33rd Sunday  in Ordinary Time – Year A
Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out.
 ‘The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more. The man who had received two made two more in the same way. But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
 ‘Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made.”
 ‘His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”
‘Next the man with the two talents came forward. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with two talents; here are two more that I have made.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”
 ‘Last came forward the man who had the one talent. “Sir,” said he “I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back.” But his master answered him, “You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest. So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the five talents. For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”’

GOSPEL REFLECTION 

The hardness of the master toward the third servant seems excessive. He could—in our opinion—show himself more understanding because his employee, in addition to feeling intimidated, perhaps also had the impression of being underestimated. It is in this context that, in the early centuries of the Church, someone has touched up the parable and has concluded as follows: the third servant was not dishonest, he was only afraid, so the master only rebuked him gently. There was also a fourth servant to whom some talents were given. He gave himself to the good life; he squandered it all with harlots and flute players. The master put him in jail. But everyone was treated with mercy.

The one who has changed the story in this way did not understand that Jesus did not intend to give a moral lesson on honesty and how to invest the money, but rather on the commitment in putting to good use the treasures that belong to everyone. As for the alleged poor esteem of the master for the third servant, this should be excluded: a talent was, at that time, a sum of all respect and corresponded to the salary of about twenty years of work by a worker.

Let’s immediately clarify the meaning of the talents. The idea has made its way which is difficult to eradicate that the talents indicate the qualities that every person has received from God. These are qualities that should not be hidden, but developed and put into operation. This interpretation does not agree with what is said in verse 15 where the talents are delivered “to each according to his abilities.” Talents and qualities of the individual, therefore, are not the same thing.

We come to the characters. They are introduced in the first part of the parable (vv. 14-15). The protagonist is a rich oriental person who has to leave for a long journey. He entrusts his possessions to the most trusted servants. He knows their abilities, attitudes, competences, and according to these, he establishes how much to assign to each. This gentleman is clearly Christ who, before leaving the world, handed over all his goods to his disciples.

The master gives no indication on how to manage the talents, giving a sign of full confidence in the intelligence, insight, prudence of his servants and respect for their freedom.

We define what these goods are. This is what Jesus has given to his Church: the Gospel, the message of salvation intended to transform the world and create a new humanity; his Spirit “who renews the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30), even himself in the sacraments; and then his power to heal, to comfort, to forgive, and to reconcile with God.

The three servants are members of the Christian community. To each of them is given an assignment to do so that the wealth of the Lord may be put to good use. According to one’s own charism (1 Cor 12:28-30), everyone is called to produce love. Love is, in fact, the gain, the fruit that the Lord wants.

The second part of the parable (vv. 16-18) describes the different behavior of the servants, two are enterprising, dynamic, hardworking, while the third is fearful and insecure.

The time that all three have at their disposal is when the master is away: from Easter until the coming of Christ at the end of the world’s history. It is the time in which the Church organizes her life, grows, develops, and engages in favor of people awaiting the return of the Lord.

Matthew wants to encourage his community to a test. He invited them to ask themselves first if they are aware of the treasure they have in hand, to check if all the “talents” are used for the best or if any gift is hidden underground, if there are neglected aspects of the ecclesial life or if any ministry languishes.

In the third part of the parable (vv. 19-30), we witness the rendering of account. The scene was initially quiet and serene, then it becomes dark and—as so often happens in the Gospel of Matthew—it culminates in a dramatic way. Let’s see it.

The first two servants present themselves. With justifiable pride, they say to the master of having doubled their possessions. In the parallel passage of Luke’s Gospel, the two servants seem to want to recognize that a very surprising result must be attributed to the goodness of the capital more than their own efforts. “Sir, your pound of silver—they say—has earned more …” (Lk 19:16-18). In Matthew, however, the ability and the personal merit are highlighted: “I have gained …” said each of the two servants (vv. 20-22). The reward they receive is “the joy of their Lord,” the happiness that comes from being in tune with God and his plan.

Then the third servant who, despite not being the main actor, appears to be the principal character of the parable. “I know—he says to his master—that you are a hard man. You reap what you have not sown and gather what you have not scattered. I was afraid, so I hid your money in the ground. Here, take what is yours.”

The image this servant has of the master, while terrifying, is not corrected, but in fact affirmed. Matthew uses it to indicate how much the good of the person is in Christ’s heart, how much he presses that the Kingdom of God be established in the world. The “wrath of God” is a biblical expression which emphasizes his irrepressible love.

The central message of the parable is in the master’s rebuke of the slothful servant: the only unacceptable attitude is the disengagement; it is the fear of risk. Even to the first two, perhaps not all the economic transactions went well. However, he is condemned because he let himself be blocked by fear.

There were neglectful and diligent disciples in Matthew’s time, and they continue to be in our communities. There are dynamic and enterprising Christians who are committed to give a new face to the catechesis, liturgy and pastoral work, who are passionately committed to the study of God’s word in order to grasp its true and deep meaning, who are generous and active and that, sometimes for an excess of zeal, they make mistakes and do not always guess the choices to make. Other Christians are rather lazy and afraid of everything. They limit themselves to repeating monotonously and tediously the same gestures, the same phrases. They do not study and are annoyed if someone proposes new interpretations. They do not even raise the question whether certain changes are desired by the Spirit. They feel safe only within what has always been said and done in the past. Any leap toward the future or every human achievement scares them. They do not resonate with the great values ​​of freedom and community life. They are afraid.

It is unbelievable but true. One can be paralyzed by the fear of Christ. A certain spirituality in the past urged Christians to act but especially recommended not to commit mortal sins to remain in the grace of God, being faithful to the commandments and precepts. Transgressors are threatened with terrible punishments. This spirituality created the third type of servants, that is, the Christians who, in order to avoid sins, always played it safe. They could not risk it, because those who try to commit themselves, inevitably expose themselves to the risk of being wrong.

Without realizing it, those who preach this fear are causing the lack of love, sterile goodness, and spiritual lethargy in the community.

The “talent” of God’s word, for example, bears fruit only when one grasps its true meaning, when it is translated into a language understandable to today’s person, and when it is applied to life and the concrete situations of the community; otherwise it remains a dead capital producing no change; it does not shake the conscience, nor provoke or scare anyone.

The punishment for making the talents of the Lord unproductive is the exclusion from his joy. It is not the condemnation to hell, but it is the fact of not belonging today to the kingdom of God.

What should one, who does not commit oneself, who does not dare to put to use the things of the Lord, do? He should not continue to occupy unnecessarily a position of responsibility but must give his ministry to the bank, the community, so that he may give and entrust this service to another who is willing to do it with commitment, because the community requires that all ministries are well fulfilled.

The conclusion of the parable: “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who are unproductive, even what they have will be taken from them” is a popular proverb that reflects an easily verifiable fact: wealth tends to accumulate and the rich becomes richer. Invoked in this parable, this saying meant to signify that, with the riches of God’s kingdom, the same thing happens: the community that is generous and attentive to the signs of the times progress and is gaining greater vitality, while those who prefer to withdraw into themselves grow old, lapse and no one will be surprised to see them disappear one day.

READ: The parable of the talents reveals how a right attitude of the heart gets rewarded by the Lord. Those with the soundness of soul do not need to fear the advent of the Day of the Lord and his judgment.

PRAY: Pray for the right attitude of the heart that makes us pleasing to the Lord.

ACT: List out three talents God has given you. Plan out how well you can double them at the service of God and his people.

REFLECT: One might wonder about the justice of unequal distribution of the talent among the servants. However, it is not what one receives that counts, but what one does with what he/she has received. The Master’s delight and offer of reward are the same towards his servants who doubled their talents. God looks not at the quantity of our offerings, but at their quality as well as the attitude with which we offer.

Fernando Armellini
Italian missionary and biblical scholar
https://sundaycommentaries.wordpress.com

DON’T BURY LIFE

The parable of the talents is surely one of the most well-known. Before leaving on a voyage, a master entrusts his goods to three employees. The first two put it to work immediately. When the master returns, they present the results to him: both have doubled the talents they received. Their effort is rewarded generously, since they have known how to respond to their master’s expectations.

The action of the third employee is strange. The only thing that occurs to him is «to hide in the ground» the talent he received and keep it safe until the end. When the master arrives, he gives it back to him thinking that he has faithfully responded to his desires: «Here you have what’s yours». The master condemns him. This «wicked and lazy» employee has understood nothing. He’s only thought about his safety.

Jesus’ message is clear. No to conservatism, yes to creativity. No to a sterile life, yes to the active response to God. No to obsession with security, yes to the effort that risks transforming the world. No to faith buried under conformity, yes to the committed following of Jesus.

It’s very tempting to go about always avoiding problems and looking for tranquility: don’t commit ourselves to anything that could complicate our life, and defend our small well-being. There’s no better way to live a sterile life, small and without horizon. The same thing happens in the Christian life. Our greatest danger isn’t getting out of business as usual and falling into exaggerated innovations, but freezing our faith and extinguishing the freshness of the Gospel. We must ask ourselves what we are sowing in society, to whom are we spreading hope, where we are alleviating suffering.

It would be a mistake to present ourselves before God with the attitude of the third servant: «Here you have what is yours. Here is your Gospel, the project of your reign, your message of love to those who suffer. We’ve kept it faithfully. It hasn’t served to transform our life or to introduce your reign into the world. We haven’t wanted to run risks. But here you have it intact».

José Antonio Pagola
http://www.gruposdejesus.com

Sharing our gifts and talents, freely and courageously
Romeo Ballan mccj

In the Parable of the Talents (Gospel) there is a call to take stock, at the end of a liturgical year and the imminence of a new start. First of all there appears the generosity and trust of the master who leaves his goods with his servants (v. 14). The talents were considerable amounts, given “to each according to his ability” (v. 15). For each there is also the gift of time, indeed, a “long time” (v. 19). The Master is God, is Jesus himself; the servants are the members of the Christian community; the time is whatever will elapse before the end of the world – which is also the time of the Church. The talents are the gifts given out by God to each one and the treasures that Christ has given to the Church: the Gospel to be proclaimed as message of salvation for the transformation of the human family; the Spirit who “renews the face of the earth” (Ps. 104:30); the gift of the Sacraments for a new humanity; the power to purify, heal, console, reconcile; the fruits of the earth that are always new… This variety and abundance of gifts is the basis for Thanksgiving Day, wherever and whenever it is celebrated during the year.

The way the parable develops becomes a powerful urging to make God’s gifts bear fruit, whether at a personal level (gifts of health, intelligence, emotions, nourishment, nature, spiritual life, faith…) or at the levels of human community and of Church. Jesus wants fruits: he chooses his own followers so that they can go and bear fruit – fruit that will last (Jn. 15:16). At the time of giving account, the praise of the owner goes to the servants who have been active and creative in making a profit with the goods given them. Unacceptable is instead the attitude of the “wicked and lazy” servant (v.26), who is closed in his own world (v.18), suspicious of the master (v. 24), not committed and afraid to take risks (v. 18,25).

To understand the parable properly, we have to overcome a commercial mentality with two aspects:a moralistic kind, as though good works alone can bring salvation, whereas it is given us quite freely; or the logic of productivity of a neo-liberal capitalistic type. The First Reading corrects this outlook: the praise of the perfect woman extols her human and domestic abilities as wife and mother, but especially her open-handedness towards the poor (v. 20) and her God-fearing attitude (v. 30). The qualities of intelligence, enterprise and efficiency must go together with a solid moral and religious backing, which helps people to: avoid forms of selfishness; overcome competitiveness with solidarity, and the anxiety of accumulation of wealth with sharing; to extend the benefits of riches to other people, to the human community and to the world around us.

Laziness and lack of commitment are unacceptable attitudes, especially for a Christian as regards the gift of faith and the consequent missionary responsibility to proclaim the Gospel, as it is the task of each baptised person, so that the world may not lack the light, the salt and the leaven that are necessary for humanity to live a better life. It is not enough to be ‘keepers of the Word’ out of fear of risk or lack of initiative; the gift of Faith commits Christians to be above all resourceful and generous proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus and the benefits of salvation. Pope Paul VI has a severe warning for those who do not put to work their talent (the gift of faith) and neglect the missionary mandate to proclaim Jesus Christ: they are putting at risk even their personal salvation and the survival of their communities.

The prize given to the servants who are active and show ability in making the gifts they have received bear fruit, remains in the realm of free-gift and of joy (v. 21,23) that goes with the service of the Gospel. “Faith is not something to be kept in a safe for protection; it is life, expressed in love of and dedication to others. In the Gospels, to be afraid is the equivalent of being without faith… The parable of the Talents teaches us that a Christian life, not based on formality, self-protection and fear, but on spontaneity, courage and a feeling for others, constitutes the joy of the Lord – and our own joy.” (Gustavo Gutiérrez). The call of St. Paul (2nd Reading) to live as children of the light and to stay awake (v.5-6) is along the same lines. Only through the giving of oneself, through effort, courage and spontaneity, make people and community grow and become strong and mature. Only lovecan overcomethe fearof the lazy servant; these fears are overcome through the courage of love and of missionary proclamation.