Burying the Way in a book [Discourse on John 5 and Prbl. of Talents]
I wrote this entry in my journal a while back. Based on some discussions we've had here lately, I wonder if it can be useful. I'd like any comments you may have. Now then:
The Bible is a funny thing. To reject its authority, or hold it to the standard of some loose authority, denies holding Scripture the way that Jesus held it, to whom all scriptures of the OT pointed to and of which the NT testifies. But to hold the Bible to higher, 'static' standard, one which denies the way that the Holy Spirit works with the Word, makes the Bible be full of dead words on dead pages that no longer seek to illuminate our Lord, but to illuminate ourselves. This 'higher standard' can place paper on the level of the Christ and shut the way for the Holy Spirit. But this is the way of death. The words are to be life, not death. The Word is life, and the reflections upon the Life must be life-giving as well.
In John 5, we see how some wrongful focus on Scripture in a way that doesn't point to Christ is damning. Jesus declares to the Pharisees how the scriptures of the time (what is now the OT) testify about Him. Well, the Pharisees know scripture, so what's the big deal?
Jesus tells the Pharisees, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." The Bible is clearly important. But what is the Bible about? It's not about me or you, or about how I've done this or tried to follow Christ in that and so I'm this good and you're that bad. It's about Christ. Jesus doesn't say that the scriptures are extra goodness apart from Himself, or that they'll give you a leg up on your neighbor. They're about Him. The Pharisees didn't look for Him in the scriptures, and so thought other small bits of information they found was the key.
It should be laughably easy to take to heart the impact of this passage. Unfortunately, we see everyday that people dismiss. How often is there someone on TV who points out a single Bible verse and tells you, 'See, this is saying if you do this, you'll get money!' Or how often do we see one saying, 'Don't you see! The world will end at such and such time! People will be killed by this and that, so do this to not be one of the unlucky ones!"
But look! These are words of death! We know worldly riches are not where our hearts as Christians should lie; if they do, it is the way of death. Even the talk about eschatology pertains to a certain thing: mass death!
Along the same lines we see Scripture being studied and twisted for revisionist history or bigotry. 'Alcohol is bad! Jesus didn't drink it!' or 'They are from such and such land, they are heathens!' Again, people search the scriptures for ways to be exclusionary in a moralistic degree. They search the scriptures for things that make themselves feel better about themselves, but they're not willing to turn fully to Christ and receive his love to do this. They're shutting the way.
But to many who fall into this trap, these sort of what I call 'spiritual-worldly riches' feel good. They feel like they have things made in the shade on Earth, and that they can call the shots and strut because, hey! they've searched the scriptures and found things that will help them attain eternal life. But that's not what the Bible is about. It's about Christ.
This phenomenon of feeling that one has find some vital, hidden information is not glorifying to the kingdom, nor is it good for advancing the kingdom. It's stifling. It buries the true joy and the Way in the ground and hordes the kingdom for itself. Jesus knew this happened and would happen. He even gives us a parable about it, in the Parable of the Talents.
In this parable, a master gives money to some of his servants. The one who has five ends up doubling what was given to him (see the idea of something given freely already?). The guy who gets two also doubled his money, even though he didn't get as much to work with as the first guy. But the last guy keeps his talent and buries it in the ground. Why does he do this?
The master returns and is pleased with the first two servants, but he is wrathful with the last servant. The one who buried his talent says, 'I knew that you are a hard man,' and that the servant 'was afraid'.
See what is happening here, taking from the passage in John 5 and what I wrote about? This servant could easily be one who treats the scriptures like the Pharisees. They do not find the love, mercy, and Life in Christ, but they look in the Bible for other things that bring themselves glory. Without the proper focus on love of Christ, even the Bible can be a scary book about death and a wrathful God, and so certain people are fearful like the servant. But even still they think that what they've found allows them to have a leg up, and they don't want to risk using what they're given to make more of it. They want to keep it to themselves, exclusively theirs and their master's. They don't want others to get their hands on it, even if it results in a bigger return. They're happy with their 'position of power' or knowledge.
But this isn't the master's goal. "Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest." The master didn't want the talent kept hidden. He wanted more to come of it, and if to that which it was given wouldn't do it, he was willing to give it to someone to make use of it, even a banker.
There are real-life, present-day implications to this, as I began to outline above. Often the idea of focusing on the Bible like the Pharisees did creates a problem like the servant in the parable. People who are like this today focus on 'love for others'...as long as the others believe like they do. They may want to spread their 'talents' to others...but the others don't meet some moral standard that they may have 'found' or 'discovered' in the Bible, so they keep it to themselves. I know you can think of other examples, because we see it every day. But there is no life in this. No wonder these people have some sort of disproportionate view of God as a wrathful, scary person! When you separate Scripture from the source of Life, Jesus the Christ, only son of the Living God, and only use it to create your own source of life, you can find nothing but wrath and death. And the irony of it all is that trying to separate Christ from the scriptures for one's own use, and a resulting keeping it for yourself, is what makes the Master angry.
Don't keep the talents you have been given to yourself. They were freely given to you to increase for the Master. Make your fruit grow and create more fruit! We have been given more talents than the servant who was given five talents...more talents than we could ever need or deserve, and being pleased with this and keeping these talents to ourselves is greedy and the way of death. The love of Christ is to all who wish to receive it and repent. This is more valuable than any money; not only that, it is free and when given to others, you get your talents back. There's nothing to lose unless you keep it to yourself.
The Bible is a funny thing. To reject its authority, or hold it to the standard of some loose authority, denies holding Scripture the way that Jesus held it, to whom all scriptures of the OT pointed to and of which the NT testifies. But to hold the Bible to higher, 'static' standard, one which denies the way that the Holy Spirit works with the Word, makes the Bible be full of dead words on dead pages that no longer seek to illuminate our Lord, but to illuminate ourselves. This 'higher standard' can place paper on the level of the Christ and shut the way for the Holy Spirit. But this is the way of death. The words are to be life, not death. The Word is life, and the reflections upon the Life must be life-giving as well.
In John 5, we see how some wrongful focus on Scripture in a way that doesn't point to Christ is damning. Jesus declares to the Pharisees how the scriptures of the time (what is now the OT) testify about Him. Well, the Pharisees know scripture, so what's the big deal?
Jesus tells the Pharisees, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." The Bible is clearly important. But what is the Bible about? It's not about me or you, or about how I've done this or tried to follow Christ in that and so I'm this good and you're that bad. It's about Christ. Jesus doesn't say that the scriptures are extra goodness apart from Himself, or that they'll give you a leg up on your neighbor. They're about Him. The Pharisees didn't look for Him in the scriptures, and so thought other small bits of information they found was the key.
It should be laughably easy to take to heart the impact of this passage. Unfortunately, we see everyday that people dismiss. How often is there someone on TV who points out a single Bible verse and tells you, 'See, this is saying if you do this, you'll get money!' Or how often do we see one saying, 'Don't you see! The world will end at such and such time! People will be killed by this and that, so do this to not be one of the unlucky ones!"
But look! These are words of death! We know worldly riches are not where our hearts as Christians should lie; if they do, it is the way of death. Even the talk about eschatology pertains to a certain thing: mass death!
Along the same lines we see Scripture being studied and twisted for revisionist history or bigotry. 'Alcohol is bad! Jesus didn't drink it!' or 'They are from such and such land, they are heathens!' Again, people search the scriptures for ways to be exclusionary in a moralistic degree. They search the scriptures for things that make themselves feel better about themselves, but they're not willing to turn fully to Christ and receive his love to do this. They're shutting the way.
But to many who fall into this trap, these sort of what I call 'spiritual-worldly riches' feel good. They feel like they have things made in the shade on Earth, and that they can call the shots and strut because, hey! they've searched the scriptures and found things that will help them attain eternal life. But that's not what the Bible is about. It's about Christ.
This phenomenon of feeling that one has find some vital, hidden information is not glorifying to the kingdom, nor is it good for advancing the kingdom. It's stifling. It buries the true joy and the Way in the ground and hordes the kingdom for itself. Jesus knew this happened and would happen. He even gives us a parable about it, in the Parable of the Talents.
In this parable, a master gives money to some of his servants. The one who has five ends up doubling what was given to him (see the idea of something given freely already?). The guy who gets two also doubled his money, even though he didn't get as much to work with as the first guy. But the last guy keeps his talent and buries it in the ground. Why does he do this?
The master returns and is pleased with the first two servants, but he is wrathful with the last servant. The one who buried his talent says, 'I knew that you are a hard man,' and that the servant 'was afraid'.
See what is happening here, taking from the passage in John 5 and what I wrote about? This servant could easily be one who treats the scriptures like the Pharisees. They do not find the love, mercy, and Life in Christ, but they look in the Bible for other things that bring themselves glory. Without the proper focus on love of Christ, even the Bible can be a scary book about death and a wrathful God, and so certain people are fearful like the servant. But even still they think that what they've found allows them to have a leg up, and they don't want to risk using what they're given to make more of it. They want to keep it to themselves, exclusively theirs and their master's. They don't want others to get their hands on it, even if it results in a bigger return. They're happy with their 'position of power' or knowledge.
But this isn't the master's goal. "Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest." The master didn't want the talent kept hidden. He wanted more to come of it, and if to that which it was given wouldn't do it, he was willing to give it to someone to make use of it, even a banker.
There are real-life, present-day implications to this, as I began to outline above. Often the idea of focusing on the Bible like the Pharisees did creates a problem like the servant in the parable. People who are like this today focus on 'love for others'...as long as the others believe like they do. They may want to spread their 'talents' to others...but the others don't meet some moral standard that they may have 'found' or 'discovered' in the Bible, so they keep it to themselves. I know you can think of other examples, because we see it every day. But there is no life in this. No wonder these people have some sort of disproportionate view of God as a wrathful, scary person! When you separate Scripture from the source of Life, Jesus the Christ, only son of the Living God, and only use it to create your own source of life, you can find nothing but wrath and death. And the irony of it all is that trying to separate Christ from the scriptures for one's own use, and a resulting keeping it for yourself, is what makes the Master angry.
Don't keep the talents you have been given to yourself. They were freely given to you to increase for the Master. Make your fruit grow and create more fruit! We have been given more talents than the servant who was given five talents...more talents than we could ever need or deserve, and being pleased with this and keeping these talents to ourselves is greedy and the way of death. The love of Christ is to all who wish to receive it and repent. This is more valuable than any money; not only that, it is free and when given to others, you get your talents back. There's nothing to lose unless you keep it to yourself.