The Difficult God
Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
November 16, 2008
Matthew 25:14-30
The First Commandment says it all: You shall have no other gods. The
fact that God has to say that to us shows us that we do, in fact, have
other gods. We put all kinds of things before God, including
ourselves. God also says that His thoughts are not our thoughts, His
ways are not our ways. It stands to reason that we are not going to
view God the way we ought to. That our sinful minds cloud a true
understanding of who He is. It's no wonder that we may say and believe
things about Him that are offensive. We have to be careful, we want to
believe and say what is true about Him.
The first two servants didn't state anything about why they did what
they did. They just said, Here you go, Master, you gave me so much and
I made this much more. It was the third one that felt compelled to
explain what he thought of his master in order to explain why he did
what he did. We assume that what he said is wrong.
But what happens when the master agrees? What happens when, when Jesus
is telling us a parable and teaching us about who God is, and that He
obviously is the master of the parable, the master himself agrees with
the assessment of the unfaithful servant? He is a man who reaps where
he has not sown and gathers where he has scattered no seed. The third
servant was bold, or perhaps foolish, to tell his master what he
thought of him. But the master isn't angry at the servant for speaking
in such a way about him, he's angry precisely because the servant
*did* know that his master was that way! Since you knew I'm this way,
why did you do nothing?!
The servant knew what kind of master he had. But that's not the kind
of master he wanted. Better not to take a risk and face his wrath than
to take a risk and possibly fail, and, who knows what kind of reaction
he'll get then?! The servant is not dealing with a patsy here, but a
difficult master. One who has expectations, one who makes demands. And
one who does not let one off easy if those expectations and demands
are not met. He's a difficult master, because there's always that
warning hanging over your head when he entrusts you with what is his.
If you want an easy god, you'll have to look outside the Bible. The
Bible famously says that God is love. And it's true, God is love. But
God is also difficult. You think love is easy? Love is difficult. You
think it's easy for God to love us? Not because it's hard for Him to
love us, but because we try so hard to go against Him that it makes it
tough for Him to shower His love upon us. So what does He do? He goes
into stealth mode. As Isaiah says, He does His alien work, His work
that doesn't come naturally to Him. But nothing will stop Him from
loving us, reaching out to us.
When the Bible gives an endless list of the characteristics of God—His
love, His mercy, His grace, His patience—we can be thankful for the
great God we have. But what do we do with the God who is difficult?
What should we expect from the God who reaps where He has not sown,
and gathers where He has scattered no seed?
With God the way is never easy. It's always difficult. Why did God
bring about salvation in the way He did? Why was there humility and
weakness and suffering and difficulty marking the action of Jesus in
saving mankind? Why didn't He make it a lot easier on Himself? Why did
He go through all that? Why is it that He places expectations and
makes demands on us knowing that we can't meet them?
The parable describes the difficulty involved here. The first two
address him as "Master." And that's it. Master, you gave me this,
here's what I turned it into, and here you have it back. The third one
also addresses him as "Master," but then goes into an explanation of
how he views him. Who does God want to be to us and for us? He wants
to be our Master. A master who gives. A master who entrusts to us His
possessions. What about when it gets difficult, when He reaps where He
has not sown and gathers where He has not scattered? There are many He
spreads His gifts to that we may balk at. You mean, them? He wants to
love them, those that do in public what is shameful to do in secret?
He wants us to go to those people over there who want nothing to do
with God and tell them that He loves them?
Our society is rapidly normalizing certain things. It has long been
going the path of relativism. I'm okay, you're okay. Don't judge me
and I won't judge you. Let's be tolerant of others. Can't we all just
get along? And so things that aren't part of the natural order become
normalized and then even good. As Christians we see that relativism is
the slippery slope not to tolerance but to decay.
But what's difficult is the Gospel. It's difficult to see everyone the
way God sees them. To rejoice that God loves them in the same way He
loves us. In the way in which He sends His own Son as the one who
delivers them from their sin even as He does us. In a way in which we
are humbled by the fact that we are as undeserving of God's
unconditional love as they are. That we are just as heinous in our
thoughts, words, and deeds as they are. God shows no partiality. We
have fallen all short of the glory of God, and the soul that sins will
surely die.
When the master gives, He gives. True, to some servants he gives more
and to some he gives less. But when the two return with what has been
entrusted to them and that more was produced, he didn't give different
rewards. It was the same: you have been faithful over a little, I will
set you up over much. Enter into the joy of your master! There is no
partiality, only joy! They each receive of the abundance of the
master.
The third servant receives the opposite of reward, punishment. The
first two servants realized that they in no way deserved what had been
entrusted to them. When what they had been given bore fruit, they
likewise believed that they in no way deserved it or owned it. It was
still, as it always had been, the property of their master. The third
servant, on the other hand, wanted to have nothing to do with a
difficult master, who reaps where he hasn't sown and gathers where he
hasn't scattered.
What about you? Who do you want God to be? Do you begrudge the grace
of God for all? Does it not seem right to you that God pours out His
grace upon everyone, no matter who they are or what they have done? If
so, then you have met the God who is difficult. He will never forsake
His own. He has created everyone in His image and will do everything
to redeem us. Even the difficult path of giving over His only-begotten
Son. Even placing Him on the altar of Calvary. Even forsaking His own
Son so that we may enter into the joy of our Master.
There is nothing more difficult than the Gospel. It is the one thing
that truly causes offense. That God would say to sinners—you, me, and
everyone—there is nothing you can do to be saved. But not just because
you don't have that ability. Because it has already been accomplished.
When your Lord and Master returns on the Last Day to settle accounts,
you will simply offer to Him what you have. It is what He has given
you in your Baptism, His own righteousness. Here, Lord, what is yours,
and look at the fruit it has born! He will in joy welcome you into His
eternal joy! Amen!
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.blogspot.com
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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