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.

                                                            Matthew 25:24b-25a

Dear Friends and Partners in the Gospel,

            There's a practice I always follow when I read a difficult passage in the Bible. I don't know how I first came upon it, but it is a matter of personal faithfulness to me that I follow all the steps: First, I read it several times; then I argue with it, and try to let it convince me; sometimes I sleep on it to see if God will use it to give me some new insight on the Gospel (which often happens). After that, if I must, I begin to allow myself to disagree, at least with the conventional meaning of the passage, usually consoling myself with the notion that the followers of Jesus didn't always get his message right.   

            The parable of the talents is to me one of the least appealing stories in the Bible:   first of all, it's all about a master and the slaves who do his bidding. The master appears to be arbitrary, cruel and irresponsible. He leaves his property with the slaves, who are terrified in the knowledge that he holds the power to reward them for doing what he wants done or to destroy their lives if they don't. The trick is that he doesn't tell them what it is that he wants them to do. Moreover, he distributes his resources ("talents") unevenly, giving the largest share and a clear advantage to the one he thinks will be most skillful in using it, and the smallest share to the one he deems least capable. The story tells us that the master is harsh, unfair and gladly willing to take advantage of the labors and misfortunes of others. To top it off, traditional interpreters of the story tell us that the master represents God. How outrageous! Close to blasphemy! Did Jesus really think like that?

In some sense, the best thing about this story is the moral conclusion that most people remember from it, a moral so imbedded in our minds that we don't notice that it isn't written in the text! Please check me on this. Ask anybody, and see if they don't tell you: "The moral of the story," they say, "is that we shouldn't bury the talents that God has given us."

What the Bible actually says, of course, is "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," which sounds like the image of an economic system that has prevailed for all of time, so maybe Jesus was just trying to convey to his listeners an image of the oppressive social order we have time and again created.  

The Sundays of November bring closure to the Christian year, and our liturgy moves toward the anticipation of the season of God's justice. We think about the need to wake from sleep and turn from darkness toward the light - and in that light to see the falseness of a world that rewards the success of the already advantaged and blames the poor for a failure that is not their own. It is time to seek repair of the harm we permit being done to others, and to work on behalf of the world where rewards are fairly given, that is the dream of our common faith.

Thank you for the ministries of justice in each of your congregations. May the talents of all the people never again be hidden.

Allen