judgment hour

Regarding my writing/publishing +Time blogposts, my days of predictability seem to be over and done, I'm on no schedule, don't sleep regular hours, don't wake up at a regular Time, don't have regular mealTimes, have no idea when I arise mornings whether I'll use Time to fool with a blogpost, can't tell whether there'll be a morning nap, an afternoon nap, neither, either, or both. It's the undisciplined Time of a nonagenarian focused on staying out of the hospital.

O&H kringles: I placed an order for a couple of things to be delivered before Thanksgiving. Linda marked another few for me to order to be delivered before Christmas. Who can believe Christmas is next month already, and Thanksgiving itself is a couple weeks away! Well, TGiving Day is three Thursdays out, isn't it! Our plan is to drive out to Tyndall the middle of next week and see what they have for turkeys. My scheme will be to head for the turkey freezer, find the biggest one, hide it in the bottom of the cart and cover it with other purchases while Linda is looking at the vegetables. Reckoning Time won't be until checkout, when it'll be too late, nomesane? 

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What brings on a blogpost this morning? It's this gospel reading for next Sunday, actually, this reading from Matthew, Jesus' parable of the slaves and the talents:

Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus said, “It (the kingdom of God/Heaven) is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 

The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 

After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 

'And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 

'Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 

'But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 

'So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 

'As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

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If this parable doesn't unsettle your stomach, then you and I do not image the same Jesus. For something this shocking, I like to consult scholars whom I respect, often what the fellows of the Jesus Seminar considered and concluded ("The Five Gospels," pages 255-256). 

Basically, responding to the church's concerns of his Time, Matthew has made this a warning for the Second Coming (which also makes it apt for a Sunday leading up to Advent, doesn't it!), which was believed to be imminent. And how you fared on that Judgment Day would reflect how you'd lived your life. It would be a day of reckoning, not a day of sappy forgiveness for lazy stupidity. 

To any extent the parable seems to laud the wealthy over the poor, it turns traditional gospel values upside down; but the idea is not the wealth of it, it's whether you used at least ordinary common sense in your lifeTime: making the most of your God-given talents is commendable; doing nothing with your God-given talents is damnable.  

Agreeing with the scholars, though, that the bit at the end about consigning the worthless bum to outer darkness is from Matthew, not from Jesus; Jesus doesn't tell the story's outcome, but tells his parables and drops them on the hearer or reader to work it out for her/himself. When you get a parable with an outcome it's pretty sure the gospel writer messed with it to make sure his simpleton readers "got it."

Sure'n that's enough meandering for this morning, eh?

RSF&PTL

T91