BEACH

Cissy and I are back at the beach for a few days. We arrived Friday night after driving through some heavy rain. Since then the weather has been bright and breezy and beautiful.

The moon has been almost full the last couple of nights. It is a beautiful sight as the silvery beams shine over the sea.

This morning I had a brief jog on the beach. It was the closest I have come to trying to run the last couple of months due to a knee problem.


Fortunately, walking is no problem. Late this afternoon Cissy and I had a great walk on the beach.

This morning we attended worship at St. George Episcopal Church. The pastor had a novel approach to Jesus’ parable of talents. Rather than the standard interpretation of Jesus rewarding the wise use of talents, the pastor adopted a viewpoint that the master did not represent Jesus as a stern judge, but the master was a villainous landowner who was unjust ... “reaping where he did not sow and gathering where he did not scatter seed.” The hero of the parable, continuing with this interpretation, is the one who hid the one talent and refused to play the “game” of the landowner exploiting the poor.

The problem I have with this interpretation is that in this section of writing (chapter 25) Matthew prefaces the parables with the statement, “the kingdom of heaven is like ….” After telling the parables, Matthew quotes Jesus talking about judgment and saying,

"Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me’. Then they themselves also will answer, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, `Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life’."

If the parable of talents seems to have judgment that seems too harsh for the character of Jesus, how do you handle the strong words of Jesus that I quote above? Nevertheless, I appreciated hearing the pastor’s presentation. As we participated in the liturgy and sang the hymns, I was impressed how the deity and glory of Jesus Christ was honored and worshipped

Tonight as I prepare to go to bed, I look up at the bright moon, and wonder at the glory of God.