PROPERS: PROPER
28, YEAR A
TEXT: MATTHEW 25:14-30
PREACHED AT ST.
PAUL’S, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2017.
ONE SENTENCE: Your gift is your call; you should be prepared to
answer it.
What is your call?
Be assured –
you have one. Three brief stories may
prompt you to think more deeply.
+ + +
In the year 386, a wealthy young man
sat quietly in a courtyard. His life had
been one of ease, but searching. He had
followed various philosophies popular in the day. His journey had taken him from his birth home
in modern-day Algeria to his courtyard in Milan, Italy.
His mother was a devout Christian;
his father a pagan. He had had various
concubines during his profligate life, and now he was 31, seeking a direction
for his life.
He sat quietly in his
courtyard. Perhaps he slumbered. But he heard a child’s
voice chanting the Latin words: “Tolle, legge…
Tolle, legge.” Take up and read…
take up and read.
Within reach he found a scroll with Paul’s Letter to the
Romans.
+ + +
More than 1,000 years later, a young
monastic student wrestled with life. He
had always been quite bright and gifted.
His father – a cruel and oppressive man –
wanted him to study law, but this young man had his heart set on a religious
vocation.
His abusive childhood had left a
mark on him. Modern-day psychotherapists
may have diagnosed as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Safe within his monastic community –
away from most temptations of the world – he nevertheless felt compelled to
go to confession – many times a day.
No sooner would he emerge from
confession than he would realize some personal flaw he had failed to
mention. He would return to confession. His
life was broken and he saw no way out.
But a kindly mentor –
perhaps inspired by the Spirit – guided this young man into
teaching. And teach he did. The topic was the New Testament, and the
young man – torn and distraught – found
himself.
He set the Christian world aflame.
+ + +
The third story.
Some 300 years later, there was a
woman 32-years-old, struck down by a devastating illness. She had previously been a writer of humorous
articles. The illness left her bed-ridden for the next 50 years of her life.
She was the daughter and
granddaughter of Anglican clergy. Her
father was a well-known Evangelical preacher.
Their house was a whirlwind of activity, being a center of the social
activist Clapham Sect, which had been founded by John Newton, the former slave
trader and author of Amazing Grace.
Her illness frequently left her
depressed. One evening, her family had
gone to a church bazaar and she was alone at home. She was feeling lost, worthless, and
depressed. It was in that fog that the
words of one of her pastors came to her, as she had wrestled with her sense of
worthlessness. His words: “Come
to Jesus just as you are.”
She put pen to paper. The year was 1834. We remember her and her words to this day.
+ + +
So, who were these three
individuals? And why do they matter
today?
I mention them because they had gifts that were not being utilized. Those gifts are analogous to the talents we heard about in the gospel
lesson today. If those talents had been
buried – and not invested – we would
all be poorer today.
There is a call from God – as we hear in the Parable of the
Talents – to use our gifts.
+ + +
The first person I mentioned sat
quietly in a courtyard in Milan, Italy, having lived a brilliant but profligate
life. He heard a voice saying, “Tolle,
legge… Tolle, legge.”
Take up and read, take up and read. He reached for a scroll containing Paul’s Letter to the
Romans.
That young man was Augustine of
Hippo – who, out of his sordid background, became perhaps the
greatest theologian in the history of the church. His writings – such as The City of God and Confessions – have a profound impact on the
church today.
+ + +
The obsessive-compulsive monastic,
so overwrought with his own sinfulness, was Martin Luther. As he taught scripture to the other young
monks, he discovered a depth and graciousness to God that he had not
known. And the Reformation was born.
His life was not easy afterwards,
but his calling was answered, and his gifts were uncovered and utilized. He shook the foundations of the church, and
we exist as a parish because of his calling.
+ + +
The bedridden English woman, so
convinced of her lack of purpose in life, penned words that have caused hearts
to turn, tears to stream, and lives to change in the last 180 years. Charlotte Elliott, lying in her bed as her
family went to a church bazaar, wrote the words to Just as I Am.
I should note that she was an
Anglican, but her hymn has been sung by millions of worshippers at Billy Graham
Crusades and is found on page 693 of our hymnal.
Charlotte Elliott had shown a gift
for writing much earlier. Now she
uncovered that gift again and responded to God’s call.
+ + +
These three people lived fairly
unremarkable lives until they allowed their gifts to be uncovered. Through meandering, lost and struggling
lives, they invested what they had and those investments paid rich
dividends. In many ways, we live on
those dividends today.
Besides his Parable of the Talents, Jesus says other things in Matthew to make
the same point. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says:
5:15No one after lighting a lamp
puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to
all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before
others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in
heaven.
I invite you to reflect today: What is
your light? What is your call? How may you invest it in a way that pays
dividends for God’s
work in the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment