Exploring My Strange Bible - Gold, Darkness, and Dwarves - Gospel of Matthew Part 31

Episode Date: December 17, 2018

Today we ponder a pretty well-known peril of Jesus that has been misused and abused in unfortunate ways when it is read out of context. This story is about a landowner who gives different sized investments to his servants and then expects them to produce something with the investments. Then based on what they have done with the investment, the landowner rewards or punishes different people. As you can see, this is one of those stories where if you take it out of context, you can just do terrible things with it.BUT when you locate this parable as a warning or challenge that Jesus gives to the leaders of Jerusalem, all kinds of parts of this parable pop out in new ways.

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right, well, in this episode of the podcast, we're going to continue exploring the gospel according to Matthew. We're going to ponder a pretty well-known parable of Jesus that has been misused and abused in really unfortunate ways when this parable is read out of context in

Jesus' mission to Jerusalem in the last week of Passover. So this story is about a landowner who gives different size investments to different of his servants and then expects them, you know, to produce something with them. And then when he returns, he rewards or punishes different people according to their performance. This is one of those stories in the Bible where if you rip it out of context, you can just do terrible things to people with it. And of course, all those things have been done in the history of interpretation. But when you locate this parable as a warning and a challenge that Jesus gives to the leaders of Jerusalem as they are rejecting his offer of the kingdom, all kinds of things in this parable pop in new ways.

So part of what this teaching is, is just to try and like help unlearn the misapplications of this teaching that many people are familiar with, and then to help us relearn it and hear it with brand new ears as we think about the role that this parable played in Jesus' final week in Jerusalem. So much profound things going on here, and I'm excited to share it with you. So, let's open up our minds and hearts, and we'll learn together. And as we've been going through, Matthew, some of you might have a Bible that sets apart the words of Jesus in red letters. You guys know about these Bibles? Maybe you have one. They're really handy. You know, you can just see quite clearly when Jesus is talking.

And as you go to Matthew chapter 25, it's just a sea of red, pages before, pages after. So what's happening, right? Where are we in the story? So Jesus, just the chapter earlier, some of you may remember, he is in this conversation with his closest followers. And it's, I mean, we're a chapter away from him getting arrested and the trial and the execution and so on. So it's the final climactic moments of his visit to Jerusalem. And he just dropped a grenade in the room. He made this prediction as they're in Jerusalem and the most glorious building at the center of Jewish life and culture and worship is this magnificent structure, the temple. And he just made this prediction that it's going to come tumbling down, that it's going to be destroyed. And that's, you know, that's a shocking thing to

say. It's dangerous. You know, something you wouldn't say in public. It would be a lot like tweeting that you have plans to blow up the White House or something like that, you know, and the FBI will be on you like that. And they'll be, you know. I hope you never do that, by the way. This actually, isn't there something like worth, it's called threatening intent? Anyway, so don't ever do that. But Jesus did. And it was not before a large group, and that was on purpose. It was a very small circle of people.

And so his disciples are all shocked by this, and they can't believe he said that. And what's the first question they ask him? You remember? When? When is that going to happen? And lucky for us all, the drawing from a couple weeks ago is still up here. So his answer was, when's the city going to fall and the temple? And he was very clear. He said within 40 years, within generation. And then the disciples asked a second question, because for them this is all connected. He came to Jerusalem to announce himself as king and to make the claim that he was the prophet and the Messiah. He was bringing God's kingdom here on earth. And so then their question is, okay, so if that's going to happen, then when are you going to come and bring your kingdom, right?

And your kingdom come and will be done here on earth. And Jesus' response to that question is not nearly as clear. He says, yeah, I actually have no clue when that's going to happen. I don't know when that's going to happen. And that launches him into a whole set of teachings and stories and parables about what it means to live as one of his followers in this season that's turned out to be quite long, right? A couple millennia now of Jesus launching the kingdom in his life and death and resurrection. And so followers of Jesus believe that, and we believe that Jesus is the king of the world but that's not acknowledged by all

and Jesus promised there would be a day when he comes to bring his rule completely to bring about redemption and new creation and to set all things right and so how are followers of Jesus supposed to live between these moments and so he's been telling these stories about cultivating a mindset of expectation, of readiness, and of being prepared.

And it's not at all, you know, some Christian kind of sub-traditions really fixate on this part of Christianity and are really into speculation about the end of the world and so on. And it's interesting that either it tends to fuel really bizarre behavior or it tends to fuel people who are just careless and like, it's all going to burn, whatever, you know. And that is clearly not Jesus' mindset, like not at all. He envisions that his followers see everything charged with meaning now as they see themselves in readiness and expectation. And so every, he tells stories about, you know, the guy who left someone to look over all of his business and went away, and the guy

was boozing it up and squandered everything, and that didn't turn out good for him. And then the ten young ladies who were invited to be a part of the wedding party and five of them weren't prepared and that didn't turn out good for them. So Jesus wants us to cultivate this mindset. And it's not weird end-of-the-world speculation, but it's this awareness that every day and every conversation and every person that I meet and every relationship, it's all charged with significance. It all means something because his kingdom will come and his will will be done.

And so today we're going to look at another parable, a short story of Jesus, where he's going to explore not just warning us to be ready, but what does that mean? Like, what does that actually look like? And that's the story we're going to read. We're going to read the whole story right now, and then we'll be bothered by it and explore it together. This is a story about what the kingdom of God is like. Verse 14 of Matthew 25. is like. Verse 14 of Matthew 25. Again, the kingdom of God will be like a man who was going on a journey. And he called his servants and he entrusted his wealth to them. To one, he gave five bags of gold. So let's stop right there. I'm reading from the New International Version, So let's stop right there. I'm reading from the New International Version,

which has bags of gold. Other translations? Talents, yes. Now, this is kind of funny. And I always want to inspire confidence in our English translations because they're amazing. And they're made by such brilliant, smart people who worked on them for years. But there are some things about them that are funny. And this is one of them, is when they just choose not to translate words.

You know, it's like I thought the point of a translation is that they translate words. And not only that, but then talent is a confusing word because it is actually a word in English, isn't it? All right? It's the special ability that you have that makes you unique, you know? It's your special talent or whatever. You can juggle or ride a unicycle or something like that. So that's not at all what's happening. So the word talent, the ancient Greek word, it refers to a huge measurement of money. And maybe you have a footnote about that or something in your translation. And Bible nerds debate exactly how much money it is. It's an enormous amount.

It's either a year or five years or 20 years worth of wages. And there's a whole debate there that will bore you to sleep. But it's an enormous amount of money. You guys with me? So the New International Version just does bag of gold, which is, that's great. I like that one, right? What's a bag of gold worth?

Just a lot, right? That's the point. So five bags of gold for one guy. What's the other guy get? Two. What's the other guy get? One. And what's the principle of distribution to each of these people? What's the guiding principle for who gets what? Each one according to their ability. Then he went on his journey. Now, the man who received five bags of gold went at once to put his money to work. And he gained five bags more. Way to go.

So also the one with two bags of gold. He gained two more. Gold star. But the man who received one bag, he went off and he dug a hole in the ground and he hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants returned

and settled accounts with them. And so the guy who had received five bags of gold, he brought the other five. And he said, Master, look at this. You entrusted me with five bags of gold. I made five more. Yes, the master said. Well done, good and faithful servant. Man, you've been so faithful with a few things. And you're like, a few? Five bags of gold is a few? But apparently, because then he's like, I got more for you. I'm going to put you in charge of all kinds of more things.

Come and share in your master's happiness. Again, this is New International Version. Some of you have not your master's happiness, but joy. Yeah, which is a more rich word in English. It gets the idea across. That's the guy with five. Now the guy with two bags of gold. He also came.

Master, he said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold. Look, I made two more. Yes, the master replied. Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I'm going to put you in charge of all kinds of more things. Come and share in your master's joy. Good story so far?

It's a great story. Happy. Everybody's a winner. I love stories like this personally. Right? It just can't get any better. Then the man who received one bag of gold, he came. So what are his first words? Master, I knew that you're a hard man. You harvest where you haven't sown, and you gather where you haven't sown and you gather where you haven't scattered seed

so i was afraid and so i went out and i hid your gold in the ground look here's back what belongs to you his master replied you wicked lazy servant so you knew that I harvest where I haven't sown and that I gather where I haven't scattered seed. So why didn't you put my money and deposit in the bank? Then I could have at least gotten a little interest when I came back. So take, he starts talking

to somebody else now, the guards or something like that. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one with ten bags for whoever has will be given more. And they'll have an abundance. But whoever doesn't have, even what they have will be taken from them.

And then throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Rah! Okay. How you guys doing? This is a great story. And then the ending happens.

That's right. Okay. That's a very interesting story. Does Jesus have your attention? Submission accomplished there. Yeah. Jesus, he was a master storyteller, and he knows how to bother people. He knows how to set up the patterns, get our expectations, and then, you know, sock you and make you start

thinking. That's the part of the whole point of Jesus' parables is to make you engage in the meaning of the story by your questioning and the way he does weird things. So here's the thing. Probably there's some of us who maybe you've been a follower of Jesus for a while and you've heard the story before. And so your default is to trust Jesus and that he's good. And so you hear him read the story and you're like, yeah, that third guy's lame or whatever. But my hunch is that there are a number of us in the room, and you had a different reaction to the story. When you got to the, well, first you're like the guy hitting the ground, and you kind of, you like sympathize with them a little bit. You're like, I get it. It's too much pressure. The pressure's too high, and all these

high performers around you, whatever, and you don't do well in that kind of environment. And then, you know, he's clearly, you know, a timid guy. Maybe he didn't have an affirming father or whatever, and so he's just got, you know, self-worth issues, and he just couldn't take it, right? And now he's going to get punished forever and ever for that. Who's this master? He's kind of a jerk. Well, I'm not going to make you raise your hand, right, if that's what occurred to you, but you're not alone. You're not alone. I think that's an honest set of questions as we read the story. I think our challenge, and this happens all the time with the parables of

Jesus, because it's just fictional short storytelling. And so we get bothered when Jesus doesn't tell stories the way we would tell them. I mean, I think that's basically it. It's like, Jesus is not an American. And so he doesn't, like, wrap up stories like the, up stories like the 26-minute sitcom or whatever. He doesn't tie things together the way we would. He's trying to bother you. And actually, we normally miss the subtleties and the brilliance of how he tells these stories. And I actually think that's what happens here. I've been aware of this story of Gia's for years.

And it's one of those things where, but now that I have to stand up and talk about it in front of people, all of a sudden I'm noticing all these things I've never noticed before. So before you get too bothered, right, think about this. This is true to ask in any parable of Jesus, and this is a pop quiz that nobody can fail. Who's telling this parable? Jesus. So you always have to say, what do I know to be true about Jesus' view of things, his view of God, who he is, his view of who people are,

that I need to see this parable in that context? Does Jesus paint people with wealth and influence in glowing colors all of the time and give them his endorsement, right? Does Jesus, like, have any qualms with speaking out against people who abuse their positions of authority? No. Does Jesus, like, not care about the fate of, you know, timid, shy people with low self-worth? Like, does he typically overlook these kinds of people? No. Actually, he seems to fixate on them and focus on them with his grace and attention and compassion. So whatever is happening in this story, it's that Jesus who's telling the story.

One. And two, the parables always, always fit into the bigger story. So why is Jesus telling these parables? What's he in Jerusalem for? And what's he just done? Right? So he's been announcing the kingdom of God. He's been announcing that he is here to bring God's reign and God's rule over the whole world, but it begins with Israel, the covenant people of Israel. And so he's been on this mission, announcing the kingdom and all over the towns of Israel, and now he's in the capital city, you know, and he's been having this showdown with the leaders of Israel. And Jesus is convinced, he's been immersed in the Hebrew scriptures, that the leaders of Israelrael have squandered their gift and so the story is about god selecting these people rescuing them out of

slavery in egypt you know he provided for them in the wilderness even when they complained he gave them all of the laws and the torah as this gift so that they would become a people who become shaped by god's generosity and justice and become priests to the nations. And then he brings them into the promised land. Why? So that they would become new and different kinds of people for the promise of Abraham. So that these people would become a blessing to all of the rest of the nations. Different kinds of humans who become a blessing to all other humans. And Jesus, he comes to his own people as one of the great prophets, and he believes that his own people and his leaders have failed at this task,

absolutely squandered the gifts and opportunities they have. And he is in the business of creating a new people around himself, people who he's going to call the people of the new covenant. And he gives his teachings to these people and he really expects them to follow him. Like he really expects his disciples to love their neighbors, right? And to pray for people who persecute them and to be super generous and to really pay attention to the down and out and those in poverty. He actually wants his followers to be what the people of Israel up to that point had not been. And so he tells the stories about God giving, right? He's giving people real responsibility. Whatever Jesus is doing, he doesn't come to live and die and be raised for people

so that they get the magic ticket or whatever to go to the good place after they die. That's just so not what the story of the Bible is about. It's about God calling a group of people to become a blessing to others by following Jesus. The real responsibility. And he means it. And he means for us to take that responsibility seriously. So with all of that in mind, I just want to come back to the story. And there's a number of things that we can bulldoze over, ignore, that I think are the keys, really the keys to understanding the power of this really, really profound little story. You guys with me? So let's come back. Let's come back to it. So he paints the story. It's a very familiar motif of, you know, a master or a king or somebody who's wealthy. It's a very common image from their day going on a journey. And he entrusts, right, his

servants with enormous amounts of money. That's the point here. He paints really bright colors here on the canvas. Enormous amounts of money. Five bags of, I just love that, bag of gold. What it makes me think of is Legos, which have developed so much since I was a kid. But my son loves the little city police Legos. And the robbers always are after this little cluster gold nugget thing. It fits right in the little backpack of one of the robbers. Anyway, that's what comes into my mind. Sorry, I've got a whole bag full of those, right? So there's all of this gold.

Okay, so this is interesting. What happens in this initial kind of gifting scene? Does everybody get the same amount? You get five? five, five, what's wrong with me? Five, two, and one. And so that's interesting. And then we learn what's the main principle there? Why is he giving people different amounts? Each according to their own ability. So it is't stop. It's just a focus point of this opening scene of the story. So this tells us something about these three people,

but it also says something about the master. And this is an image of resources, right, given to the servants. So the master knows something about these people. The economy of the kingdom is not one size fits all, apparently. The same thing is not expected of everybody in terms of results. But something is expected of everybody. But different things. Different people, different stories, different backgrounds.

But everybody's responsible for something. So it's not this homogenous, everybody has to become like this, but everybody is called to grow and do something. Are you with me here? It's very powerful. And what does this say about the master too? Jesus is painting the master as somebody

who knows each of these people really, really well. Like, he doesn't make the person that he thinks is only capable of one be like, well, you better shape up, because in this family, we produce five. You know, right? Like, it's just none of that, right? He's just like, yeah, one. You're right. I really believe you're capable of one.

I don't think you'll do well with five. That might ruin you, right? So, one. It's both tender, but also like guiding and calling to something greater. Are you with me here? Like, he knows these people. It's a very intimate image. And so, what does this gold represent? You know, if it's not talents, you know, this isn't like you better use your juggling skills for Jesus or go to hell forever. That's ridiculous, right? That's obviously not what's going on here. So the talents, right? These bags of gold. What is money? Money is this thing, right? We have to work to generate it and use it to cover your basics, right? Your cost of living. But then, right? And Jesus talked a lot about this. There's something

about money when you have some excess, and it just says a lot about us, what we do with that. Because you can save it, you know? You can spend it on something that you want, but maybe don't need. Or you can use it for somebody else's well-being. And how we make those choices say a lot about us. And that's the image he uses, money. So he envisions each of the servants receiving resources. And resources create opportunities. And so the question is, not everybody's the same, so everybody has different kinds of resources, different opportunities. And it's very intuitive,

right? We're all, none of us is the same. Jesus doesn't expect the same out of all of us, but yet he expects something. We all have something, relationships, people, opportunities, we all have something, relationships, people, opportunities, situations where he actually expects us to follow him and for that to produce fruit in the world and to become a blessing to others because we follow Jesus. And so the money goes out, right? The bags of gold are distributed. And so two guys get to work.

And they make a profit. Right? Five makes five. Two makes two. What's the third guy do? He gets out his Lego shovel. Sorry, this is the imagery in my head. And he goes and digs in the ground.

It's so bizarre. And pretend you don't know how the story goes. Like, what? You're like, what? It's so strange. And out of the blue. Why is he doing that? Why is he digging a hole in the ground?

Buried treasure? Does he have a thing for this? What's going on? We don't know. But to put together the story so far, does this master have a hang-up with entrusting people that he knows well with enormous responsibility? No. Apparently, he kind of likes it. He really likes giving people the opportunity. And so whatever

this means, this guy is not down, right? What he does is nothing. It's not even that he tries and fails. He just does nothing, which is a different kind of rejection or failure. Then Jesus specifies, how long of a period does this go on for? Do you remember? It's just verse 19, after a long time. So that's an interesting brushstroke Jesus adds. So it's not that this guy just had a bad week, you know, or a back injury or something like that, and he couldn't, like, work. The whole point is that, and this is true of many of Jesus' parables, what he's interested in is how people's behavior is a window into their character and how someone behaves on one occasion or two occasions during the course

of a month, like that might tell you about them, but it could just be a bad month, you know. But over the course of a long time and years, our behavior becomes this window into what we really believe and value. And so this point here is this, like, did they make, did these guys make their profit overnight, apparently? Apparently, it was a long time they were working. And did this guy sit, you know, with his shovel and, you know, the mound of dirt, and he walks away from it? Was this just like a week? It was a long time of him just being, I don't care. time of him just being, I don't care. Master comes back, and it's the settlement scene. And for some reason, I've had this mental image. I remember since the first time reading the story as a new Christian, I had this mental image of this settlement scene happening on a stage.

I don't know why. I think it's a Freudian thing for me. But, you know, it's like this award ceremony. You know what I'm saying? And I didn't ever win any awards in high school. I just, skateboarding all the time. Nobody hands out awards for good skateboarders unless you live in California. So, anyway, I never, so maybe I'm reliving my lost past. Anyway, so, probably not on an award stage. But they're in an office. He calls the guys in. And look at the scene here. Jesus very artfully constructed this. So the first guy comes in who was given how much? How many bags? Five. And he's like, five more. And the master is so thrilled, right? He's like a good and faithful servant.

He says, you've been faithful with a few things. As if five bags of gold is a few, right? A little. But actually, you learn what this was about. This wasn't even about the prophet necessarily. This is about, like, listen, man. There's so much more for you. This is incredible what you've been able to accomplish here. I'll put you in charge of all of this other stuff.

And then what he says is, come on, share my joy. His joy about what? About the profit that he just made? We'll look at the second scene. So the guy with how much comes after that? Two. And it's literally the same exact scene. He says the same thing. And then the master, what does he say to the guy who gained two? He says exactly the same.

So you have to stop and you have to say, wait a minute, okay. What he doesn't say is, you gained two. Nice work. Did you see the guy with five? Really? You couldn't just do two and a half times more? He doesn't compare them. He doesn't value each of these people based on the other. We're back to this each according to his own ability thing. So apparently for this guy, this is not about the bottom line so much. Like this isn't about the overall profit that he's getting. You get this vision that like he's really delighted about how these people have grown and matured and succeeded. You guys with me here? It's a very beautiful portrait, actually. Because so clearly it's about, this is about developing people.

This is about the master wants to bring people along to discover who they are and to become what he knows they're capable of being. And it brings him joy. And he doesn't say, like, come and I'm, you know, so I'm going to give you a whole bunch more so you can make me more money. Actually, what we know, we're going to discover this just further down in the story, that he's going to let these guys keep their profit. He's going to let them keep their profit. And you're like, I want this boss right here. It's like a great work environment, very affirming, lots of opportunity to grow, and I get to keep all the profit.

environment, very affirming, lots of opportunity to grow, and I get to keep all the profit. Who doesn't want to work there? You know, sign me up. But that's the picture of this guy. I mean, he's just a delightful, joyful human being that you would love to work for. That's the portrait that Jesus is painting of this person. You guys with me here? Okay. So two times this gets repeated. Okay. So two times this gets repeated. Third guy, who got one bag of gold. I suppose he had the least to lose, in a sense. He comes up, and what are his first words?

Master, he said. Listen, I know that you're a really hard man. Notice, just stop right there. Jesus knows exactly what he's doing. The first words out of this guy's mouth, I know that you're a really hard person. It's the word for like a rock. You're an immovable, stubborn jerk of a man.

Right? Hard-nosed, driving, merciless, whatever. That's the first thing he says to him. Now just stop and ask yourself the question. Are you supposed to believe this guy? This is clearly what he thinks about the master. But do you believe that's true? If in Jesus' parables, how people behave is a window into their character, is there one ounce of proof from how this guy

behaves that he's this kind of person? There's just the opposite. So that's, this is brilliant on Jesus' part. So we have this character who all of a sudden we realize like, whoa, he's got a story in his head about who this master is that's not reality. Right? He's got this story that he's a jerk. Right? And that this is a, I don't know, that's about, well, look, why does he say it? He tells you why he came to that conclusion. He says, you harvest where you haven't sown any seed, and you gather where you haven't scattered any seed. So it's like a figure of speech. So he sees that this guy is really successful.

He's really hardworking. He's really productive. He's really successful. So not only does he get a harvest and a return where he put in a lot of effort and hard work, but actually things that he doesn't even put any effort in. Those are also productive and successful too. And so he says, listen, I know you're a hard-nosed, rock-stubborn person,

because look at how successful you are. And this is where we're tempted to see this as a episode of Growing Pains or something like that. Well, you guys remember Growing Pains? Full House or something like that, but Growing Pains. Do you remember Kirk Cameron's character? What's his name? That's exactly right. Mike Thievers. Right? So this is like one of those stories, right? Where it's like, you know, he has this story about dad, you know, and dad really loved science in high school,

and I got a C on the science quiz, and he's like, oh, I can't, you know, I can't take the pressure. Right? You did great at science. Dad, that doesn't mean I have to, you know. Are you with me? But that's what, that's what, that's where our minds go, right? And then we think like, yeah, this guy's, you know, he's just struggling like we all do, you know. And he's, he's in a high performance environment. He doesn't work well in that kind of setting. Is that what's happening here? Right? That's how we would tell a story

like this. But is that how Jesus is telling this story? All we know is that this guy has a story in his head about the master that doesn't bear any relationship to reality of how this guy actually treats people. And what he's observed is simply that he's a really hard-working, successful person. What he fails to observe is that that hard work and success is something that he wants to share with other people and bring them into. But somehow he's just got it in his head that this is all a recipe to sink his battleship. And so he says, listen, I knew you're successful and hard worker, so that's why I hid it in the ground. And the master can see right through it.

He can see right through it. And that's why he calls them names. So he says, you're wicked and lazy, so you assume the worst about everybody. There's something inside of you that compels you to see the worst and assume the worst about other people and then treat them accordingly. And then you're lazy, right? So you don't value anything other than what you value. And so you're not motivated to do anything for anybody else. So why does he call them out? And this is so clever on Jesus' part. So he says, listen, if this was really a fear thing,

and like a perfectionist thing, right, a fear of failure, then here's what you would have done. You could have taken the money and put it in a little to no risk environment. It's called a bank. And you can get interest, right? Like you could have at least showed a little thoughtfulness, but you buried it in the ground, which betrays his words, right?

So this isn't just about fear. He's not Kirk Cameron struggling with teenage identity. You know what I mean? So he just, he doesn't, what he thinks about the master is nothing. And that's what he did with his money. And I think Jesus is painting him as a pretty flat character here, who his behavior shows what he really thinks. He's got a distorted heart and a distorted mind, and nobody can prove different to him. Have you guys ever been in a situation where

maybe somebody that before you ever met them, they heard about you and it wasn't good? Or maybe you did something in the past and it was lame and you're still living under the shadow. But somehow you've got these people in your life and they're convinced that you're a certain kind of person. And you know that you've grown and that you've changed, but with that person, you can never do anything right again. Guess what I'm talking about? This may not be everybody, but some of us know this experience. And it's like, it doesn't matter. Anything you say or do will feed the narrative that they have about you. And at a certain point, on a less intense level,

this is like marriage conflict 101 too, right? Where you just get it in your head about what the other person's motives are, and then no matter what they say or do, they're just digging a hole. And so you've got to work that out. I think that's what's happening here. This guy's trapped in his head.

And it locks him into this place of refusal and rejection of the master. So what results? Here's how the story ends. So first of all, this guy gets his single bag of gold taken from him. And it gets given to the guy with ten. That doesn't say why. All of a sudden, we just learn, like, holy cow, this is a, this, you can make a lot of money working for this guy, right? Because he lets you keep all the profit. You even get other profit, right, from people who are lame. And then he mentions, he says this principle here,

whoever has will be given more, and then whoever doesn't have, what they have will be taken from them. So what's happening here? He's coming back into reality out of the parable. He's talking about this inverse relationship, the proportion of spiritual perception. Because the centerpiece of this whole story is about these two portraits of the master. And there's the portrait that his actions develop, which is that he's generous, and he's just stoked about when people become who he's called them to be, and opportunity, and all of this, and his joy, and relationship, and really intimate knowledge. And then there's this portrait that this guy has that he's just a

jerk, and he's trying to make people fail, and, you know, this guy. And somehow, there's something about when people perceive the master in these two different ways, it just, it's like compound interest or something like that. So, when somebody has it in their head that Jesus is a jerk, When somebody has it in their head that Jesus is a jerk, and maybe, you know, whatever, this is someone, maybe this is some of you, I don't know, you know, someone who grew up around Christians or in a Christian home, and it was not healthy, whatever,

and all the Christians that you knew were really self-righteous and jerks or whatever. And so it's very easy for that to become this air tight case for why every Christianity is what's wrong with the world, right? And it doesn't matter what anybody says. It doesn't matter what they hear about Jesus. It just feeds that story. You guys know what I'm talking about here. And maybe some of you were in a place like that for a long time. But then something happens where just a little bit, that would be the person who does not have. And so anything they get, right, that could like change their view, it's just, all right, it just bounces right off them because they're locked in this story. But then there's somebody who's open, handed to Jesus. And all of a sudden, they're willing to hear a different version of who he is.

And it's the version that's actually rooted in his behavior, his actual sayings and his teachings and how he actually treated people. I mean, my goodness, like, what are we doing here, you know, every Sunday? Like, we're together because we think Jesus is a remarkable person and we come together to hear his words and to hear these stories about him because he's incredible we want to become like him and he's invited us to become like him and all of a sudden like when when who Jesus is becomes real to you it just it just skyrockets like there's no calming down that train you know it's two metaphors calm down a train slow down that train, you know? It's two metaphors, calm down a train.

Slow down that train is what I meant to say. You guys get what I'm saying here? There's something about Jesus. He's so compelling when you open yourself to who he is. It's just, it's incredible. So these two stories, and it's both incredible, the challenge about the servants who make more

isn't even just about that they're high performers and they got an A. It's that the master is calling them to participate in something, and that they actually become who they're meant to be. They become themselves as they receive the generosity of the master. But then we have this other guy who's becoming,

it's almost he's becoming less human, right? Because he's turning himself off to reality. And it's all based on this story that he can't get out of. The center of this parable is actually not even about be a good person or be a bad person. It's about, have I woken up to a true vision of who the master is? Do I have a true vision

of the master's joy and generosity when he looks at me? And that he wants to invite me to become so much more because he knows what I'm capable of. Not to become like the person sitting next to you, but to become the version of you that he made you to be. And he knows that you're capable of it the version of you that he made you to be.

And he knows that you're capable of it because that's what he's inviting you to do. Because he says, follow me. And I think he actually expects us to. But the guy who doesn't, he ends up in darkness, right? He's wicked, lazy, and into darkness he goes.

And that's how the story ends. Wow. So that's how the story ends. Wow. So that's intense. When Jesus describes the existence of people who refuse to be open to who he is, he uses lots of images to describe it. And they're mostly in his parables. Fire is the most famous one. I'm not going to talk about that.

But darkness is a real prominent one. Darkness. An existence where I have chosen a story about who Jesus is that I want nothing to do with him that leads to an existence of darkness. What does that mean? And so you can intuitively put it together. When you're in pitch darkness, you feel isolated. You feel alone.

You feel cut off. But the irony, of course, is that this is a fate of this guy's choosing. He's chosen this story. The theologian that has helped me most to grasp what I think Jesus is getting at with this image is C.S. Lewis. Chronicles of Narnia. Any fans? Not the movies. Definitely not the movies. Just avoid those. But the books are absolutely brilliant. Really brilliant. The final book in the series, Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle. And in the last set of scenes, in the last battle, it's where Aslan, he's the lion figure, he's kind of, he's like parallel to Jesus or the master or something.

And he's defeated evil throughout all of Narnia, right? The battle's over now, the last battle. And it's all about Aslan now inviting all of the creatures of Narnia to come be a part of the new Narnia that is possible now that he's defeated evil in his world. And to go into that, you pass by Aslan, and you go through this door that looks like a stable door. In the scene, that's what it is.

And so all kinds of creatures, they pass by Aslan, and it's amazing, and they go in through the stable door. And then there's the characters, the dwarves, which, I don't know, they don't have the best portrait in Tolkien's story either. I don't know why those two guys had it out for the dwarves. Anyhow, so they, but it's the dwarves. And what's interesting about the dwarves is throughout the whole story, they appear earlier on in the book, and they're not bad guys, but they're not good guys. They just hate everyone. They hate everyone. And so they go by Aslan, and they're

terrified because they think he's going to, like, eat them or shred them to pieces or something. And so they escape into the stable door. And what they think they're going into is just a dark, stable barn to escape from a lion that wants to kill them. And this is the scene. So Aslan raised his head, and he he shook his mane and instantly a glorious feast appeared on the dwarfs' knees. Pies and pigeons. I don't know if that sounds good to you, but it's a British thing. So pies and pigeons and trifles and ices. And each dwarf had a goblet of good wine in his right hand, but it wasn't much use. They began eating and drinking greedily enough, but it was clear that they couldn't taste it properly. They thought they were eating and drinking only the sort of things that you might

find in a stable. So one said he was trying to eat hay, and another said he had got a bit of an old turnip, and the third said he'd found a raw cabbage leaf. And they raised the goblets of rich red wine to their lips, and they said, Ugh, fancy drinking dirty water out of a trough that a donkey's been at. Never thought we would come to this. But very soon, every dwarf began suspecting that every other dwarf had found something nicer than what he had. So they started grabbing and snatching, and they went on to quarreling. And in a few minutes, there was a free fight, and all of the good food was smeared on their faces and

clothes were trodden underfoot. But when at last they sat down to nurse their black eyes and their bleeding noses, they all said, well, at any rate, there's no humbug here. We haven't let anyone take us in. The dwarves are for the dwarves. You see, said Aslan to the children, it's the Provenzi children, they're standing there, they will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison. And so afraid of being taken in, that they cannot be taken out.

Do you get it? I think that's what, I think Lewis understands the picture that Jesus is painting here. There's something about how Jesus interacted with people. There's a few times in the New Testament where Jesus will just bonk someone over the head and be like, follow me, you know? And they wake up like the Apostle Paul has kind of had an experience like that. But it's remarkable because it's so unique. Like that's not how Jesus normally operates with people. Like the way Jesus operates with people

is a way that fully engages and activates our own dignity as humans and our own decision dignity as humans. And our own decision making responsibilities. And so whether. And there's a risk there. Because there's a risk. That there's somebody who just refuses to acknowledge who he is. Because they're trapped in their minds.

In a story of their own choosing. And they won't see otherwise. But for those who do see what it is, what it also means is that, like, when he calls us to follow him, you don't just sit back and let him do everything. Like, he actually expects us to follow him, because his mission is to create a people who become a blessing to everyone else, a sign and a symbol of the kingdom, and of the way God treats his enemies, and of God's own generosity, and of how God sees the poor and the hurting. And he actually means for us to live into those responsibilities,

and to treat people the way that he treated them. And so it's like you never get too comfortable, yet at the same time, the moment you're focusing on your own talents, pun intended, and abilities, you've just missed the point. Because this whole thing is about us just standing and beholding the generosity and the joy. Like it's just a delighted, joyful, generous parental figure who wants to share and grow up his children to become the amazing people that he knows that they can become. And that's the image here in the story. So man, a lot of stories in the room. You know, we're all at very different places. But I think each of us, if we're honest with ourselves, we know like there is a person in each of our lives.

You know? There is a co-worker. There is a family member. There is whatever, that homeless person that you pass on the way to work. Like, there's that. It happened in the last seven days. It was a failure to follow Jesus. You didn't do what he's been asking you to do.

And he really means for you to do it. And he's not going to stop bothering you until you do. And we can feed the narrative of like, dang it, I just can't measure up. And like, ah, forget it. You know, I tried the Jesus thing or whatever. And it's like, no, no, no, that's the wrong story. Wrong story. You feel like he has so much joy in you.

And he knows you'll become the best version of yourself if you follow him. And so are you open to that? I think that's the question that this story puts to us. So I'm going to close in a word of prayer. We've got time and space to do what we always do, which is sing and to pray and to take the bread and the cup together.

But I would just encourage you to ask Jesus' Spirit, His presence that's here with us, what does this mean for you? What squandered opportunities lay behind you? And whatever, let's move forward. There's a long time. There's a lot of margin. Let's move forward and follow Jesus in the week that lay ahead. Thank you for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible, the podcast, and we'll be back with the next episode as we explore the Gospel of Matthew some more. See you next time.