Sometimes life gets busy and we forget about commitments. Yesterday, I completely forgot it was Wednesday, and so I missed Wednesday with Walter. I’m sorry; of course, I’m sure no one really missed it that much anyway.
No one missed it anyway. Just another excuse.
I think social justice is that way for most of us – I know it is for me.
I get busy, and I walk by the person asking for help on the street corner.
I get busy, and I ignore the stranger.
I get busy, and I don’t bother making a stand for the one oppressed, the one different, the one in need.
But let’s be honest, what differerence can I really make?
What difference can I really make. Just another excuse.
Social justice, for the follower of Jesus Christ, is a commitment — not just for Wednesdays but everyday — but we get busy, and we think that there is little difference we can make anyway. We excuse our inaction to do something with our perception that we can’t do anything of significance.
I’m reminded of the parable of Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30. In the parable, a wealthy man goes on a trip and entrusts his wealth to three servants. To one, he gives five talents; to the second, two talents; and to the last, one talent.
It’s difficult to know the exact value of these gifts, but some have argued that the approximate value of each talent in today’s currency would be around $1.25 million. So the first received $6.25 million; the second $2.5 million; and the last $1.25 million. For more info on converting talents to dollars, check out this wiki page.
The first and second servant, go out and double the masters wealth and present it to him at his return. The third, however, concerned that his master was a hard master who “reaps where he does not sow,” buries the wealth. I imagine, he goes about with a busy life. Thinking from time to time about his commitment to his master, about the gift that he has received, but life is busy, and after all, he didn’t get as much to work with as the other two.
A couple of things strike me about this parable.
- The gifts are unbelievably generous.
- The third servant isn’t rebuked for his perception of the master.
1. THE GIFTS ARE UNBELIEVABLY GENEROUS
In this parable, these talents represent God’s blessing in our lives. God has blessed each of us in a variety of ways, but one way of significant blessing for each of us is our relationships and our spheres of influence – some have been blessed with more influence than others, but we each have been blessed with more than we probably realize. My family, my friends, my social circles both online and in person. These are of inexpressible value; gifts from God.
Will I be too busy to invest in these gifts with God’s values, with God’s heart, with God’s intention to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to cloth the naked, to heal the broken, to invite in the stranger, to visit the one in prison.
I fear that too often I was too busy to show my own children, who are now adults, the importance of kindness — the kindness of a Christ to those different, those in need, those with whom I most strongly disagreed. What a gift God gave to me in them. Did I invest in them the socicial principles of Jesus? Will God’s values that I hold to be true be multiplied in them? I hope so, and I pray that I will continue to have opportunity to invest in them — as they also invest in me.
Am I intentional to invest the social principles of Jesus in my Facebook posts, my Tweets, my conversations over coffee? There is nothing of greater value than the relationships with which God has blessed me. Worth more than millions and millions of dollars. Do I untentionally bury those relationships because of my “business” or do I multiply their worth by investing the social principles of Jesus in them?
2. THE THIRD SERVANT ISNT REBUKED FOR HIS PERCEPTION OF THE MASTER.
“You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?”
I recently heard a sermon on this text with my family. After the sermon, my son and I were talking about the message which we both appreciated. But we were both struck by the rebuke of the third servant — he was rebuked NOT because he didn’t understand who his master was but because he did nothing with this realization.
My son reminded me of the texts that state that God is a jealous God; if He is the one who gives everything, then He expects everything we do with it to reflect His glory, His values, His principles — the social principles of Jesus.
Walter Rauschenbusch realized this, knew it, lived it.
He realized he was a millionaire because of the opportunities and relationships with which God had blessed him.
He didn’t allow the business of life to get in the way of investing the social principles of Jesus in every opportunity, every moment, every relationship with which he was blessed.
He didn’t let the fact that he was only a preacher, only a son of an immigrant, only a whatever keep him from realizing that he was given much, and he multiplied it, he invested the social principles of Jesus in it, and God blessed it. God gave him even more — opportunities to invest the social principles of Jesus in the lives of governors, presidents, policy makers.
May we recognize that we too are blessed with millions in value because of our relationships.
May we faithfully invest the social principles of Jesus into the relationships with which God has blessed us.
From The Margins Of My Bible 