So today it is evening before I get round to writing - not because I have been slaving away all day (though I have achieved quite a lot of stuff) but becuase it has been a largely unremarkable day.
Today's PAYG was based on one of Luke's more bewildering parables...
As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, “Do business with these until I come back.” But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to rule over us.” When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, “Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.” He said to him, “Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.” Then the second came, saying, “Lord, your pound has made five pounds.” He said to him, “And you, rule over five cities.” Then the other came, saying, “Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.” He said to him, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.” He said to the bystanders, “Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.” (And they said to him, “Lord, he has ten pounds!”) “I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.”’ Luke 19:11-27
Sitting immediately after the story of Zaccheus and before that of Palm Sunday it is not an easy read. Add to this that PAYG was using a Taize chant about God's Kingdom being one of justice and peace and the gruesome ending is all the more stark. This is a complicated story and the more I read it the less I understand it. I'm not going to try to explain it (all my commentaries are at church afterall, and I eschew the twee/trite stuff I can find online!) instead I simply invite you to share the bewilderment that comes from this odd story of an unpopular and evidently unkind king who ends up killing those who oppose him, and how that fits with Jesus as 'Prince of Peace' who goes to Jerusalem and certain death...