"What's in your wallet?

Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Saturday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Reflection:

As we discussed yesterday, Paul continues his instruction and apologetic to the Corinthians about true wisdom to refute the Greeks and Jews. He makes good progress, although for those of us with a little pride it’s a bit hard to take. He goes on at length about our rather humble abilities: "Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth." He does this so that we can realize that it is not through our efforts and abilities that good things are accomplished, but only through our dependence on the Lord’s help. Jesus takes that a giant step further in his parable from Matthew’s Gospel today.

The Parable of the Talents has one of the more important messages for us. Although I have not done the research, I suspect that this one parable is at the heart of the "Christian work ethic". There is a kind of sinister crutch here as well. Let’s walk through it.

"A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability. Then he went away."

We can interpret this analogy to imply that the man going on the journey is God and we are his servants whom he has entrusted his possessions. What do the talents represent? They have been interpreted variously. One could argue that they represent raw physical ability. They could represent wealth and power; or, they could represent the spiritual gifts of faith. Jesus was really good, because he did not define what they were, we can assume they refer to any ability or attribute we posses. Interestingly, he did not echo our national constitution in saying that all people are created equal. (Side bar; by putting that phrase in the constitution, over time, modern day interpreters have apparently taken that phrase to mean that every person has the "right" to an equal share in virtually everything of value. Being spiritual men, I suspect the authors of our constitution were familiar with this very parable and were not intending to give a "right" but rather an opportunity to achieve the success that the parable implies.)

"Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money."

Now we see the actions of "We the Servants". We see how some of us use what God has given to multiply our success and His. That "..and His." is important. It is implicit within the context of the Gospel that what we do that is worthy of effort will only succeed it we do it with His help and, as is made clear later in this parable, for his greater glory. What we also see in this section is what we know to be true of some of our brothers and sisters. Whether they have been taught by their parents (even inadvertently) or were just naturally timid or lazy, some people just bury what they have been given in sloth. In other words they do nothing for God’s greater glory; nothing of worth. Notice that these people could be very hard working; just hard working at the wrong things. What they buried was not necessarily their wealth or ability, it was most importantly their faith.

"After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will
give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’"

Great news. If we use what God gave us for his greater glory and to his purpose, we get to share His joy. What do we suppose that implies in the context of this analogy? It can be nothing less than a life with him in his eternal kingdom.

"Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’
His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of
teeth.’"

The Lord tells us here that there are consequences to taking the wrong path. Here we see that instead of getting to "share his master’s joy" he gets to be thrown into the darkness outside. This entire post could have focused on what that "darkness outside" represents in this story but we can save that for another time. Our protestant brothers and sisters would interpret that "darkness" to mean Hell. Fortunately for us we have another possible explanation. No one, except Jesus and his Mother, are without sin.

The bottom line for us is two fold. First, sitting on what the Lord has given us is not an option. We called to use what gifts he has given us for His greater glory. That last is our second task. We need to be contently looking at what we are doing and asking our selves; "Is this for God’s glory or my own." They are not always the same.
Pax