Hope is not simply an important part of a fulfilling life. Hope is of the essence of the People of God.

God’s people are a people looking toward the fulfilment of the promises of God. There are partial fulfillments along the way. Yet the very experience of the hoped for fulfilment gives rise to the realisation that there is yet more to hope for!

Seasons when we misplace our hope often come down to the uncomfortable process of recalibrating the connection between the promise of God and the way we had construed it should be fulfilled.

The truly hope-filled reality is that God is faithful and holds us even when our own hold on hope appears lacking.

We have good reason to hope.

It is always better to have a reasonable sense of where you are. We find it helpful and reassuring to be able to plot where we have come from, where we are headed, and where we are at now.

To assist us, we make use of reference points that are stable, that we can take comparative readings from.

For the ancient traveler, the celestial bodies (sun, moon and stars) were those unmovable markers - set in their courses in the heavens above.

Should the unthinkable occur... should those markers fall...

How would the ancient traveler know where they were or which way to go on?

Are there any clearer, more permanent reference points by which a person might get their bearings?

The nature of parables is that different people tend to hear different things in these brief stories Jesus told.

Everything from an endorsement of capitalism to the judgement of God on laziness have been heard in the Parable of the Talents.

The relational dynamics demonstrated by the 3 slaves offer a most penetrating and relevant insight into how our essential beliefs shape the way we interact with our world.

Most of us are unlikely to have a clear or precise account of our functioning core beliefs. As I’ve suggested previously, our behaviors are eloquent in their own way.

How is your life telling you about what you hold to be most true and important?

The outrageous part of Jesus’ story about the ten young women in Matthew 25 is not that the women with oil refused to share their meagre supplies with the women who had not thought to bring enough for the long wait through the night. Neither is it that the women who had to go to the merchants to replenish their oil supplies were subsequently barred from entering late into the celebration.

The scandal is that anyone would not prepare adequately for such a time honored and important community event. It was unthinkable. Jesus original audience likely scoffed as if to indicate, ‘Well that would never happen in real life’!

It is unthinkable that we would fail to prepare adequately for an important event. Either too many other things would have to have crowded out the importance of the event in our thinking or the truth is we never really cared that much about it.

Jesus is urging his followers to consider carefully what is most important and to be sure to live into those things without being distracted by other less important parts of life.

This is a limited time opportunity!

It seems to come naturally to us to want to impress upon others just how well we are doing. Whether in our career or our religion, we would rather people thought we were on top of things rather than failing.

When the impression becomes more important than the substance, we are in trouble. We have begun to believe the lie that the most important thing is what everyone thinks... not what is actually going on!

Eventually this deceit will be uncovered. We shall be seen for who we actually are. For some this will be a boon. For others a humiliation.

In the highly charged religio-political world of first century Palestine, any claim of divinity would have been greeted with skepticism and opposed with force (not unlike today in many ways).

Jesus avoids evoking immediate violent opposition by gently introducing the notion that the Christ might be more than simply the son of a man. While his favourite way of referring to himself was the phrase, ‘Son of Man’, Jesus wants people to consider the power and significance of the Christ as one more than simply human.

In the end, what does it matter whether the Christ is divine or not? It matters a lot. The meaning of everything ultimately hangs on this!

Jesus’ opponents seek to trap him by playing to one of his strengths.

Jesus discerns what they are up to.

Rather than skirt the issue or make an unclear response, Jesus shocks his audience with a full throated affirmation in precisely the opposite direction to what they were expecting.

Jesus then broadens the realm of consideration as he pivots from the notion of the image of the Caesar to the image of God.

Do you know who you belong to?

Generosity is something of a disruptive dynamic. We have no way to quantify or codify it. We cannot command nor control how it comes to us. If it comes to us in a measure different to the measure given to someone else, we find it difficult to know what to make of this.

Yet, the grace that gives according to the fullness of the heart that is giving, is not concerned nor constrained by matters of measures of fairness. This generosity offers what is needful regardless of deservedness or otherwise.

In the affairs of human economy, the unregulated (and unregulate-able) gesture of generosity can serve to remind us that our own efforts are not the ultimate arbiter of our worth. Generosity is the whisper of the heart of God - who gives everything to and for us - letting us know we are deeply loved no matter what!

Personally, I prefer to avoid confrontation. However, pretending something is not there does not make it go away. It gives it space to grow.

Jesus encourages his followers to be accountable to each other and to hold each other to account.

This is not the laid back or fun part of community. It is the structural support that makes ongoing community possible. It is one of the ways we offer life to one another!

The sense of call that drew Jesus to Jerusalem and into the hands of those he knew would take his life, was fundamental to his identity. The Messiah came to show the love of God to people. Jesus was not naïve about how that love would be received.

An acceptance of where things are headed, can empower us to make the most of our time on the journey. When we know the purpose (the end point), we can make choices and take actions that enhance our effectiveness to our desired end.

To the extent that we do so, we shall not be burdened with regrets. Our lives will tell a true story of our heart’s intent. We shall be to the glory of God… a glory that is truly beyond imagining!