Our text for January 20th is Matthew 25:14-30.
Our place in the church calendar: This Sunday is the Second Sunday after Epiphany, but we're taking a three-week break from the lectionary texts to focus on our stewardship campaign. Our theme is Abundance, and we'll be focusing on three texts: for this week, The Parable of the Talents, then The Widow's Mite, then Jesus, the Shepherd.
Text Summary: The Parable of the Talents comes as part of a string of Parables, including the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. These parables appear towards the end of Matthew, in the midst of Jesus' teaching about the things that will come, the so-called 'end times.' In this parable, a master goes away and gives his money into the care of his slaves - 5 talents to one, 2 to one, 1 to the other, "according to his ability." The slaves with 5 and 2 talents double what they have care over. But the slave with one talent just buries it and returns it to the master when he returns. The other slaves are commended, but the third slave is punished for doing nothing with the talent. The master concludes, "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."
Sermon Thoughts:
-The sermon title this week is "Abundance: Use It or Lose It?" – It’s not what we have, it’s what we do with what we have. We’ll look at this parable from three perspectives: 1) Whose stuff are we talking about? 2) Scarcity or abundance: Are we running out or overflowing? 3) Are we risk-takers, or are we playing it safe? We’ll also look at what Jesus isn’t saying in this parable about our stuff and who gets what.
- I'm reminded of the saying about learning foreign languages (and other skills): "Use it or lose it." You have to use something or it becomes meaningless, pointless, not-working anymore.
- I can't read Jesus' statement (via the Master in the parable) about those who have getting more and vise versa as a statement about the rich and poor (ie, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.) That would be pretty antithetical to the whole gospel Jesus preaches. Instead I see it as a statement about our blessings and our using our blessings. We just have a hard time thinking of blessing and abundance in other terms than in things, stuff, and money.
- Remember: The talents in the parable never belong to the slaves in any sense. They are given responsibility over the talents; the talents are in their care. But the talents belong to the Master. This parable is about using what we have care over that belongs to the Master.
- We can look at this parable from many angles. Jesus' parables are usually about describing what the kingdom of God is like. In this case, we can see this parable as a reminder that we are stewards of the resources of the kingdom, and we're meant to make the kingdom grow and grow, not let it be buried and unchanging.
Questions for Discussion:
- What has God given to you, or given into your care? Are you using it? How? What are your talents?
- Do you see things from a half-empty or half-full perspective? Is your state of mind in a scarcity-mode, or an abundance-mode? Do you have plenty, or never enough?
- Are you a risk-taker? Do you like to try new things? What risks have you taken in your life, and what encourages you to take the plunge and take risks?
- How do you read Jesus' statement about giving more to those who have, and vise versa? What do you think Jesus means?
For further reading:
Read Chris Haslam's comments and clippings on our text.
What are your questions about this text? Comments?
Our place in the church calendar: This Sunday is the Second Sunday after Epiphany, but we're taking a three-week break from the lectionary texts to focus on our stewardship campaign. Our theme is Abundance, and we'll be focusing on three texts: for this week, The Parable of the Talents, then The Widow's Mite, then Jesus, the Shepherd.
Text Summary: The Parable of the Talents comes as part of a string of Parables, including the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. These parables appear towards the end of Matthew, in the midst of Jesus' teaching about the things that will come, the so-called 'end times.' In this parable, a master goes away and gives his money into the care of his slaves - 5 talents to one, 2 to one, 1 to the other, "according to his ability." The slaves with 5 and 2 talents double what they have care over. But the slave with one talent just buries it and returns it to the master when he returns. The other slaves are commended, but the third slave is punished for doing nothing with the talent. The master concludes, "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."
Sermon Thoughts:
-The sermon title this week is "Abundance: Use It or Lose It?" – It’s not what we have, it’s what we do with what we have. We’ll look at this parable from three perspectives: 1) Whose stuff are we talking about? 2) Scarcity or abundance: Are we running out or overflowing? 3) Are we risk-takers, or are we playing it safe? We’ll also look at what Jesus isn’t saying in this parable about our stuff and who gets what.
- I'm reminded of the saying about learning foreign languages (and other skills): "Use it or lose it." You have to use something or it becomes meaningless, pointless, not-working anymore.
- I can't read Jesus' statement (via the Master in the parable) about those who have getting more and vise versa as a statement about the rich and poor (ie, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.) That would be pretty antithetical to the whole gospel Jesus preaches. Instead I see it as a statement about our blessings and our using our blessings. We just have a hard time thinking of blessing and abundance in other terms than in things, stuff, and money.
- Remember: The talents in the parable never belong to the slaves in any sense. They are given responsibility over the talents; the talents are in their care. But the talents belong to the Master. This parable is about using what we have care over that belongs to the Master.
- We can look at this parable from many angles. Jesus' parables are usually about describing what the kingdom of God is like. In this case, we can see this parable as a reminder that we are stewards of the resources of the kingdom, and we're meant to make the kingdom grow and grow, not let it be buried and unchanging.
Questions for Discussion:
- What has God given to you, or given into your care? Are you using it? How? What are your talents?
- Do you see things from a half-empty or half-full perspective? Is your state of mind in a scarcity-mode, or an abundance-mode? Do you have plenty, or never enough?
- Are you a risk-taker? Do you like to try new things? What risks have you taken in your life, and what encourages you to take the plunge and take risks?
- How do you read Jesus' statement about giving more to those who have, and vise versa? What do you think Jesus means?
For further reading:
Read Chris Haslam's comments and clippings on our text.
What are your questions about this text? Comments?
0 comments:
Post a Comment