William H. Willimon - "God, the Thief" (November 17, 1996)

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-	The third lesson is from the Gospel	0:09
	according to Saint Matthew.	0:11
	Jesus said, for it is as if a man going on a journey	0:14
	summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them.	0:19
	To one he gave five talents, to another two,	0:23
	to another one, to each according to his ability,	0:28
	then he went away.	0:31
	The one who had received the five talents went off at once	0:34
	and traded with them and made five more talents.	0:38
	In the same way, the one who had the two talents	0:41
	made two more talents, but the one who had received	0:45
	the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground	0:49
	and hid his master's money.	0:53
	After a long time, the master of those slaves came	0:55
	and settled accounts with them.	0:58
	Then the one who had received the five talents came forward	1:01
	bringing five more talents, saying,	1:05
	master, you handed over to me five talents.	1:08
	See, I have made five more talents.	1:11
	His master said to him, well done,	1:14
	good and trustworthy slave.	1:17
	You have been trustworthy in a few things.	1:19
	I will put you in charge of many things.	1:22
	Enter into the joy of your master.	1:24
	And the one with the two talents also came forward saying,	1:28
	master, you handed over to me two talents.	1:31
	See, I have made two more talents.	1:36
	His master said to him, well done,	1:38
	good and trustworthy slave.	1:41
	You have been trustworthy in a few things.	1:43
	I will put you in charge of many things.	1:45
	Enter into the joy of your master.	1:48
	Then the one who had received the one talent also came	1:51
	forward saying, master, I knew you were a harsh man,	1:54
	reaping where you did not sow,	1:59
	and gathering where you did not scatter seed.	2:01
	So I was afraid, and I went	2:04
	and hid your talent in the ground.	2:06
	Here you have what is yours.	2:08
	But his master replied, you wicked and lazy slave.	2:11
	You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow,	2:16
	and gather where I did not scatter?	2:19
	Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers	2:21
	and on my return I would have received what was my own	2:25
	with interest.	2:28
	So take the talent from him and give it to the one	2:29
	with the 10 talents, for to all those who have more will	2:33
	be given and they will have an abundance.	2:37
	But from those who have nothing	2:40
	even what they have will be taken away.	2:43
	As for this worthless slave, throw him	2:46
	into the outer darkness, where there	2:49
	will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.	2:50
	This is the word of the Lord.	2:54
-	Praise be to God.	2:56
-	But you beloved are not in darkness	3:09
	for that day to surprise you like a thief.	3:13
	Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians	3:22
	compares the advent of God into our world	3:26
	to the break in of a burglar.	3:29
	What does he mean by that?	3:35
	How tough she is upon us, Flannery O'Connor,	3:42
	and yet Flannery O'Connor says that she writes	3:47
	the way she does because there is this crust around us,	3:50
	a crust of self delusion that she's got to break through	3:54
	with shock.	3:58
	She wrote a short story that Andy Baxter called	4:01
	to my attention called The Turkey.	4:07
	You ever read it?	4:10
	Out playing in the woods one day Ruller, a boy of 11,	4:13
	comes upon a wounded turkey that somebody has shot.	4:18
	It's hopping about in the brush	4:21
	and with some effort Ruller captures the turkey.	4:24
	He hoists it up on his back,	4:29
	and he makes his way back toward town.	4:31
	He thinks to himself,	4:35
	this turkey is some kind of sign.	4:38
	Maybe God sent this turkey so that I could,	4:42
	it's like a gift from God, and when people see me	4:47
	with this huge turkey, they're gonna be impressed.	4:50
	They're gonna notice me.	4:54
	They're gonna come out and say Ruller,	4:56
	where'd you get that big turkey?	4:58
	He thinks, yeah, this is a sign from God.	5:03
	God doesn't want me to grow up like my older brother	5:05
	and go bad, so he sent me this turkey.	5:08
	I'm special.	5:11
	Ruller suddenly wanted to do something for God.	5:13
	He thought, if I meet a poor man I'll give him this nickel	5:15
	I've got in my pocket.	5:18
	I'll do that for God.	5:19
	Even his abusive father, Ruller thought,	5:22
	will be forced to recognize me.	5:26
	He will say, that is some bird you got there, Ruller.	5:31
	That is a turkey.	5:36
	He comes into town and sure enough people come out,	5:38
	stand on their porches.	5:41
	They say, Ruller, where'd you get that turkey?	5:43
	He bears it proudly, its head bobbing along as he walks	5:47
	in the town.	5:51
	On one of the side streets toward, going towards home,	5:53
	a group of older boys come up to him.	5:58
	Ruller, where'd you get that turkey?	6:01
	Can we hold it?	6:04
	And Ruller proudly hands it over to them.	6:06
	In a moment they are headed down the street	6:10
	and before Ruller knows what's happening they are gone	6:14
	with the turkey.	6:18
	And Flannery O'Connor says, he ran toward home	6:22
	like something dark and terrible was after him.	6:27
	Paul writes to the Thessalonians don't you let God jump you	6:37
	like a thief in the night.	6:42
	God, a thief?	6:47
	What's, what's going on there?	6:53
	Well, look at us.	6:58
	We build this chapel to appear about 600 years older	7:01
	than it really is.	7:07
	Everything is big and heavy.	7:09
	Ever notice that about church furniture?	7:12
	It's always heavier than it needs to be.	7:14
	Fixed, permanent, thick.	7:17
	Oh, we so long for immutability,	7:22
	particularly when it comes to religion.	7:25
	Look at us.	7:30
	When one of us falls we invariably say that	7:32
	death was unexpected.	7:37
	But is it really?	7:42
	Last summer, close of the summer, one last afternoon	7:47
	at the beach before returning home and to school,	7:52
	went out on the porch as the sun was setting.	7:56
	There were four young adults cavorting in the surf	8:00
	about 100 yards from us.	8:04
	You could hear them shouting and laughing.	8:06
	We did not notice when their shouts of joy	8:10
	turned to terrified screams.	8:14
	But a crowd gathered and we looked over in the surf	8:20
	and one of them was pointing down and was bobbing up	8:24
	and down and diving and people waded,	8:27
	joined hands, waded out into the surf,	8:30
	and in just a moment	8:33
	he came bearing the body of his friend,	8:35
	and he collapsed on the beach and wept.	8:42
	How quickly these things happen.	8:49
	How thin that veneer,	8:53
	that crust of permanence	8:56
	separating death from life.	9:00
	Oh, there are days like today when the sun shines	9:05
	and life appears anchored.	9:08
	But then how quickly there is that late night phone call,	9:12
	there is that X-ray with the spot upon the lungs,	9:16
	there is that slight burning sensation in the chest.	9:20
	Look at us.	9:28
	There will always be a tomorrow, we say.	9:31
	But we lie.	9:36
	There will always be one day when there is not a tomorrow.	9:40
	Life ends.	9:44
	We are terminal.	9:46
	The only permanent fact	9:49
	of human life is its impermanence.	9:52
	Oh, and how we hate, avoid, deny this.	9:58
	Look at us.	10:04
	Russian poet Isaac Babel was arrested	10:08
	by the Soviets in 1930.	10:12
	The poet was deprived of food and brutally beaten for days,	10:15
	until, until at last his captors won from him	10:21
	the words that would seal his doom	10:26
	and send him to Siberia.	10:29
	At last they got him to sign a statement saying	10:31
	the worst, most traitorous thing you could say	10:35
	about the Soviet Union, namely, that the Soviet state	10:38
	is quote, temporary, relative,	10:43
	and unstable in nature.	10:46
	That was the cardinal political sin, to doubt	10:52
	that the Soviet state would last 1,000 years.	10:57
	Now, I don't know if you were here the first	11:06
	of last December, but if you were,	11:08
	we opened the church year with a story from Jesus.	11:11
	Jesus says, the day of the Lord comes to you without warning	11:17
	like a thief in the night.	11:23
	Maybe Paul was quoting Jesus when he wrote	11:25
	what he did to the Thessalonians.	11:27
	Jesus continued with a parable.	11:30
	But understand this, if the owner of the house	11:32
	had known what hour the thief was coming	11:35
	he would have stayed awake.	11:40
	He would have not let his house be broken into.	11:42
	And today's epistle to the Thessalonians	11:48
	compares the advent of God to a thief.	11:51
	Paul says to the Thessalonians, don't let God	11:57
	jump you like a thief.	12:00
	By my count, four times in the New Testament	12:04
	God is called a thief.	12:07
	Twice in the Book of Revelation God says,	12:12
	I will come to you like a thief.	12:16
	Now, I dare say you may be attracted to other images of God,	12:21
	God the good shepherd, God the waiting father,	12:27
	God the mother hen who gathers her chicks under her wings.	12:31
	But God a thief?	12:38
	We'd had a wonderful day in Paris.	12:45
	I had preached that morning in the American church in Paris,	12:49
	preaching in, in broken English,	12:54
	and then we had spent the afternoon exploring Versailles,	12:57
	the grounds, the palace, and late evening we returned	13:01
	to the city and we were getting on the metro	13:04
	and this, I felt this push at my back,	13:08
	and in an instant I turned around and I felt for my wallet	13:11
	and it was gone, and as the metro moved out of the station	13:15
	I looked and I could see the thief bounding up the steps.	13:20
	In one moment, he had gotten our money,	13:26
	our (mumbles) passes, the passports,	13:31
	the identification, everything.	13:34
	I had said to the children,	13:35
	you give me your passports today.	13:37
	I don't trust you with those passports.	13:39
	On the way back to the hotel one of the children said	13:44
	to Patsy, I thought dad was going to cry	13:50
	when he realized his wallet was gone.	13:53
	She said, he wanted to, he...	13:55
	How do you feel when a thief has entered your life?	14:01
	Violated, that's the word I hear people use most often	14:08
	when they've been burglarized or mugged.	14:13
	I felt violated.	14:15
	That safe, secure, stable sanctuary of the home	14:17
	never feels quite so safe once	14:25
	there's been a thief.	14:29
	And intruders had the gall to finger	14:32
	your most intimate possessions.	14:35
	I have seen people after some thief has burglarized	14:37
	their home, I have seen people never be able really	14:42
	to go home again.	14:45
	They had to move afterwards.	14:46
	To this day, I feel negative	14:48
	if you'll say the word Paris to me.	14:51
	Oh, but look at us.	14:58
	We build this church bigger, heavier than it has to be.	15:01
	We take out insurance.	15:07
	I'm squirreling away money not to be spent 'til	15:09
	20, 30 years from now.	15:12
	I'm holding on tight.	15:14
	There's a guard at the door.	15:16
	There's a electronic security fence surrounding us.	15:18
	But then there's the thief.	15:22
	The thief, and how different the world looks	15:27
	after the thief.	15:33
	The thief is a grim reminder of a truth	15:38
	I am reluctant to face.	15:40
	Who am I kidding?	15:45
	The stuff, the life,	15:48
	it all hangs by a fragile thread.	15:53
	The loved ones I cluster so securely about me	15:58
	are but temporary residents	16:03
	here as am I.	16:05
	The things, the things I accumulate and hoard	16:09
	and insure and secure oh, they are depreciating	16:14
	and decaying and devaluing even as I speak.	16:19
	Thus, Psalm 90 says,	16:23
	we are like grass.	16:30
	We're like grass which flourishes in the morning	16:33
	but the sun comes out.	16:37
	By evening, it fades and withers.	16:38
	Or, as Paul put it,	16:45
	be enlightened.	16:49
	Don't let God catch you like a thief in the night.	16:51
	Now, there are more attractive, appealing images of God,	16:57
	I'll grant you.	17:02
	But few more truthful.	17:05
	And maybe few more life giving than this.	17:09
	How is it possible for our first hymn,	17:14
	words of Saint Francis, how is it possible to speak	17:18
	of death as a sister?	17:22
	I think God is determined to have us.	17:30
	If you're looking for some coherent theme running	17:35
	through the Bible, I think you can take that as one.	17:38
	God is going to have us.	17:42
	Much, much of my holding and grasping and accumulating	17:47
	is evasion.	17:50
	I want to secure my life on my terms.	17:53
	And maybe sometimes there's no way for God to get to us	18:00
	except to just take us,	18:03
	steal us.	18:08
	And God will have us.	18:12
	Is that good news or bad?	18:18
	Is that threat or promise?	18:20
	She held up her arthritic hands to me and she said,	18:26
	look at this, God took my job, my main source of pride	18:32
	and income.	18:37
	I haven't painted in the last two years.	18:38
	And I said, what kind of theology is that?	18:43
	God didn't cause this arthritis.	18:46
	I just, you don't believe God gave you arthritis	18:48
	so you could be closer to God, do you?	18:52
	She said, well, I'm not a theologian.	18:56
	All I know is it worked.	18:58
	CS Lewis once said, I wonder if people who are always	19:05
	praying to God to intervene in our world	19:08
	really know what they're asking.	19:12
	Would they like to be there when God really does intervene?	19:16
	God, the thief.	19:23
	Well, I'll let a New Englander, a woman more genteel	19:29
	than Flannery O'Connor, but no less honest,	19:33
	I'll let her have the last word,	19:39
	Miss Dickinson of Amherst.	19:42
	I never lost as much but twice and that was in the sod.	19:47
	Twice have I stood a beggar	19:53
	before the door of God.	19:57
	Angels twice descending reimbursed my store.	20:00
	Burglar, banker, father.	20:06
	I'm poor once more.	20:13
	Did she call God	20:18
	burglar?	20:22

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "God, the Thief" (November 17, 1996)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 3:10. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 20:27.
Though death often comes unexpectedly, the preacher argues that it is one of the most surest things in life, because everyone dies. He compares the unexpected nature of death to the unexpected nature of the second coming of God, described in scripture as a visit from a thief. The preacher emphasizes the urgency of receiving the gospel in the present. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r48k75b4j

Date:

November 17, 1996

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

1 Thessalonians

Chapter and Verse:

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0832
ref9812_bni
uachapelsermaud
duke:321174
dcrau001477
ark:/87924/r48k75b4j
40408761-a99e-4bac-8aed-d2fe72c79986

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "God, the Thief" (November 17, 1996)

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1. William H. Willimon - "God, The Thief" (November 17, 1996)

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