A Lectionary Resource for 22 August 2004 –3 October 2004
These preaching ideas or sermon starters are based on the 2003/2004 Revised Common Lectionary which is being used in many churches in Australia and New Zealand.
This set of notes is the 7th in a series being written again this year by a variety of writers who will cover the full year. Writers of considerable experience and variety have agreed to write notes including: the Revs Brian Williscroft, David Grant, Lawrie Hampton. .Margaret Martin, Neil Churcher, Philippa Horrex, Shirley Fregusson, and Bob Eyles.
This Kit has been written by the Rev Shirley Fergusson of Hamilton
Pentecost 18
22 August 2004
Luke 13:10-17 Set free.
Background
This story needs to be read against the background of tension in the synagogue. There is a twisting of the truth - the woman appears to have come to worship, yet the synagogue leader speaks to the crowd about coming to be healed. His attack on Jesus is indirect, but his reprimand of the people is strong.
The woman asks nothing of Jesus, her faith is not mentioned. Jesus takes the initiative (as he does in the healings in John 5 and 9) and the healing becomes a witness to, or sign of, a larger truth – the fulfilment of the very purpose of the Sabbath, to promote healing and wholeness.
In contrast with the indirect attack on him, Jesus responds directly and in the plural – “hypocrites” implies all synagogue leaders who hold such an attitude and all who agree with them. Jesus points up the hypocrisy in talking to the crowds when the rebuke is really aimed at Jesus, and even more the synagogue leader’s professional zeal for the law in objecting to a deed which fulfilled the spirit and purpose of the law.
Note the play on the words “bound” and “loosed”. Jesus loosed the woman from Satan’s bonds. (Jesus attributes disorders to Satan – they are in conflict with God’s purposes of salvation under the Abrahamic covenant and are the concern of Jesus’ saving activity.) Rabbis were greatly concerned with the welfare of animals. Human life is cheap, livestock precious! If Jewish law permitted loosing a bound (tethered) animal how much more a freeborn daughter of Abraham, bound not for hours but 18 years! The peace of the way things have always been is shattered by Jesus’ words and deeds – a sign of God’s triumph over those things which are in conflict with the wholeness God offers.
The result is that Jesus’ adversaries are put to shame and public opinion rests solidly on Jesus’ side. Jesus has healed on the Sabbath – technically healing was work, therefore he has broken the Sabbath. But he has answered them from their own law.
In preaching
The leader of the synagogue and others like him were lovers of systems more than people. More concerned that their petty little laws should be observed than that a crippled woman should be healed. In a “civilised” society the relationship of the individual to the system becomes problematical – in conflict (war?) the individual is lost in the system. (In economic systems too.)
This attitude to systems invades the church also – people can become more concerned with church government than the worship of God and the welfare of God’s people, becoming obsessed with legalistic details of procedure. Jesus makes it clear the individual is more important than systems or regulations. Systems, laws are important, but not at the expense of individual suffering. Concern for the full humanity of persons is at the centre of Jesus’ message. Jesus spoke out directly, not allowing the synagogue leaders to duck the issue.
Where in your context (and mine) might such forthrightness be appropriate?
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Here we find words of encouragement as we struggle to follow Jesus’ example and respond to his call. Before we were born we were a “thought in the mind of God”. To “know” = affect, almost equivalent to love – knowing intimately – God formed Jeremiah, knew him, sanctified him before birth and appointed him to the task of prophet. Jeremiah shrinks from the responsibility he is given. “Too young” he says. But empowered by God he will carry out his calling to speak the difficult word.
As in the Gospel passage, there is a “call” to action, there is no ducking the issue.
Psalm 71:1-6
Contains similar words of encouragement.
Hebrews 12:18-29
The picture of Mt.Sinai at the giving of the law depicts inaccessibility – a scene which makes Moses tremble with fear. But now through Jesus the Christ God is really approachable and in God we can have confidence to act. Mt. Zion, the mountain of the Lord is a place of welcome – it is not a terrifying mountain, it is the place where God is – a place of grace not fear.
What is the relationship between the manner of our meeting with God and our response to the call to action?
Prayer suggestions:
God whose holy name defies our definition, but whose will is known in freeing the oppressed, make us to be one with all who cry for justice; that we who speak your praise may struggle for your truth, through Jesus Christ, Amen.
(Janet Morley in ‘All Desires Known’ Women’s Resource Centre, 1988 p.8)
In you we live and move.
In you we have our being.
We are in your love
Enfolded in your peace
Surrounded by your might.Open our eyes, Lord,
Enlarge our vision.
Open our hearts, Lord,
Increase our faith.
Open our minds, Lord,
Deepen our knowing.We are in your love
Enfolded in your peace.
Surrounded by your might.
In you we live and move
In you we have our being.
(David Adam in “The Open Gate” SPCK, 1999 p.18)
29 August 2004
Luke 14:1, 7-14 “Table talk” – a blueprint for radical hospitality
Background
It is the Sabbath. Jesus dines at the home of a leading Pharisee (an important man) and observes the social behaviour of the guests and host.
Dinner on the Sabbath seems to have been a special meal with the food prepared beforehand and it was common to invite guests. Jesus’ enemies are present and watching him, hoping he would commit a chargeable offence.
Guests were carefully seated according to rank and status (as on formal occasions today!), but everyone wants a seat at the top table – Jesus comments on the undignified scramble that results. “It is in the small, apparently trivial act that character is most accurately reflected” - Plutarch. The presence of Jesus the Christ in our world teaches us that the frequent and familiar are not to be overlooked in defining life in the presence of God. Jesus is not forbidding normal social life. But he is emphasising that there is no generosity in giving to people who will repay our hospitality. We need to be careful we don’t get into a travesty of the meaning – everyone rushing for the lowest seat in the hope of being called up higher! Humility is the order of the day!
Hospitality in first century Palestine was as much about offering hospitality, an honouring of people, an acceptance of them, than it was about sharing food. There is a lesson here for hosts – beware the generosity that gains power over others and puts them in the host’s debt. Hospitality should not be offered with strings attached. Being a host involves generosity, graciousness and concern for the well being of others without expectation of return. Jesus’ expectation is that people will not confine their guest lists to their own friends, relations or neighbours who will return the courtesy. The poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind could not return the favour.
In preaching
The church is constitutionally committed to care for the poor and disadvantaged. But here Jesus says don’t just provide for them, invite them to dinner in your own home, offer them some real hospitality – respect them, engage with them, as persons. The word translated ‘hospitality’ means, literally, “love of a stranger”. Welcoming those who are in no position to return the favour. Sitting at table, breaking bread together, is a universal sign of acceptance, recognising each other as equals.
How open are our church homes and halls in this way?
To whom do we “chat over a cuppa” at the end of the service?
How free are we from the constraints of social standing, status, self importance, the need to “look good”, to impress others?
Who are the poor and disadvantaged (vv12-14) to whom we are called to offer hospitality in our context?
Who are the ones we do not value as people?
Jeremiah 2:4-13
God’s people who have turned away and failed to celebrate God’s gifts are likened to cracked water cisterns from which the life-giving water seeps away. The people have worshipped idols and turned away from Yahweh, despoiling the earth. They have been chasing after shadows, an exercise in futility.
Do we recognise in land and food the holy provision of God?
To be shared hospitably?
Just as the Gospel passage invites respect for God’s people, so Jeremiah reminds us of our responsibility to act as God requires toward all of God’s gifts.
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
The background is a liturgical festival. The essence of the Psalm is that God longs to move on to a new life in relationship with the people who do not have to suffer for ever in the mess they have made for themselves. There is the need only for obedient listening in order for the people to know the blessings that have always been available.
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Desirable practices for Christians – including attitude to strangers (to be marked by hospitality). Over against the debaucheries of the Caesars the people are exhorted to live in love, hospitality and morality. In giving hospitality they may find they “entertain angels unaware” (angels = messengers from God).
Prayer suggestion
Sisters and brothers – arise.
Arise and lift your hearts
Arise and lift your eyes
Arise and lift your voices.The living God,
The living, moving Spirit of God
has called us together -
in witness
in celebration
in struggle.Reach out toward each other.
Our God reaches out toward us!
Let us worship God!
(Elizabeth Rice)
5 September 2004
Luke 14:25-33 The cost of commitment
Background
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple”.(vv26-7) Strong words (see Matt.10:37-38 for a softer rendering). In Luke these words need to be read as oriental hyperbole – if taken literally they contradict the call to love, especially one’s family and even one’s enemies, which is found throughout the whole Bible. “To hate” is a Semitic term meaning to turn away from, to detach oneself from which is rather different from our understanding of “hate”. And to hate oneself is not a call for self loathing. The point Jesus is making is that the claim of Christ takes precedence and redefines another other loyalties which we may have.
“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (v27) The cross was carried to the scene of death by the condemned person. Jesus sees that the acceptance of his message with its promise can also bring seeming destruction. Only those who in faith accept the threat of destruction will find life.
The following two parables emphasise the same point – one rural (watchtower in a vineyard) the other kings facing issues of war and peace – but rich or poor, peasant or royalty, when faced with major expense the question must be asked “does this cost more than I am willing to pay?” Similarly in the call to discipleship there is the uncompromising demand for wholeheartedness – including the leaving behind of possessions (v33). The two parables have similar but at the same time slightly opposite meanings. The builders of the tower can choose to build or not therefore must count the cost – i.e. whether they can afford to build (follow Jesus). The king being attacked must decide whether he needs to fight to negotiate peace – i.e. decide whether you can afford to refuse my demands.
Jesus’ audience here is public – an enthusiastic crowd. They have come to Jesus, he does not call them out to a life of discipleship – his response is to enthusiasts who seem unaware that he is going to Jerusalem and the cross. Is Luke cautioning his readers about unreflective enthusiasm? Only Jesus has seriously faced the issue of his death – the 12 haven’t yet grasped it. The nature of the journey to Jerusalem seems to be that of a parade. The crowd seem oblivious to any conflict, any price to pay, any cross to bear. Jesus seems to be saying “think about what you are doing and decide if you are really committed”. The enthusiasm is fine, but will they carry through to the end?
In preaching
There is a challenge here to affirm the hard call of discipleship, perhaps acknowledge those known to us who have made huge sacrifices for the sake of the gospel (perhaps using material from the Global Missions Office), without making it all sound too hard for the average person.
There is a clear call to all, no matter what the circumstances, to re-order priorities and re-examine our sense of commitment to following Christ.
In acknowledging the costliness of discipleship, putting Christ first, there is no place for a blasé attitude. What does it mean for us to give our first loyalty to God in Christ?
Philemon 1-21
This passage underlines one of the central values of the Middle East – the importance of family.
In relation to the Gospel passage it under lines the enormity of what Jesus is asking.
Jeremiah 18:1-11
If a potter can re-shape clay, then God can re-shape human clay. Humans have some control over their own destiny, so can choose to submit to the potter’s hands – but this requires the same level of commitment to change as we see in the Gospel reading.
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Despite all the re-shaping we have been known and loved since before we were born.
Prayer suggestions
I give myself to you Lord,
I give myself to you.
All that I am
All that I have been
All that I hope to be,
I give myself to you Lord.
I give myself to you,
In joy and in sorrow
In sickness and in health
In success and in failure,
I give myself to you Lord,
I give myself to you.
In darkness and in light
In trouble and in joy
In time and for eternity,
I give myself to you, Lord,
I give myself to you.----------------
We commend unto thee, O Lord,
our souls and bodies,
our minds and our thoughts,
our prayers and our hopes,
our health and our work,
our life and our death,
our parents and brothers and sisters,
our benefactors and our friends,
our neighbours and our countrymen,
and all Christian folk,
this day and always.
Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) Both prayers in ‘The Open Gate’ David Adam SPCK 1994
12 September 2004
Luke 15:1-10 “Found!”
Background
…….the Pharisees and scribes were murmuring, saying “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” And Jesus responds with two parables. The parables need to be understood against the background of the time. It was an offence to the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus associated with those labelled as “sinners”. They called them “The People of the Land” – to marry a daughter to one of them was like exposing her bound and helpless to a lion. Pharisaic regulations said “…..entrust no money to him, take no testimony from him, trust him with no secret, do not appoint him guardian of an orphan, do not make him the custodian of charitable funds, do not accompany him on a journey, do not have him as a guest or be a guest in his house, do not have unnecessary business dealings with him.” It is in this context that Jesus tells these parables.
These twin parables (“what man, what woman” – a sign of Luke’s inclusiveness) illustrate concern for those who lack the ability to draw near to God – Luke underlines God’s concern to seek them (see v4 “until he finds it” in contrast to Matt.18:13 “if” he finds it). Matthew’s sheep goes astray and if it is found there is rejoicing. Luke’s sheep is lost and is sought until it is found. God is portrayed as the shepherd who lovingly seeks and gently restores the lost. Both parables speak of the joy of finding that which was lost.
Note that the ninety-nine are left in the wilderness while the search goes on. (It is only in the old hymn that the ninety and nine lay safe in the fold.) The shepherd loves the lost sheep enough to risk all in finding it. To risk his own life in caring for the sheep was all in a day’s work.
The woman’s ten silver coins represent about 10 days wages and many months of saving. Palestinian houses were very dark and the floor was beaten earth covered by dried reeds and rushes. Looking for a coin was akin to looking for a needle in a haystack, but she too seeks “until she finds it”. It is probably part of the head dress she wears as a married woman – similar to our wedding ring – so it is precious. The joy of finding it is so great it must be shared – she gives a party! There is no giving up in either story – and it is the seeker (God) who takes the initiative.
Preaching
What perspective will we take as we consider these stories? We can either preach the parables from Jesus’ perspective, addressing critics, or as the ones who need to hear Jesus. Locating ourselves in the story will tend to make us more understanding of those who disagreed with Jesus.
Who are the ones of whom we want to say “Oh no, not them Jesus!”
What is our sense of being so loved that God takes the initiative to “find” us when we have strayed – and to recognise those “People of the Land” in our context who are so loved that God is prepared to risk “all” for them?
There are two contrasting images of God here – we are used to thinking of “the good shepherd”, but what of the house keeper God?
1 Timothy 1:12-17
God saves/loves the lost. Support for the Gospel reading
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Jeremiah expresses concern at the breakdown of the people’s relationship with God. He calls upon them to repent before it is too late.
We would do well to reflect on what we are doing with and to God’s “good” creation. The Gospel reading provides a note of hope.
Psalm 14
The Psalmist, like Jeremiah, expresses concern about those who do not “know” God who desperately searches to find even one who is wise.
The Psalmist asserts, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that God is present with the innocent sufferers and the victims and there will be restoration and rejoicing.
And for a “homely” image of God:
Bakerwoman God
Bakerwoman God,
I am your living bread.
Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God,
I am your low, soft and being-shaped loaf.
I am your rising bread, well-kneaded
by some divine and knotty pair of
knuckles, by your warm earth-hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.Put me in your fire, Bakerwoman God,
put me in your own bright fire.I am warm, warm as you from fire.
I am white and gold, soft and hard,
brown and round.
I am so warm from fire.Break me, Bakerwoman God.
I am broken under your caring Word.
Drop me in your special juice in pieces.
Drop me in your blood.
Drunken me in the great red flood.
Self-giving chalice, swallow me.
My skin shines in the divine wine.
My face is cup-covered and I drown.I fall up in a red pool
in a gold world
where your warm sunskin hand is there
to catch and hold me.
Bakerwoman God, remake me.
Alla Bozarth-Campbell, U.S.A In ‘No Longer Strangers’, WCC Geneva1986 p.54
19 September 2004
Luke 16:1-13 Resolute action – or dishonesty!
Background
This is a notoriously difficult parable to interpret – it has been suggested that we are so far from the culture of the parables that some of them are impossible for us to understand.
Jesus addresses his disciples, but the Pharisees are standing by (see v.14).
The commercial practices of the day meant Jews were forbidden to take interest from fellow-Jews when they lent them money. Those who wished to get around this argued that the law was to protect the poor not to forbid transactions that were of benefit to both borrower and lender. Such transactions were entered in the books simply in total – the interest was not shown separately.
If we follow this line of argument the steward, faced with dismissal, protects himself by calling in the bonds and getting the debtors to rewrite them so they would no longer carry interest, relying on the hope that in their gratitude they would recompense him. The owner is now in a difficult position – he would have difficulty in establishing his claim without being accused of usury.
So the steward is commended not for dishonesty but for taking resolute action in a crisis. It is his astuteness not his actions which are commended. Use material wealth so as to gain, not lose, one’s future. His master similarly takes decisive action in a difficult situation – in “commending” the steward he gains an undeserved reputation for piety.
Vv10-13 are separate from the preceding parable. Jesus concludes with an instruction to use wealth wisely – constructively. For all the dangers in wealth it is possible to manage wealth in a way appropriate to life in the kingdom of God. Likewise discipleship must be wholehearted Earthly riches stand in contrast with the heavenly riches God alone can give. Anyone who handles wealth inappropriately is not fit to handle more important things. That which we think we own is actually only entrusted to us, we are stewards of it in this life only – and there are no pockets in a shroud!
No-one can give full devotion to two masters – we can serve one whole-heartedly, but not both. The choice is ours. Faithfulness in material things leads on to faithfulness in spiritual matters – and how one handles property has eternal consequences!
In preaching
What to do with all this! Craddock comments that while many find this parable offensive in that Jesus seems to commend a person who has acted dishonestly, we need to remember we are all a mixture of the commendable and less commendable. One aspect of a person’s behaviour should not define the whole of the person. Secondly, the use of words such as “shrewd” and “clever” come as a surprise, yet elsewhere Jesus instructed his disciples to be “as wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. We are clearly meant to use the intelligence we have been given – to be childlike (as Jesus also taught) does not mean to be naïve.
In vv 10-13 Jesus states proverbial truths which are not dependent on the parable for their meaning. Vv10-12 argue from the lesser to the greater. Disciples are faithful in the familiar daily tasks, however small and insignificant. The one faithful in a small amount can be trusted with large accounts (“look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves” as we used say). V13 moves to an all or nothing pronouncement: you cannot serve two masters.
To give a cup of water in the name of Christ - visit a shut in, care for a child, help a neighbour – these things will not make us famous, but they are the real stuff of faith and faithfulness. Who are the “ masters” we actually serve while kidding ourselves we are serving Christ?
Do we use the intelligence we have been given – are we “thinking” people who take the Bible and our faith seriously or do we simply puddle along without really engaging with the issues of faith and life?
Do we understand our “wealth” as entrusted to us as stewards?
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Jeremiah and/or God lament over Judah. There is dialogue between the people and God. The people fear God has left them. God expresses anger and hurt.
Psalm 79:1-9
Again we hear the people’s despair as they suffer invasion and also the destruction of the temple, symbol of their relationship with God. The psalmist however, ends on a note of confidence that God will bring newness out of the crisis and so sings praise “from generation to generation”.
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Instruction on prayer. It is taken for granted that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings” should be a part of worship. We are not surprised to be asked to pray for “kings and all in high positions” – the king was regarded as the head of the whole “household” of the civilised world. Among the “household duties” of all people was respect and obedience to the emperor. This was considered part of the dispensation of God. Nature and society were part of the same continuum, all of which was governed by God’s will.
But the instruction to pray “above all”, “for all people” is more surprising. The earliest Christian writings generally were concerned with relationships within the community. Outreach was limited. But here the exhortation is to pray for all people because God “desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (v4). Jesus’ life and death were for all human beings – a most inclusive expression of Christian hope.
Prayer suggestion
God help us to change.
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need for it.
To deal with the pain of it.
To feel the joy of it.
To undertake the journey without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution.
Amen.
Michael Leunig in “A Common Prayer” Collins Dove 1990
26 September 2004
Luke 16:19-31 The love of money...
Background
This is a parable which is found in several cultures. It is a popular folk tale which probably originated in Egypt. It is not meant to be taken literally in terms of rewards and punishments after death. It is a parable about rich people, intended for rich people.
Jesus’ has given it his own unique slant - his audience is the Pharisees who loved wealth within a theological framework that justified their position. Jesus and the Pharisees differed on their theological interpretations of wealth and poverty (as some do today). In a world where wealth was regarded as blessing, prosperity as a sign of God’s favour, this parable would have had been shockingly effective.
The word ‘plousios’ is used in relation to the rich man – meaning rich, wealthy, opulent – this is blatant consumerism. “Purple” was cloth dyed with a very costly dye. It would be used for the outer garment and the “fine linen” for the undergarment. The combination is the ultimate in luxury.
Pluto was the god of the underworld and was seen as the wealth giver. The rich man ends up with the god he knew and served in his life. He was not a bad person, his sin was that he did nothing not that he did wrong; he lived only for himself. He was totally blind to the needs of the poor at his gate – the gulf between himself and the poor was so great that he was completely unable to recognise it. He had all he could want in life and lived in considerable comfort - the poor simply did not figure in his world.
Lazarus – the name means “God has helped” – is the only character given a name in Jesus’ parables. (The rich man is sometimes called “Dives” but this is simply Latin for “rich man”.) He lay at the rich man’s gate – obviously the residence was very large, even palace like. He is covered with sores, perhaps the result of malnutrition. He lacks everything the rich man has.
It is of note that when the rich man finally shows some interest in others it is in his brothers – he still sticks to his own; he arrogantly assumes Lazarus can be sent on the errand; he implies he has been unfairly treated – if he had been given all the information he needed he would have acted differently! By contrast Lazarus neither complains, nor gloats, nor expresses resentment. He accepts what God sends him.
Wherever some eat and others do not there the kingdom does not exist. The person of faith and the person of wealth are judged by the same scriptures they had used to justify their life styles.
In preaching
In a context of an ever widening gulf between the affluent and the underprivileged how do we see this polarisation? What is our attitude to those who for whatever reason need to rely on the generosity of those more fortunate? What other kinds of riches might apply here? Are we thinking locally, regionally, nationally and internationally? How might we open blind eyes to the hunger of others in all these contexts?
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Jeremiah, out of favour with King Zedekiah for his prophecies against Judah and the King, is imprisoned. Nebuchadnezzar is laying siege to Jerusalem. Yet Jeremiah continues to remain open to God’s word - even in prison he prophecies and buys a field at Anathoth – in full view of onlookers. This seems a crazy move when the land was most likely to be lost to the Babylonians – but it shines out as a beacon of hope in what seems like hopeless times – trusting in God, Jeremiah affirms confidence in the future of Judah.
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
A psalm of confidence in God’s protection. “You who live in the shelter of the most high…..you will not fear……” “Those who love me I will deliver….”
There is a relationship of love and trust in these two readings – typified by Lazarus in the Gospel reading.
1 Timothy 6:6-19
The love of money is a root of all evil. Human worth and dignity do not rely on the accidents of possession or social status. The insight of faith is the paradox that all creatures stand before their Creator in utter emptiness before the awesome fullness of God who at the same time provides for us richly.
Contrast the riches of God’s creation and God’s goodness, with worldly wealth.
Prayer suggestion
God, help me to know myself:
what I am and what I can become.
Enable me to see the good in myself
and rejoice in it,
to see flaws and change them.
Teach me to live with myself,
to accept myself.
Remind me that becoming
what you would want me to be
is more like cultivating a garden
than chopping down a forest.
‘Be Our Freedom Lord’ Terry Falla Openbook Publishers 1994 p.435
3 October 2004
Luke 17:5-10 If you had faith...
Background
Vv5-6 are spoken to disciples who are feeling the burden of leadership – Jesus replies with typical Eastern hyperbole. Even their small faith is sufficient with God for whom nothing is impossible.
In Greek an “If “ clause express something either according to, or contrary to, the fact. Here it affirms the fact - i.e. “if you had faith – and you do!.........” Jesus’ comment is not a reprimand for their little faith, rather he affirms the faith they have and invites them to live in the light and empowerment of that faith.
The genuineness of faith is what is important – the rabbis held that the roots of the sycamine or mulberry tree would remain in the earth for 600 years – it was very firmly rooted, so removing it would be very difficult. Genuine faith can accomplish anything, if it is exercised within God’s will.
vv7-10 The parable begins in a manner typical of Lucan parables – “Who among you…..” The anticipated answer is, of course, “no one”. The slave does double duty but knows this is entirely appropriate – the slave’s time and labour belong completely to the master. But on the other hand, the slave’s security, well being and sense of worth rest on the relationship with the master. But at the end of the day, the master is not in the slave’s debt because he has done a good job – nothing is owing to the servant beyond the normal day’s pay. (A good illustration of the disciple’s relationship to God in Christ.)
Note that the supper is a 3pm meal – this is not a demand for excessive work after hours but simply part of the normal day’s work. v.10 “Worthless” slaves i.e., those to whom nothing is owing.
In preaching
It is difficult for us to translate this parable into our own context – we no longer tolerate slavery. But we can see that Jesus came among us as one who serves – as his disciples we too serve and there is no point at which we can “rest on our laurels”.
We are all servants and our serving never stops or ends. When we have done our best we have only done what is required of us in love – and who can ever satisfy the demands of love? God’s grace is a gift, not something to be earned.
What is our attitude to one another in the church – do we see ourselves as all committed to serve, regardless of “position” or “status”?
How well do we serve the community – or are we as “church” a cosy community which “looks after its own”? Do we expect “Brownie points” for what we do in service to others?
And what about our attitude to faith? Do we get into judging or comparing the “size” of each other’s faith? That flies in the face of what Jesus is saying here – “If you have faith – and you do – then...”.
2 Timothy 1:1-14
v 14 Guard the good treasure entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit. Here is a passage of encouragement – the seed of faith that is passed on down the generations gives a “spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (v.7) That self-discipline grows from the gift of God’s love that lies “within you”. It is in this context that we become the kind of servants portrayed in the Gospel reading. It is not Timothy’s own resources which will empower him even in the face of Paul’s imprisonment but the empowering of God which lies in the faith passed on to him by his mother and grandmother.
Lamentations 1:1-6 & Psalm 137
Both speak of grief at the loss of Jerusalem after the city was destroyed and the temple burned to the ground. The Psalm includes vicious cries for vengeance on Israel’s enemies.
We must remember to take our few verses in context. Lamentations does go on to acknowledge that God is merciful “his mercies never come to an end” (Lam.3:22). And while Psalm 137 is a sustained poem of lament, the Psalms preceding and following speak of God’s steadfast love.
The book of Lamentations and the Psalms provide for us an honest record of God’s people’s down times as well as their rejoicing. They validate for us the emotions of hurt and anger, pain and sorrow that we all experience, and the bringing of those feelings before God.
Perhaps it was scriptures such as this which gave the disciples the courage to admit to Jesus that they are feeling the burden of leadership, and to cry out to him for renewed faith.
Prayer suggestion
Lord, help me to relax.
Take from me the tension
that makes peace impossible.
Take from me the fears
that do not allow me to venture.
Take from me the worries
that blind my sight.
Take from me the distress
that hides your joy.Help me to know
that I am with you,
that I am in your care,
that I am in your love,
that you and I are one.
David Adam in “The Open Gate” SPCK 1994