November 18, 2005 [LINK]
How's that for a provocative heading? The Gospel reading for last Sunday included one of those head-scratching sayings from Jesus that makes you think hard about how we mortals are really supposed to behave, and what God's role is in overseeing this cruel world. It's the parable from Matthew 25 about the wealthy master who goes on a journey and leaves his three servants with, respectively, five talents, two talents, and one talent. When he returns, he is pleased that the first two doubled their wealth by working and investing, but was angered the third simply buried his in the ground, reasoning that the Master was a ruthless exploiter, so there was no use to taking the risk of losing what little the servant was given. The master concluded his condemning retort:
For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have in abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
Doesn't that run counter to the general thrust of the Sermon on the Mount? What about the meek inheriting the Earth? It is hard to tell whether Jesus meant to say that the master was responding appropriately. If he did, it might imply the Jesus would support "tax cuts for the wealthy" and "trickle down economics." One of my professors at American University, Dr. James Weaver, used to cite the folk saying from his home state of Arkansas: "Thems what has, gets." Nothing succeeds like success, etc., etc. To understand this parable, and others like it, you need to read the preceding and subsequent chapters from the Gospel. My own interpretation of this parable, which was one of the last lessons Jesus gave to his disciples before the Last Supper, is simply that it is vain for human beings to presume righteousness or to plea victimhood in this dog-eat-dog world. When we pray that "Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven," we shouldn't assume that all members of the human race will instantly renounce sin and carry out God's will. The realm of Caeser and the kingdom of heaven will remain forever separate. In our daily lives, we have to behave in terms of how the world actually is.
Just imagine if the Devil hired some political consultant to broadcast an attack campaign advertisement against the Holy Savior, with such a misleading out-of-context quotation!