Misreading the Bible

Gospel:  Matthew 16: 21-27

Those who read the Bible as a book of apologetic that exists for them to support the positions they already hold have trouble with passages that do not fit the narrative.  Last week apologists preached endlessly about Peter's primacy as the rock.  But what of this week where Jesus calls Peter a Satan for not judging rightly?  What will the apologists preach this week?

What if we consider the fact that the Bible was not constructed as a book of apologetic but as texts for meditation and reflection, a book wherein we find the story of our life as being similar to those we find in the texts of Scripture.  How often have we had our high moments like Peter last week where we have it all figured out, only to have our low moments like this week where we find ourselves rebuked by the Lord.  What did Peter do? He stayed with Jesus and kept working on his relationship.  Over time he got better, though he would still have his failures.  But he stayed with the Lord and improved over time.

It is in relating to Peter in our own story that we derive real and authentic meaning from the Bible.  His story is our story; his journey is like ours.  What can we learn from Jesus' interactions with Peter that can help our own journey of faith? This is what the Bible is meant to do for us - bringing us to a constant reflection and meditation on our life and our story of faith in relationship to the story of God's interaction with his people across the ages. 

A Talent Unused

Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-30

Everyone has had the experience of seeing a promising young person not achieve their potential and squander a great talent they had been given.  We are sad at such a loss for them and for those who may have benefited from that talent.  By the same token, there is great joy when we see a promising young person achieve their potential, cultivate a talent, and derive great benefit for themselves and others.  

Not all of us have the same talents and abilities in arts or sciences, music or language skills.  We are all different in these things.  But every human being is equal in one talent and ability, the only one that matters - and that is the capacity to love; to serve and care for those in need, to extend mercy to others.  To fail to cultivate this talent is to fail at life itself.  All our accomplishments in athletics or business or medicine matter not if we failed to love others and show mercy to our neighbor.

Whatever our other talents might be in this areas of human skill we are to use them in service to others; we are to use them to extend the love of the Lord Jesus outward into the world.  That is how talents multiply and double in value.  That is our task in the world as disciples of the Lord Jesus. 

Finding Wisdom

Gospel:  Matthew 25: 1-13

It is folly indeed to bring a torch but not any fuel; for us it would be like having a flashlight and no batteries.  We might ask others to share their batteries with us, but that is a foolish request.  The batteries would be of no benefit to them or us.  Our only recourse would be to go and buy batteries at a store that sells them.  In so doing we miss the wedding at which we were supposed to be attendants.  Not a good look.  

The women who did have oil wanted to help, but they knew they were not able.  The unwise women had to go to the source of oil.  If the torches are symbols of our souls and the oil a symbol of grace, then we cannot find such fuel from other human beings but only from the source of grace itself.  We find it in God alone.  Just as the true disciple leads a person to the Lord and then leaves, so our task is not to try and provide oil for others but to lead them to the source of oil itself.

The wise person knows they are not the source of their own wisdom, nor are they the source of wisdom for anyone else.  The wise person knows where to go in order to find wisdom, and they know where to lead others so that they may obtain wisdom for themselves.