace and hope that he gives to you and on whatever day he chooses to call you home, you will be prepared and you will enter into the eternal celebration.

The words of David in Psalm 34 speak of this hope. I’ll close with them. Let us pray:
I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Amen

The podcast can be found here.

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Boudreaux was sitting in the City Bar in Maurice, Louisiana, one Saturday night, and had several beers under his belt. After a while, he looked at the guy sitting next to him, and asked him, “Hey, you wanna hear a good Aggie joke, you?”

The big guy replied, “Let me tell you something. I’m an oil field roughneck, I weigh 270 pounds, and I don’t like Cajuns. My buddy here is a pro football player, weighs 300 pounds, and he doesn’t like Cajuns either. His friend on his other side is a professional wrestler, weighs 320 pounds, always has a chip on his shoulder, and he likes Cajuns even less than we do, and we are all three proud Aggies. Do you really want to tell us an Aggie joke?”

Boudreaux, all 150 pounds of Cajun attitude, told him, “Mais, I guess not. After all I don’t want have to explain it three times!” Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 25 RCL A – “Inspired by Love””