Sermon for November 13, 2011 - Interpretation

Scripture Reading: Matthew 25: 14-30

I have to say, I was very tempted this morning to get up here and preach two short meditations, interpreting today’s parable from the Gospel of Matthew in two entirely different ways.  I would have then walked away and let you rummage through the contents of both sermons, trying to discern for yourselves what felt right, or asking yourselves why I would have done such a thing.

As the two stories that we read today during our scripture readings indicate, this passage is open to some very broad interpretation and understanding.  I’m going to read the New Revised Standard Version of the text, just to give you a base to go from.

Read Matthew 25:14-30

Historically in our Western world, I think this story has been interpreted one way.  Jesus is the landowner, and each member of the church has certain gifts that they are called to use on behalf of the Kingdom of God.  Those who use their gifts well, will receive a great reward.  But those who do not share their gifts, who do not go out and make full use of them, will find themselves condemned.

We can easily look at this from the perspective of the church today.  Though we are anxious about the future, this is not a time to conserve our resources, to circle the wagons and buckle down.  We are called to risk sharing everything that we have with the world around us with tremendous joy in our hearts and hope in our souls.  This call goes out to both individuals and communities.

But the second reading we had today, from the Lectionary Story Bible, seemed to look at this passage entirely differently.  It takes an approach that comes out of Liberation Theology, where the landowner is no longer the benevolent giver of gifts.  The Master is someone who “reaps where he does not sow, and gathers where he does not scatter.”  This is not really a nice description, it sounds like the Master is a thief; someone who scavenges off of those who have done hard work.  Furthermore, the closing message from the Master is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  Now this seems to contradict a lot of the stuff that Jesus has said in the Gospels.

As I watch the Occupy Wall Street protests, I wonder what they would think.  Jesus, the man who cleaned out the temple of money changers, suddenly telling a story like this?  There is a wonderful image making the rounds online, with a picture of Jesus waving his whip through the temple, with the caption “the original Occupy Wall Street protestor”. 

This parable does seem a bit out of place.  Is it too much of a stretch to interpret this story as Jesus emphasizing that in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we will encounter the Kingdom of God among those who are cast out?  Jesus taught that we encounter God with the lepers, the widows, the children, the strangers, and generally with those who have been abandoned by society.

Truthfully, I don’t know what the original author intended.  I have my guesses.  I raise this, because I think in many ways, both interpretations are valid.  They both have their points.  I raise this to show that scripture is open to very wide interpretation, and we must caution ourselves from assuming that we have understood everything correctly; or perhaps more accurately, we must caution ourselves from assuming that there is only one correct way to understand scripture.

Give me any argument and a day, and I imagine I can take this bible home, and come back tomorrow able to convince you of either side of that argument.  Does this make scripture meaningless?  Absolutely not.  Instead what it does is invite us to engage the text, engage the world around us, and engage one another in dialogue that would not have been possible if everything were precisely clean cut.  It takes into account the shear complexity of all things rather than assuming that the world is simply black and white.  It says what matters is the struggles we have in our souls trying to figure these things out.

Now there are many different ideas out there about how to interpret things, like scripture, or books, or any media really.  It is a branch of study called hermeneutics.  People devote their whole lives to it, and I certainly don’t have the opportunity to even scratch the surface here.  But I am always willing to talk about it.

What I’d like you to walk away from this sermon with is this: never let yourself get comfortable with a single interpretation of the bible. Because, I think how we interpret scripture says less about the bible than it does about who we ourselves are.  So, always, always, always, ask questions.  Questions about who wrote it, who it was written to.  Wonder what a specific passage would mean to someone who is in an entirely different context from you, someone of a different race, or gender, or sexual orientation, or just in a different situation.  Learn to encounter the holy within these pages from an entirely different perspective, and you’ll begin to see how vast the holy really is.

I do believe God inspires this library of books (and it is a library, it is not a single book – always remember that).  But not necessarily in the sense that God whispered in someone’s ear while it was being written.  I believe, when we read these texts with our hearts open; when we read these texts being truly honest with ourselves about our presuppositions, fears, and desires; when we read these texts prayerfully and with a hunger, I do believe we can be inspired by God through our readings, we can learn to encounter God in our own lives.  And that is good news.  Thanks be to God, Amen.