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Matthew 25:18
"But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money."
Israel, the digger, Jesus is saying, has not been faithful with what the Lord, the master, has given them. Rather than being a light to the world, the Pharisees kept the light for themselves (5:14-16).
Sowing takes courage. To receive what God has given us—Jesus and his way of life in God’s Kingdom—and set it to work puts us in a vulnerable place. It means we are about to discover if the love of God is real, reliable, ever available, and charged with redemption.
What if God’s love fails? So much of our lived experience teaches us that love cannot be trusted. Real love—to cherish another and create what is good for them, is not what our culture is selling. We protect our life as we want it when Christ calls us to lose it.
Sowing takes trust; trust in Jesus to defeat suffering and to resurrect us for a meaningful life. If I do not trust, I bury God’s love, and I won’t know if it is real. I will be unable to live with love as the very center and source of my life. But seeing God’s love in action, especially through us, is what grows our confidence in Jesus. Children of light are electrified by radical dependence on the love of Jesus. They have not a buried life but a resurrected life of luminous love available to all they meet.
So, why would we bury love? The answer will always be the fear of losing control over how we want things to be. But sowing God’s love, seeing it multiply in the lives of others, reveals what we are afraid to lose as nothing compared to Jesus and his way of life. Those who know this in their depths cannot but live luminously. In stark contrast, a buried life is dark. A buried life does not live in Heaven now nor in Heaven and Earth eternal.
Lord, show me my fears. Sit with me next to what I’ve buried. Show me your love and its power to make me luminous for the world like you.
Art: Dea Jenkins | Peace | mixed media: watercolor, PVA glue | 2020
Practice:
Take a practical step today and sow into areas and people who would benefit from your gifts, talents, and resources.
If you've been in pursuit of justice and are you're looking for a way to give to the Black Community, learn about and consider giving to projects like "BuyBackBlackDebt". Some of these groups may be different than what you are accustomed to, and they may not have the fanciest websites or social media presences. However, sowing into visionary organizations, projects, and people who are creating new, life-giving ways of being will lead to systemic change and social healing.
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