5th November Trinity 2018, Beholden

November Trinity 

Matthew 25, 14 – 30

“Again, it [the kingdom of the heavens] will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received one went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s silver.

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your money in the earth. See, here you have back again what belongs to you.’

Burnand

“His master replied, ‘You bad and idle servant! You claim to know that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not distribute? Well then, should you not all the more have put my money on deposit with the money changers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. To him who has shall be given, and he shall have in abundance. To him who has not, even what he has shall be taken. Cast the worthless servant out, into the darkness of external existence, where there is only wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

5^th Nov Trinity

Nov 25, 2018

Mathew 25: 14-30

This gospel reading seems perhaps to be strangely materialistic and somewhat severe in tone. But like all the parables, it is a metaphor.

When we are born, we are each given a certain amount of inner riches, according to our karma. These riches are entrusted to us as talents, as opportunities that come our way, perhaps even as burdens. In the parable, the man going on the journey, who entrusted his wealth, is gone for a long time. This is perhaps an image of our experience of God, who leaves us space, withdraws from our awareness, so that we can concentrate on working with and turning to the good what he has entrusted to us. For it is our task to work with these gifts, these opportunities and burdens, to make the most of them. At the end of our lives, we want to be able to give a positive accounting of what we have done with what we were given.

Tissot

It is interesting that the single gift of the one who had acted out of fear, disrespect, and perhaps even laziness, is taken from him and given to the one who already has the most. This seems perhaps unfair until one realizes that the one who receives even more is, at the same time, tasked with an even greater responsibility in the future. For our inner riches are not our possessions. They do not belong to us. They belong to the human race in general and are distributed to those who can best bring the whole of humanity forward. Perhaps my apparent enrichment stands on the shoulders of another’s failure and impoverishment.

On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we would do well to recall the words of our funeral service: We are beholden to the spirit for all that we do, all that we think, all that we say. In the words of the poet Scott Cairns:

To behold the sublime, one must first

accede that one is also held, beheld,

beholden to. One must first agree.

To behold the sublime, one must first

forgo all hope of standing clear,

of standing far apart. One must see.

To behold the sublime, one must first

suspend long habits of self-

sufficiency,….*

* Scott Cairns “Anaphora on Orcas Island”

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5th November Trinity 2017, True Evolution

4th Trinity

Matthew 25: 14-30

Eugene Burnand

When I return, the kingdom of the human being permeated by the heavens will be like a Man, going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. He gave five bars of silver [talents] to one, two to another, and one to a third—to each according to his ability—and went away.

               

The one who got the five bars went right out and worked with them and earned another five; likewise, the one who got the two bars earned another two. But the one who got one shoveled up the earth and buried his master’s treasure.

After a long time, the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. And the one who got the five bars came forward and presented the other five, saying, “Master, you entrusted me with five bars of silver; see, I earned another five.

And his master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You were trustworthy in small things, I’ll put you in charge of greater things. Welcome, and enter into your Master’s joy.”

And the one who got two bars also came forward and said, “Master, you entrusted me with two bars of silver; see, I earned another two.”

His master said to him, “Well done good and faithful servant! You were trustworthy in small things. (In the future) I’ll put you in charge of greater things. Welcome, and enter into your Master’s joy!”

Then the one who got the one bar also came forward and said, “Master, knowing you to be a tough fellow, who reaps what he didn’t sow, and collects what he didn’t scatter, I was afraid and hid your bar of silver in the ground; here is what is yours.

His Master answered, “You useless and cowardly slave, if you knew that I reap what I didn’t sow, and collect what I didn’t scatter, then you should at least have put it in the bank so that I could have gotten back what was mine with interest. Take the bar of silver away from him and give it to the one with ten bars.

To him who has gained trust in the creating power of the spirit, to him more will be given, and he shall have fullness. To him, however, who denies the creative working of the spirit in his own being, from him shall be removed that which lives as treasure in his soul.

Throw the useless slave out into the darkness of outer being, where all must be sent who deny the spirit’s creative power. It is there, with wailing and gnashing of teeth, that men must spend their empty lives.”

5th Trinity 

November 26, 2017

Matthew 25: 14-30

A kingly nature works in us while we are children. It doles out varying amounts of strengths and talents, the silver bars of our life on earth, to the various parts of our soul. Our life’s King trusts that what it has given to our souls, as our capacities of thinking, our ability to feel and to act, that these capacities will be like servants who will faithfully perform the tasks they were entrusted to do. They are to take the soul’s strengths and talents and increase them. These strengths and talents are not the soul’s to hoard; but above all, they are not to lie fallow. For, in the end, the King will call our soul to give an accounting of what each of its parts has managed to produce during the course of a lifetime.

We increase the souls’ store by overcoming fear and energetically working hard on ourselves. Using our will that we have strengthened, our feelings we have ennobled, our thinking that is pure and in check, we create our own sterling character. Clearly, according to the parable, no matter how much or how little we started out with, the King hopes for a doubling of our souls’ capacities. Such a doubling allows us to participate in his joy.

He would even be somewhat satisfied with the small increase that would accrue if we would hand over our thoughts and feelings and wills to some institution, like the church, or a private advisor like a guru -  sort of like opening a salvation account at 1% interest.

What he condemns, however, is burying our soul’s endowment entirely in earthly

tarnished silver

matters. For the silver of the soul will turn dark if buried too long in the earthly. Then it is no longer fit as service for the King.

We are evolving beings. We are meant to become richer and more complex through our work lived on earth. And the doubling of spiritual investments isn’t as difficult as with monetary ones. Because thoughts lead to actions; actions repeated over time create habits; sow good habits and you will end up developing a sterling character. Sow and tend a solid character and the king will be able to reap an entire destiny, a whole new lifetime. Out of the small things we do that add up to a destiny, He is able to give us a new assignment of greater things to accomplish. Together with Him, we can serve the true evolution of all of humankind.

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