Matthew 25:14-30
“Fear Factor”
November 15, 2020
Losing a child, losing one’s voice, losing one’s mind, getting old, needles, cancer, failing in school, being wrongfully imprisoned, the Pandemic, the unknown, death.
These are just some of the fears that the artist Julie Elman has heard people express with true poignancy.
Having listened to the fears, she then went about creating visual art to interpret the parts of life that scare us the most where she used their words combined with her unique imagery.
She first developed the Fear Project as a way to manage her own fears which included a fear of the blank page.
Her goal is to normalize the concept of fear as being a part of the human condition and to thus not let it stop us from living a full life.
Fear figures big time throughout scripture. Some of those fears were because of God’s actions – think Moses in front of the burning bush who hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
People were afraid of Jesus because of his miracles like walking on water and he had his own disciples afraid at the Transfiguration when they heard the voice of God.
Of course, there was also the fear of what was not there – like Jesus’ body at the tomb.
Today’s parable is rarely cited as a favorite because the ending seems harsh. Here we have a story of how fear can paralyze someone, keeping them in place, forgetting the gift with which they’ve been entrusted.
This landowner trusts the three servants with an extraordinary amount of money.
It is estimated that a single talent would be worth $1.5 million today.
He has also given them the time and freedom to handle the money and, at least at the outset, he is not micromanaging them.
Is this a lesson in generous accountability?
What are we to do with the gifts we have been given?
Do we hoard them, keeping them in the cupboards of our heart?
The third servant was paralyzed with fear.
He neither got to enjoy the bounty of “enough” and he didn’t get to see the gift grow.
Maybe the fear of responsibility overcame him.
Unlike so many other parables, this one does not start with “The reign of God is like…” This is instead about how we are to live now or “in the meantime” or until, as Marcus Borg calls it, “the Dream of God comes in its fullness.”
Let’s remember where Jesus is at this point on his journey. He’s trying to prep his disciples for the time he won’t be with them.
What are the most important lessons Jesus wants to leave with them?
What are they and, in turn, we to do with our lives?
Are we content with playing it safe and staying secure in the known and the familiar?
When it comes to our life, driven by our faith, are we willing to be risk-takers?
Are we willing to risk the joy of becoming something more?
As one writer asked, “Are we willing to be a blessing to the world?
(Kathryn M. Matthews, Sermon Seeds, www.ucc.org)
What more or different could we as a church risk?
How could we be a blessing to the world in a new way?
We have been gifted with so much as the church of Jesus Christ, haven’t we?
We get to live and minister to this wonderful community that strives to take care of each other in a multitude of ways – wanting to make sure our neighbors don’t go hungry, that children don’t go without what they need to learn and grow, and that folks don’t fall through the cracks.
We may treasure the quiet and peace of this place but we also have the privilege of knowing our neighbors and once we know them we end up knowing how some struggle – with loneliness, addiction, health issues, financial stresses, family problems
– all of those parts of life that bring us to our knees.
When COVID-19 is added to all of this as the next surge affects us here in Vermont, along with the rest of the country, we can’t help but want to be there for the most vulnerable.
Over the next few weeks our congregation in partnership with the Battenkill Valley Health Center will have the opportunity to take the risk of reaching out to our older and our disabled neighbors with Community Support Kits through a COVID grant we received this week from the Vermont Department of Health.
Very soon we will be creating hundreds of kits in Dunlap Hall with supplies to help folks here in our community make it through this pandemic winter.
It’s our hope that many of you will want to help out by identifying seniors and disabled folks who could benefit.
We will be looking for hands-on assistance in safely packing the kits and delivering them.
And, of course, the other vital piece of this will be our prayers.
God has entrusted each of us with so much.
Taking a risk on a better world for God’s people is our call.
It was Michelangelo who said, “The greatest risk to man is not that he aims too high and misses, but that he aims too low and hits.”
May we together dream of the Kingdom that God beckons us to be and then put our faith into action, beginning with this prayer:
Benefactor and Wisdom,
in trying times, you challenge us to be
the people you call us to be.
You endow us with creativity and courage, with wisdom and strength, with hope and conviction.
You lavish us generously with more than we could ever ask or imagine.
Some go forward boldly, risking reputation and stability
to do what you expect.
Be present with them, Lord.
It is not easy to do your bidding in a world that calls your
Wisdom foolishness.
Strengthen their spirits,
for they are the rule-changers,
the life-givers,
the promise-keepers;
they are the prophets and the examples.
Teach us to be like them. Amen.
(adapted from revgalblogpals.org, 11/14/20)