Year B  – Advent 2 (A 7-Week Advent)
 Judges 4:1-7
 Psalm 123
 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
 Matthew 25:14-30

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

Today’s readings talk to us about redemption…  about the uncertain timing of things…  and about judgment…  and today’s Gospel parable…  is a simple story…  which teaches a spiritual lesson…  ] and in ancient Israel’s tumultuous history…  God was seen and sometimes experienced…  as an angry God… unpredictable…  capricious…  vengeful…  but also merciful beyond measure… loving us over and over again… and forgiving evil acts…  and today’s reading from Judges is an example of this kind of forgiveness… 

The book of Judges doesn’t describe the entire period of the Judges…  and it’s not organized chronologically…  and when we say that Deborah was a judge…  we don’t mean like one of those television judges…  the Judges were thought of as tribal leaders who helped bring their people out of oppression…  who helped them see God’s light…  Deborah though…  was the only woman judge out of the fifteen named in scripture…  I like that…  but she was also prophetess…  who could access the thin places between this world and God’s realm…  and discern God’s truth…  ] but even in their role as leaders…  none of the Judges are said to have delivered the people… the true deliverer was God…

The reading tells us that God sold the Israelites into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan…  who reigned in Hazor…  this claim is problematic though…  because scholars know that Canaan was divided into several royal city-states…  and was not ruled by a single king…  but as they did in Egypt…  the Israelites cried out to the Lord…  and the Lord heard their cries…  and delivered Sisera…  and freedom…  into their hands…

And in the Epistle…  Paul instructs the Thessalonians about how to prepare for the Day of the Lord…  for us…  this is a looking ahead to the return of Christ… but it’s an expression which appears in the Prophets and which is used to describe divine action…  including God’s retribution against the foreign nations which oppressed Israel…  and at other times…  it’s used to describe God’s punishment of Israel…  Judah…  or the Jewish people…  or the vindication of the oppressed…  or God’s reestablishment of Israel under God’s rule…  and while some of the prophets mention a messiah or Davidic king…  others speak to the redemption of not only the Gentile nations…  but all of creation…

But in either context…  Paul assures the Thessalonians that they are Children of Light…  and that they belong to the day… to God…  but he also reminds them…  that they must not fall asleep…  as others do…  but keep awake…  because they could go from peace and security in one moment…  to sudden destruction in the next…  as any of us can…  but he emphasizes that if we are grounded in God…  if we belong to God…  we have God’s armor on to help protect us from these things…  this doesn’t mean though…  that we can’t be wounded…  and it doesn’t mean that we won’t be vulnerable… 

In this morning’s Gospel…  the slaves who invested…  made themselves vulnerable… taking risks makes us vulnerable… but risk is also supported by trust… the Master trusted his slaves to take risk and invest wisely…  but in this kind of parable…  usually…  the first two will get it wrong…  and the third one will get it right…  though in this parable…  the ones who have a lot going for them get it right and have more…  and the one who has only a little going for him gets it wrong…  and not only is that taken away from him…  but he is thrown into outer darkness…

Now one talent is a LOT of money…  and the text says nothing about how the first two…  traded with what had been given them… ]  did they have shrewd money managers…  did they trade in something illegal or unethical…  whatever they did…  they sure made the third guy look bad when they reported back to their Master…

But in truth…  these three are not in competition with each other…  they may not know it…  but they’re in competition only with themselves…  and we get to look in on what they do with what has been given to them…  ] now usually…  Jesus lifts up the underdog…  and heals him…  or forgives her…  or teaches them…  but in today’s story…  the one who was given just one talent…  the one who is prudent with it…  protective of it…  who doesn’t take chances with what isn’t his…  ends up being chastised and punished…

But Fr. John Shea explains it this way…  there’s a spiritual law which describes how we cooperate with the gift of Spirit…  which is given to us by God…  and God gives…  because God is…  in essence…  self-donation…  an emptying out…  and when our human spirit…  receives Divine Spirit…  we are encouraged to cooperate with it by giving it away…  and as soon as this happens…  we are conscious of more Spirit…  because when Spirit is given away…  it doubles…  ]  and with an increase in Spirit…  we become more conscious of how Spirit grows…  and of our increased responsibility to make that happen…  and we will be led into all Truth…  and in this parable…  it is called…  Entering into the joy of your Master…

Now it’s our general experience…  that when we physically give something away…  we no longer have it…  when I donate some gently used clothing to Goodwill…  I no longer have it…  but according to spiritual laws…  when Spirit is given away…  there is more of it…  that’s why the one with five talents…  and the one with two…  by [ “trading” ] them…  by giving this Spirit to others as it had been given to them…  easily doubled the five to ten…  and the two to four…  that’s why the Kingdom of God is at odds with the American Dream…  the giving away and self-emptying is at odds with the taking and accumulating… 

Natalie Wigg-Stevenson writes…  when I approach this ancient parable…  and seek contemporary wisdom…  what stands out for me…  is the abusive economic systems that enslave and entrap those living within them…  no one can secure their own future without hurting another…  and no one can protect another without threatening their own survival…  it’s impossible to do the right thing…  unless you define “the right thing” as getting what you can while helping the rich get richer…  which surely wasn’t what Jesus meant…  ] as someone trying and failing to do the right thing…  within systems of global capitalism…  I often feel like Paul and the Thessalonians…  and end up doing nothing…  because I can’t figure out how to do good…  ] this parable doesn’t afford the luxury of answers…  parables rarely do…  but it asks us to journey with it to find our way…  it’s our companion perhaps…  more than our guide…

But we know that God invests God’s time…  and grace…  and forgiveness…  and blessing…  in us…  ]  in who and what do we invest…  how do we give ourselves away…  how can we find the kind of Wisdom that Deborah had…  to help bring us up out of the kinds of oppression which keep us from lavishly sharing Spirit…  and how can we find a way to escape the oppression and experience expressed in this morning’s Psalm…  Have mercy upon us…  O God…  have mercy…  for we have had more than enough of contempt…  too much of the scorn of the indolent rich…  and of the derision of the proud…  and how can we help each other…  rise up out of the systems which keep us from being guided by God’s light…