0125 THE FIRST POSTMODERNIST

THE FIRST POSTMODERNIST

Before leaving on his long trip, the master had left a large amount of money with each of his three stewards, and now they are giving their accounts. 

The first is an energetic, gifted young man. He had received five talents of silver, and he reports that he has made five more. The master laughs and celebrates his steward’s profits, and then tells him that it was always his intention to give him whatever money he earned. Now the steward laughs, and he thanks his master profusely. 

The second steward also has some obvious drive. He had received two talents, and he has earned two more. Again, the master gives him all of the money to keep. Laughter and music ring out across the plain and echo off the rocky cliffs.

The third man only had received one talent, and he has brought it back, with excuses as to why he did nothing for his master for an entire year. The atmosphere changes instantly.

Listening to this third steward speak, i think that this dude just might be the world's first postmodernist. In any case, he sounds like many of my friends today who have gone through a kind of postmodern angst.

After Mr. Five Talents and Mr. Two Talents have worked hard and received their rewards, this guy comes to his master with a complaint as his excuse. He says something like:

"I was afraid, because you are unfair. You steal stuff that isn’t yours. You represent all that is wrong with corporate America. In short, you are The Man.

"So I decided to stick it to The Man. Instead of working as your steward, I buried your stuff and lived my own life for the last year. Because I can't trust you, here's what's yours, no more and no less."

He nailed the postmodern funk on the head, i think. This man, so far ahead of his time, might have gone on to say: 

"Let me tell you what’s wrong with Your system: someone who doesn't smoke a day of her life gets lung cancer. Good people die young. Evil prospers. I pray for healing, and it's a crap shoot as to whether or not it will work. I share the gospel until I'm blue in the face, but never get a result, and then some joe picks up a tract and repents on the spot. And by the way, can't You stop terrorism? or tornadoes? or politicians, for crying out loud?! There is no justice, or at least not enough. If You are so good, how come there is so much evil? Either You don't care, or You can't do anything about it. And so i conclude that You are harsh. And you only gave me one talent. Why am I being punished for something I can’t control?  I can't devote myself to work for You when I can't predict whether or not it will do me any good. Take what’s Yours. That's all I got.”

The Master stands slowly, and gives His response. And what surprises me the most is that He never contradicts the servant! In effect, He answers, “So, you know that I steal, that I am unfair, that I am not consistent so that you can trust Me? I won't deny it. But if your tiny little postmodern faith won't allow you to work with your whole heart, at least you could have put the money in the bank and let other people do the work.

“Do you know what that makes you? Wicked. And lazy. Stop hiding behind that timid and doubting mask, and let Me call it straight: You use your doubt of My character as an excuse for living a selfish life. You despised My generous gift to you (or do you forget that I entrusted you with many thousands of dollars? Did you think I owed you that?), and you pursued your own little goals.

"So now, take that valuable gift from this wicked, lazy man whom I trusted, and give it to the one who was faithful. Because faith is what gets rewarded. And faith is in things you can't see and prove. My other stewards chose to see Me as someone worth serving, and they have found that they get to keep everything that they thought they were earning for Me! Now we see Who is generous, and who is harsh!"

The man is sent away. No meal. No money. Only desert. He shuffles off into the distance. It is a solemn moment to watch him go.

For some reason, those first two stewards chose to overlook what might have been negative, and to work for their master. Just as if he were a fair and ethical man. They are a couple of modernists who overlook the obvious evidence that the world sucks (pardon my strong word here). 

The third steward made an honest assessment, i believe. Sure enough, the world sucks. God is not “fair,” you might say. But he had a choice to be faithful and to plunge into the abyss of doubt and act “as if" God is good, anyway.

Disappointment with God can hurt my spiritual life. The question is, how far will i let that go before i turn around?