Jesus in the 21st Century

One of my philosophy students asked me last week how I manage to write a sermon.  I responded by telling him I like to have the Bible in one hand and the New York Times in the other.  So, it was no surprise when last week there was an article by James Carroll in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times titled “Jesus and the Modern Man.”  James Carroll a former Roman Catholic priest is a novelist and author of several books about religion and the Church.  He latest book is titled, “Christ Actually: The Son of God for the Secular Age.”

James Carroll asks an important question for the Church in our secular world.  Acknowledging the religious disenchantment of our time, he asks “Why the church at all?” and responds by stating, “unlike many Protestants, Catholics have long put their practical faith more in the community of belief than in the person around whom that community gathers.”

Carroll then points out that for Pope Francis “the church exists for one reason only – to carry the story of Jesus forward in history, and by doing that to make his presence real.”

Later in his article Carroll asks, “in what way, actually, can Jesus be said to be divine?  A scientifically minded believer wants to discard that notion, but before he does, he should remember that if Jesus were not regarded as somehow divine almost from the start of his movement, we would never have heard of him.  And if faith in the divinity of Jesus is left behind because it fails the test of contemporary thought, Jesus will ultimately be forgotten.”

“Jesus... revered the Temple, along with his fellow Jews.  If, as scholars assume, he caused a disturbance there, it was almost certainly in defense of the place, not in opposition to it.” He was concerned about God’s purpose for Israel and for the future of humanity.

Jesus’ Parable of the Talents as we heard in today’s Gospel is a story about the future direction of Israel.  And it is a story about God’s purpose for our human future.  The scenario is  extravagant.  A talent was equal to 1,000 pieces of silver or, at that time, 15 years’ worth of wages for the average worker.  What master would entrust his servants with such huge sums of money?  Jesus is making the point that God is the kind of master whose trust is beyond measure.  The amount of money, the talent, was entrusted to each person “according to his ability.” 

The two successful servants in the story took risks and speculated with their master’s money.  As a result they each made a 100% profit.  The point is that the master, God, expects us to use the gifts we have been given to the very limit.  A modest profit is acceptable, but to go for a far greater return is better.  Historically, the bankers in Jerusalem paid excellent rates of interest to the merchants who entrusted their money to them.  Profit was made through foreign trade, and profits were high since the Romans kept the trade routes safe from pirates and hijackers.

Jesus’ use of the parable was an allegory about God’s call to Israel.  The issue of the day was the function and future direction of Israel.  Israel had a critical mission -- to make God known.  To neglect that mandate meant to lose any and all meaning in history.

How do the disciples and we, the followers of Jesus, live out our vocation?  Our stewardship is our God-given responsibility.  We are not owners of the realm of God, but we are caretakers of worldly resources, including the personal resources of our minds, bodies, energies, abilities, intellects, money, and emotions.  These are the resources that are ours to give.  How we give them is the subject of our story, the Parable of the Talents.

The Parable of the Talents speaks best to a time like ours in which greed and self-interest threaten to rob us of our identity as Christians, as faithful users of God’s gifts.  We must be vigilant watchers for signs of God and give them room to flourish.  We must risk using the gifts we have been given, the skills we have and our money, on behalf of God’s kingdom.  We must go the extra mile, be generous givers with all our resources, always ministering to the needs of our sisters and brothers of every class, race and religion.  Only by risking our talents, whether we have one, two, or five thousand; only by embracing life and living fully; and only by developing a real sense of life’s possibilities and opportunities for everyone, can we be truly thankful.  James Carroll is right in saying that putting our faith in Jesus, the person around whom the community gathers, is what matters.

St. Paul commented when he wrote to the Thessalonians, “You are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake … and put on the breastplate of faith and love. …Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.”  May we all give thanks to God for his generous gifts to us.  Amen.