(Homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr. A)
Once again we are presented with a
parable on time, which revolves around the past,
of when we have received God’s gifts; the present,
in which one has to utilize the gifts, and the future, in which one will be called to give account of all. And the
present time is decisive for our eternal existence. And these themes of time
and reckoning connect the three readings, for the first reading alludes to a
time when a laborer (the industrious woman) will be given a share of her
handiwork (v.31). The second reading
dwells on the question of the time of the Parousia,
and lastly, the Gospel dwells
extensively on time and reckoning, and overlaps into the agenda of God who
wants to make us partakers of His joy. The story of our salvation is a
story of love, a story of a God that wants our welfare, a story of a God that
wants humanity to share in His joy. Though,
we have to merit it through his love and mercy. Indeed, beyond the themes
of time and reckoning, in the Gospel passage we discover an eternal agenda of
God for each and everyone us, and that is the Master’s desire for us to us
share in his joy. We may therefore, say that the life of each of us is lived out
in the shadow of eternity, in the consciousness
that day by day through our behaviour we are drawing closer to the
hereafter, to the enjoyment or loss of God's presence.
The first reading (Pro. 31:10-13.19-20.30-31) presents a charming
picture of a virtuous and gracious woman, who practices love for God and man. This passage presents a particular talent
that is both natural and spiritual: the talent of femininity, the talent of
being a woman. It contains the well-known eulogy of woman that begins with the
words: “Who can find a perfect woman?”. But upon a critical perusal we discover
that this eulogy that appears so beautiful has some dints of defection, which
certainly does not depend on the Scriptures, rather on the time and culture
when it was written. It does appear the
whole beautiful attributes of a “perfect woman” are in function to man, for
the conclusion is: “Blessed is the man who possesses such a woman”. Leaving that limit aside, I would like to
resonate the relevance of this praise of a woman, that went beyond physical
beauty but which orchestrated the dexterity and dutifulness of the virtuous
woman: “let her works tell her praises at the city gates” (v. 31).
Drawing the issue further, upon
proper reflection, one discovers that it is quite hard to see the connection of
this reading with the other readings. Perhaps, the words of verse 31 will be of a great help: “give
her a share in what her hands have worked for, and let her works tell her
praises at the city gates”, and a similar sentence recurs in the parable of the
talents, for as we are told the enterprising servants were given a share in
their earnings. However, if we concentrate on this singular point, we risk
losing the main thrust of the readings
In today’s Gospel (Mt.
25:14-30) like
that of the previous Sunday, Jesus narrates from life experience. The parable
of the talents is one of the parables of the 25th chapter of the
Gospel of Mathew located in the context of the last five great discourses that
make up the Gospel. It is the so-called
eschatological discourse on the ultimate realities of the coming of the Lord
Jesus at the end of time as bridegroom in the parable of the ten virgins (Mt 25: 1-13) and the judgment on
history - the picture of the Son of man / king who separates, as the shepherd
does, the sheep from the goats (Mt 25:
31-46). The central message of this
part of the Gospel is the invitation to be vigilant: history is oriented
towards an encounter; the Lord comes as the Spouse and will be the judge of
all. It is urgent to respond to the invitation to welcome his kingdom. Already in the present he is welcomed in
the choices of life we make and in the relationship we establish with others:
“In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did it to me” (Mt
25:40). To prepare for the coming of the Lord, it is necessary to 'keep
watch': "Watch therefore, because you know neither the day nor the
hour" (Mt 25:12). The parable of the talents is placed in
this context. It could be referred to as the parable of the three servants:
the story sees three moments. A master entrusts his goods to three of his
servants before leaving on a journey. The three behave differently during the
master's absence, finally - and it is the largest part - the three realize what
they have done when the master returns.
What are these talents? From the human or anthropological dimension,
talent is a personal gift, quality and capacity each one of us has received
from God, while from the spiritual
dimension, it is the Word of God received and welcomed according to one’s
capacity; it is the gift of faith and those of the Holy Spirit. In this sense,
the parable of the talents joins that of the Sower. To the different fate of
the seed he throws - in some it produces sixty per cent, in others it remains
buried under thorns, or eaten by the birds of the sky, corresponds here with
the different gain made with the talents. Importantly, we need to take to heart, that the different quality of the talents is
not to be understood in terms of mere quality, rather in the sense of diversity.
The story evolves, that the owner of an estate went on a long journey and
entrusted his talents to three of his servants. On their master’s departure,
two of them made good use of the talents, and made some capital gains. Then, on
their master’s return they were commended and rewarded. Contrarily, the third
servant simply buried the master’s talent and returned it back to him, exactly
as it was given to him, but the master rebuked him and handed over the money
given prior to him, to the most enterprising servant.
The
Parable of the talents proposed today, underlines the necessity of fructifying
the gifts God has given to us, both gifts of nature and those of grace. It
is fascinating the similitude of the gift of God to a capital, and as such, the
receiver has to give good interest. And at
the end, we shall be called to give good account of both the capital (gift) and
the interests (the good works and fruits). Thus, conscious of the need for
a reckoning, we are invited not to waste the gifts God has lavished upon us; we
are also called to guard against the danger of “conserving” our gifts, thereby
not making use of them at all, that is the
tendency of one who is afraid of trying, who dares not to dare. The Gospel thus, reminds us that if we
close ourselves in an egoistic possession of the gifts received, we stand the
risk of losing them. The word of God
therein, condemns the presumption of auto-sufficiency, of he who thinks that he
merited all and the passivity of he who buries the talents he has received.
For remember: “what have you got that was not given to you?” (1Cor. 4:7).
The temptation or the act of hiding
our gifts exposes us to everlasting danger, because our Master is exigent. The
scripture also reminds us of this (cf.
Ex. 20:5; Deut. 4:24). The jealous and just God of the Old Testament presents
himself in the New Testament, in the person of Jesus Christ, with the name and
the face of a Father, but not as a
permissive Father, or as a Father Christmas that is always distributing gifts.
Though He is generous and magnanimous, he requires our correspondence to his
will. The message of this Sunday no
doubt, revolves invariably not on mercy, but on the other parallel attribute of
God, on justice. In that bid, today’s message reminds us that there is a
day of reckoning, and no person is exempted. St. Paul captured it vividly well
when he says: “For at the judgment seat of Christ we are all to be seen for
what we are, so that each of us may receive what he has deserved in the body,
matched to whatever he has done, good or bad” (2Cor. 5:10). And the judgment will be on how we have used the gift
of God? How we lived our life in accordance with God’s word?
Existentially, in the Gospel we are presented with three servants, let
us try to evaluate ourselves, and make some interrogations deep within us, on
which servant we resemble, the first two servants who fructified their gifts or
the third one that buried his gift? The third servant is a representative of
every Christian that does not recognize and fructify the gift of God. The experience of the third servant is the
experience of a Christian that abandons the God of the gifts in the quest of
“conserving” the gifts. In that bid, the word of God today, invites us to
do a thorough examination of conscience, we should individually ask ourselves:
if the Lord calls me today to give account of my life, will I be ready and
prepared? Am I not like the servant that wasted the gift given to him?
The
summit of this parable must be understood in the dialogue between the master
and the third servant: in fact the first two are praised but the third is rejected not because he
has done something wrong but precisely because he did nothing and was not
creative in ensuring that the gift received could multiply in some way. Above
all, he remained closed in a condition
of fear and suspicion towards his master. The other servants are told to
'enter into joy'. The master addresses them with the expression: 'good and
faithful servant'. Jesus helps us to see
that here he is speaking of the relationship not with a human master but with
God. It is a truth worthy of note that accepting
the entrustment of a gift calls for responsibility. What the third servant did not understand is
that authentic wealth is constituted by the relationship with the master
(with God). He is blocked by fear, locked up in a preconceived idea that makes
him unable to act. He considered the talent not as a gift but feels under the
control of a bad master. He does not
understand that the talent entrusted to him is a sign of a relationship to
which he must respond with the involvement of his whole life and that God's
desire is to let him enter into his joy. He did not understand that at the
heart of that entrustment lay the call to live an existence in service and
creativity. Indeed, waiting for the
Lord's return is not a reason for fear but for trust and openness. What we
have received must be brought to others, in an attitude of service. In the
present time, the disciples are called
to live a life of fidelity not according to a religion of fear that leads to
immobility and the rejection of any change, but to enter into a relationship of
joy that opens existence to novelty and to fruitfulness in love.
Beyond that, our human and Christian duty is not only to develop our natural and
spiritual talents, but also to help others develop theirs. In the modern
world there is a profession that is called: "talent-scout", that is,
discoverers of talents. They are people who know how to identify hidden
talents: a painter, a singer, an actor, a footballer etc., and help them to
cultivate their talent and find who sponsors them. They don't do it naturally
for free or for the sake of art, but to get a percentage of their earnings once
they have established themselves. But as
Christians we called equally to help others discover their talents, but for gratis. The Gospel invites all of us
to be talent-scouts, discoverers of talents, not for the sake of profit but to
help those who do not have the opportunity to succeed on their own.
It is plausible to note that in the
context of this parable, Jesus was condemning the Jewish religious authorities
of his time, who were like the third servant, so bent on preserving the
tradition at the expense of openness to new things and Jesus’ message. Upon a
proper interpretation of the passage, we discover that the master of this
parable is equated with Christ, his long journey (departure) with the
Ascension, while his delayed return alludes to the Parousia.
The second reading (1Thes. 5: 1-6) is a
presentation of St. Paul’s attempt to reply those who were asking questions
about the precise date of the Parousia.
Here, Paul cited the parable of the thief in the night (Mk.13:35ss; Lk.12:39ss) to buttress his point. If we live like
people “who belong to the light, who belong to the day” (1Th. 5:5), then and only then, can we show proof of those who live
in vigilance for the coming of the Master. People
of light think beyond themselves, they think for the welfare of others,
like the two servants of the Gospel who thought of making gain for their
master. On the other hand, people of
darkness cannot see beyond themselves, beyond there selfish interests. Be
that as it may, as emanating from St. Paul’s admonitions, a Christian ought to live always on tiptoe, with the consciousness
that the Parousia can take place any
moment. Therefore, it invariably implies that it is not a matter of idle
curiosity, but one of readiness and vivid awakening. Imminently, we are called to pass from vain curiosity of “times and
seasons” to the existential attitude of vigilance and laboriousness, for in
the words of the Apostle: “work out your salvation in fear and trembling” (Phi. 2:12b).
Above all else, dear brothers and
sisters, let us not forget the invitation to vigilance that reoccurs in today’s
readings. The Parable and the second reading remind us once again about the
necessity of being vigilant and always ready for the coming of the Lord.
However, in a more particular way, we
are called to reawaken our sense of responsibility and spiritual inventiveness.
We are all like administrators of God’s gifts, the gifts, qualities and
capacities received are to be used for good works. In all, the promise that
should keep us always going is the reward for whoever that fructifies his or
her gifts, and that is participation “to the joy of the Master”. Let us make resolutions of trusting in the
Lord always, of having a positive and optimistic view about life. We need to acquire the psycho-spiritual
attitude of empathy and thinking beyond ourselves. For us Christians, the
faith and the sacraments we have received today are talents. The parable
therefore propels us to examine our consciences: what use are we making of
these talents? Are we like the servants who make them profitable or the one who
puts the talent underground? For some their baptism has become a buried talent,
and as such denying themselves the joy of the Master. Lord help us to make good
use of the gifts you have lavished upon us, and at last to share in your joy!
Amen!!!
(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)
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