Enoughness!

 

Upon Reflection:   A former colleague of mine and now retired Friar once stumbled across a word that he felt was a good summation of Franciscan values:  Enoughness.  Surely he has since used the word in many a homily, but I think that if ever there was a Gospel to preach on Enoughness, this week's Gospel reading would be it.   

 

It is true that most of us hear this parable that Jesus tells, or hear sermons about it, or maybe even read scriptural commentary about it, and conclude that Jesus is teaching us to use the gifts that God has given us lest we be held accountable in the final judgment.  Although this is a fine message and surely something Jesus would talk about, there is another interpretation of this passage that holds a completely different meaning.  If you would indulge me, I'd like to offer it to you here.

 

There are a few giveaways to suggest this alternate interpretation:  First, most of these parables that we have been hearing throughout Matthew's account of the Gospel begin with the phrase, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like.."  But here, he does not begin with that phrase.  This is not a parable describing the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is a parable describing the kingdoms of this world.  

 

Second, usually when Jesus speaks of a "master of the house," he is referring to God.  But the master of the house that he refers to in this parable resembles nothing of the God whom Jesus presents to us throughout his public ministry.  "Demanding, harvesting where he doesn't plant, gathering where he doesn't scatter, taking away from those who don't have and giving it to those who already have:"  If that's an accurate description of God, then we're all in trouble!  

 

Within this interpretation, the parable is not a description of God, but rather a description of the god of power and money.  

 

The parable uses the term, "talent."  A talent is a measurement of money equivalent to 19 years worth of wages for a typical servant.  In other words, it is A LOT of money.  This master is super rich.  The first two servants (probably seeking a promotion) knew their master's love of money, so they did whatever they could to make him even richer.

 

However, the third servant who appears to have absolutely no concern about being promoted, does nothing with the money.  He seemingly doesn't even have any interest in making his master interest!  What our American ears hear at this point is that the first two servants are good and the third servant is bad.  But in actuality, it is the opposite!  The third servant is the hero because he refuses to play the game.  

 

Jesus is warning his disciples about what is going to happen when they do not participate in playing the game of helping the rich get richer.  While those servants who worship at the altar of making more and more money for their master get promoted, those who refuse through civil disobedience find themselves cast out.  

 

This is exactly what happened to the early Christians.  They lived with a spirituality of enoughness, refusing to live otherwise and refusing to enter into the system of the one percent who owned everything yet still wanted more.  

 

Today, most in our community may be the 99% in the United States, but the truth is that as citizens of the world, we are the 1%.  Compared to the vast majority of people in the world, many of us do not live with an attitude of enoughness.  Sadly, as a nation, we're not even close to being a country of enoughness.  

 

Perhaps that is why we like that other, more conventional translation of this parable.  It certainly is a lot easier to hear and fits our capitalistic mindset much better.  But I and others are convinced that this alternative interpretation offers a message that is just as important.  It demands honest self-examination, both as Christian individuals and as a Christian community. 

 

For me at least, it is an uncomfortable truth that causes me to question which kingdom I live within and which kingdom the society that I am a part of lives within.