33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel Reading: Matthew 25:14-30

14 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.

15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one, each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out.

16 The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more.

17 The man who received two made two more in the same way.

18 But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

19 Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them.

20 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."

21 His master said to him, "Well done good and faithful Servant; you have shown you are faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master's happiness."

22 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."

23 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; came and join in your master's happiness."

24 Last came forward the man who had the one talent. "Sir," he said, "I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered;

25 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."

26 But his master answered him, "You wicked and lazy servant! So you know that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered?

27 Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest.

28 So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the five talents.

29 For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but for the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

30 As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."

Meditation

This Sunday's passage continues last Sunday's. It too is a long parable telling us 'what the kingdom of heaven is like,' i.e. 'what it is like' to experience grace coming into the world.

Most people find this passage difficult because of the master's seemingly exaggerated anger; also he is very hard on the third servant who was already less gifted than the others. If this is 'what the kingdom of heaven is like', then it is 'bad news' indeed. We must find an interpretation, therefore, which is both faithful to the text and also brings 'the good news of the kingdom' to all, but in particular to the 'little ones' (those with 'only one talent') of our community.

The key to such an interpretation is to remember Jesus' situation when he gave this teaching. As with last week's passage, he was at the end of his public ministry, frustrated at the hardness of heart of the leaders of the people. The Mosaic tradition had taught generosity of spirit and compassion for the oppressed; the leaders had let this glorious tradition become their personal possession, an excuse for meanness and exclusiveness, a way of protecting their positions of privilege.

Jesus is highly indignant at what they have done with God's gift - rightly so. We need to enter into his feelings. The God of the Bible (Old and new Testament) is so passionately committed to the cause of the poor that when they are ill treated, 'his anger flares', as the first reading of the 31 st Sunday reminded us. Nowadays, we Christians tend to 'soothe' God's anger, whereas we should be asking for forgiveness that we are so passive (so lacking in anger) at the injustices of the world.

The 'property' in the parable then, is not personal wealth. To interpret it like that makes the parable a teaching on being good capitalists! The master then becomes a go-ahead CEO angry that his company has not made the profit it should have. The 'property' in the parable is God's precious gift intended to multiply and be life-giving for all. Its true purpose is distorted by the servant's meanness. (that is why he is called good-for-nothing).

The parable then is giving two messages:

To those who have been made to feel excluded from the kingdom('tax collectors and prostitutes') Jesus brings the 'good news' that this is totally against God's will. In fact god is very angry that they are being excluded.

To his disciples he issues a stern warning: do not fall prey to a similar narrow mindedness. The history of the church (like our individual stories) tells us how right he was to warn them. We all fall into the trap of seeing our talents as our personal possession that we can do what we like with. God's will is that we see them as gifts to be shared so that they can be multiplied.

We remember examples of something similar happening.

The teaching of Jesus, so full of potential for transforming the world and yet so often 'hidden under a bushel'. Christians have 'dug a hole in the ground and buried it'.

Nature, so God has made so bountiful, now become a matter for personal greed with the resultant scarcities.

Family traditions of openness to all, allowed to degenerate into snobbishness and racism.

Individual talents (physical, mental, spiritual) intended to be a blessing for families and societies, become things to be bought and sold.

We celebrate the 'Jesus person' who made us conscious of this betrayal.

The parable is not all negative. It shows another possibility - the first two servants, trusting and free spirited, and experiencing abundance. We celebrate people who have followed that path, communities too and social moments.

The master is also someone we can celebrate. He is the kind of leader who does not cling to power. He entrusts his 'property' (his cause) to those who work with him without counting the risk.

This parable is crucial teaching for our modern western culture which glorifies mistrust as not merely necessary but actually beneficial. This aberration has affected the way we Christians now tend to see Jesus - our first concern becomes to 'protect' his message against our 'competitors', notably the adherents of other religions. Our faith then makes us mean spirited and elitist - we are no longer life-giving for the world.

Verse 29 is a teaching found in other contexts, e.g. Matthew 13:12 and Luke 8:18. We are free to meditate on it by itself therefore. Here again, the saying seems unfair but if read creatively turns out to be a little gem of wisdom. This 'thing' that when people 'have it' they are 'given more' whereas when people 'don't have it' even the little they have is 'taken away', is trust. People who have no trust in themselves, in others or in life, end up losing 'even what they have'. On the contrary, people who have that kind of trust end up being 'given more'.

The verse invites us to celebrate Jesus the teacher (and those who have played a similar role in our lives):

• he reassures those who trust that they are on the right track; there is not the slightest trace of cynicism in him; on the contrary his message is, 'go ahead and trust'. How we need teachers and leaders like that!
• he issues a stern warning to those who have no faith. 'Learn to believe in yourself'. Jesus doesn't molly coddle people, 'Get off your butt and stop pitying yourself! Otherwise you will lose everything you have.'

Prayer 

"If at times we are inclined to feel discouraged, let us not be dismayed. The human will remains the great force the Creator designed it to be."
President Hassanali of Trinidad and Tobago, speaking to the nation after the attempted coup, July 1990

Lord, we thank you for the gift of free will.

It is this that enables us, even when we are discouraged,

to receive what life brings us,

like servants being entrusted with a certain amount of talents

by their master,

to go off promptly and make something of our opportunities,

and when the time for accounting comes,

to come forward cheerfully

and show what we have accomplished.

"If someone tells me that he doesn't believe in God, I ask him to describe the God he doesn't believe in, and I nearly always have to tell him that I do not believe in such a God either."
Lord Hailsham.

Lord, forgive us church people

For giving others a wrong impression of you.

Many have heard that you are a hard man,

Reaping where you have not sown

And gathering where you have not scattered.

As a result, they are afraid,

Afraid to take risks, to trust themselves or to trust life.

And so the talents you have given them,

they dig a hole in the ground and hide them.

humanity suffers, and so do they.

Lord, when we get into positions of authority

we become afraid to trust people.

teach us to be like Jesus.

He walked the earth for some years,

instructed his little community,

then, when he had lived his appointed time,

he entrusted his mission to his followers

giving each of us talents according to our ability;

then he set out on his journey back to you,

knowing that he would return after a very long time

and go through his accounts with us,

that even though some would hide their talents in the ground,

others would trade with them,

and his word would multiply indefinitely.

Lord a mark of our civilization is that everyone is afraid to fail.

That is because we demand too much of one another.

We expect to reap where nothing has been sown,

and to gather where nothing was scattered.

Then people do not take risks

and do not make of their talents what they could.

Lord, help us to face old age with trust in you and in ourselves,

knowing that you give us responsibilities

each one of us in proportion to our ability,

and once we are faithful in the small things you ask us to do,

you will trust us with greater things,

and we will join in your happiness.

"Our deeds do not simply disappear into the black hole of time. They are recorded somewhere and judged."
President Havel of Czechoslovakia

Lord, we thank you for those who keep alive in our society

the idea of judgement,

that you have entrusted your property to us,

and you will come back to go through your accounts with us.

"We are not on earth as museum keepers, but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life and prepare a glorious future."
Pope John XXIII

Lord, we thank you for Pope John

and for all those who have made humanity more free,

urging us to see life in positive terms,

reminding us that the only thing

which seems to make you angry

is when we are afraid to use the talents you have entrusted to us

as if the world were ruled by a hard man

who reaps where he has not sown

and gathers where he has not scattered.

Lord, trust is the most precious of your gifts.

It is the kind of thing that when we have it we are given more

and end up having more than enough;

but if we do not have it,

then even the little we have is taken away.

we pray that we adults may hand on that gift to our children.