Sermon

Your image of God

Scripture Text:

Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus said, "For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, `Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' His master said to him, `Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, `Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' His master said to him, `Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, `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. Here you have what is yours.' But his master replied, `You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 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. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' "

Sermon:

There are some potent pictures of God in the readings we heard this morning.  The prophet Zephaniah warns of an angry God who punishes the people of Jerusalem for their unjust ways.  Paul says to the church in Thessalonica that Jesus will come like “a thief in the night.”  It’s a little unnerving to think about Jesus as a thief – he sounds frightening and sneaky.  In the parable of the talents, two slaves see their master as a man who will welcome them into his joy, and one slave sees “a harsh man.”

 

It might be tempting sometimes to dismiss the God of the Old Testament as a violent old crank and to prefer Jesus, the kind, loving man walking around with lambs in his arms. Very sweet. But that’s not an entirely accurate division of the Bible. The God of the Old Testament is loving and forgiving. And Jesus often takes on the role of harsh judge and holds a threshing fork in his hands alongside those lambs.  If you read the Bible in its entirety you get a panoramic view of the whole story, and you can see that the underlying geography of the story of God and God’s people is:  BIG, BIG Love.  God gets angry for the same reason a parent gets angry when a child shoplifts or wanders too close to the edge of a cliff or hurts another child.

 

But sometimes we can get stuck on the image of an angry God.  And that can affect how we live our lives, how we see ourselves, and of course, our relationship with God.  We all have an image of God we carry in our minds and hearts… when I was little, I had this image of God that looked sort of like George Washington! Maybe you have an image of God that’s also a picture.  Or maybe your picture of God is less concrete – maybe it’s a more like a feeling.  It might be something you’re very aware of, or something you sort of take for granted.  But no matter how faint or clear your picture of God is, you probably have some underlying assumptions about God that have a lot of influence in your life.

 

There’s a worksheet in your bulletin (see below) meant to help you draw out your image of God that I invite you to spend a minute or so filling out.

 

The image or impression of God we see can have a lot of influence over how we live our lives. No picture of God any of us has in our human brains can really be accurate. The God we imagine isn’t ever as fully loving and forgiving as God truly is: BIG, BIG love. Your images of God may be bear a strong resemblance to your relationship with your parents, or to someone who was a strong influence in your life at time you were becoming aware of God’s presence.  Your image of God might resemble one person of the Trinity more than another: Father (or Mother), Jesus Christ, or Holy Spirit. It’s good to notice the ways you picture God in your mind and your life. You might use your worksheet in your prayer life at home, or to ponder where some of your images come from.

 

Now, let’s think of the three slaves in Jesus’ parable of the talents and how their perception of their master influenced their lives.  Two invest the money they’ve been given to steward while their master is away and are rewarded, but one takes his money and buries it, because he’s afraid of his master, and he gets punished.  The most common way to interpret this parable is summed up in a bumper sticker I’ve seen around: Jesus is Coming. Look Busy. That while we’re waiting for our master to return, we should be doing purposeful work, not hiding or doing nothing.  But another interesting thing about this parable is how the last slave sees his master. He’s terrified of his master and believes him to be cruel, aggressive, and even abusive.  Jesus doesn’t give us any clues about whether that’s an accurate representation of the master or not.  But we see how fear keeps that slave from taking any risks with what he’s been given because he feels so threatened.

 

The other two slaves might also be afraid of the master, we’re not sure, but if they’re afraid they overcome their fear and take a risk anyway. So, I wonder if part of the message of Jesus here is that our perception shapes our experience.  What we expect is often what we get.  Is a problem a threat or is it an opportunity to try something different?  Is someone we disagree with an opponent or just someone with a different viewpoint?  Is a conflict an opportunity to grow or something we want to avoid at all costs?  How we see our world and our life has an enormous influence on our experiences.

 

Our expectations of God influence our experience of God.  Our image of God shapes our relationship with God.

 

Our image of God doesn’t have to get stuck. We can use pictures or icons with images of God that are more positive for us, we can use devotional books, we can listen to Christian music, and all those things are good and I encourage you to seek out art that develops your relationship with God.

 

But the most powerful image of God we have is the picture of God drawn in the person of Jesus Christ.  God came down to walk among us on Earth, to be with us, to eat with us, to dream with us, to hope with us, to suffer with us, and to die, here, with us.  We can see, in Jesus, how much God cares about us and how much God cares about how we treat each other. Whether Jesus holds lambs in his arms or a threshing fork in his hand, whether he he’s turning over the tables of the money changers in the Temple or setting a table with bread and wine for his friends, he’s acting out of love.  In Jesus, God wants us to know that God loves us, deeply, and that God wants us to love one another.

 

As we offer our annual pledges of financial support to St. Benedict today, before God and the community here at St. Benedict, I pray that we may offer them out of love – love for God, love for one another, and love for God’s whole Creation.  I hope you will continue to think and pray over your images of God, that God will lead you to a fuller knowledge and belief in God’s love – God’s BIG, BIG love.

 

Amen.

 

WORKSHEET

My image of God 

A picture?

What are my negative images of God?

What are my positive images of God?

 

 

Uploaded on November 13, 2011 in by RevHeidi

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