33rd
Ordinary Sunday (Year A)
First
Reading:
Proverbs 13:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 Second
Reading: 1
Thessalonians 5:1-6 Gospel
Reading:
Matthew 25:14-30
“COME,
SHARE YOUR MASTER'S JOY.”
Once
upon a time there were two teenagers who were the ninth and tenth
person on Mollie Whopi’s basketball team. They were on the team
because Mollie had asked them but they were content to be bench
warmers. In fact, they loved to sit on the bench and make fun of
those who were playing. They didn’t practice very hard because they
knew they’d get into the game only at the last minute when the game
was already won or lost. Since it was Mollie’s team they almost
always won. Well, one day three of the regular players were out sick
and two more fouled out, one of whom was Mollie herself. The referees
were simply not fair. So Mollie she had to send in these two kids at
the end of the bench. They didn’t try very hard. Of course the team
lost. So they’re like well, it’s not our fault because we’re
not very good. And Mollie went on to say to them if you’d have
played up to your real ability, we would have won.
Now,
we all are in God's team and we all have to play the game of life to
the best of our ability in order to succeed. Again, each one of us has been
bestowed upon multiple gifts and blessings by God. Naturally, He
expects us to utilize these blessings for His kingdom and for His
people and also to develop the talents and abilities He has given us.
He wants us to be diligent and watchful for the coming of the Lord
who will take into account of all that we have done.
INTRODUCTION:
Today
is the 33rd
Sunday in Ordinary Time and it is the second to the last Sunday of
the Liturgical Year A. Coming Sunday we will be celebrating the feast
of 'Christ the King.'
As the Liturgical Year is about to reach its completion, the
Scripture Readings of today fittingly draw our attention on the 'last
things'. They encourage
us to prepare worthily for the 'Day
of the Lord', which could
be a day of wrath or a day of grace for anyone – depending on one’s
personal response to God’s saving love. The
First Reading from the
Book of Proverbs, suggests that we should be as diligent and
industrious as a loyal and faithful wife. A perfect wife, it says,
“is
far beyond the price of pearls.”
She is hardworking, mainly for her family, but she also “reaches
out her hand to the poor extends her arms to the needy.”
Her value is not in her charm or her beauty but in her wisdom, that
is, in her awareness of where the real priorities in life lie. In the
Second Reading from his
Letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul reminds the Christians at
Thessalonica of the unexpected but certain coming of the day of the
Lord. He says that, that day will strike like a sudden disaster on
people’s lives. It will come unexpectedly, “like
a thief in the night.”
He exhorts the Thessalonians to stay awake and sober. They must be
personally involved and absolutely ready for 'the Day of the Lord'. In the Gospel Reading from St. Matthew, we hear 'The Parable of the Talents.' It depicts the creative genius of God’s faithful servants as well as the disappointing cowardice of the feckless. The faithful servants were industrious and resourceful – like the worthy wife of the Book of Proverbs. The parable focuses more sharply on the Christian attitude towards earthly life as we live in expectation of the Master’s return. The implicit responsibility of each servant is to work and to multiply the talents entrusted to him. It is not enough just to preserve what one has been given. The Master expects the results from the person who has been given special talents.
'THE
WOMAN WHO FEARS THE LORD':
The
First Reading from the Book of Proverbs speaks eloquently of the
qualities of a worthy wife and while the text applies literally to
“the
woman who fears the Lord”,
there is also a valid application to the qualities of each person who
lives in expectation of the Lord. The passage emphasizes the
industriousness and diligence of the good wife who is busy with
useful matters, skilled at her work and cares for the poor and the
needy.
The exemplary wife is a model of energetic faithfulness and creative
response to divine initiative. The heart of our reading is that this
woman, who had been caught up in a covenant relationship with her
people’s God, had generously
responded to His love
by giving herself in the best way she knew how. Her works said
something about her inner life. Indeed, the fruitfulness of her good
deeds gives us a glimpse of the beauty of her soul and the integrity
of her personal relationship with God. As an example of wise
stewardship of one’s God-given gifts, the reading is a perfect
match to the gospel parable. This
Scripture passage has been used at funeral services for noble and
admirable women who blessed their family and circle of friends in
selflessness, gentleness, and compassion.
“
LET US STAY ALERT AND
SOBER”:
In
today’s Second Reading from the Letter to the Thessalonians, St.
Paul continues his discussion on 'the
Day of the Lord',
the Second Coming of Christ. He tells them what Jesus himself had
said that his Second Coming would be unexpected and would come like
the thief in the night. However, this should not frighten them since
they would be prepared because they were living in their Christian
faith. He tells them that since they are children of the light and
children of the day, they should not worry about when the Lord shall
return. It is sufficient for them to know that when the Lord does
suddenly come “like
a
thief in the night”,
either through His Second and final Coming on Judgment Day or when
all Christians are individually called to appear before him at death,
whichever comes first, they will be ready. People who nurture a false
sense of security will be overtaken by surprise. Those who measure up
to their Christian calling are always ready. They live their lives in
constant daylight. No nighttime thief will bother them. The Second
Coming of Christ will be a joyful event because they will be ready to
receive him. St. Paul ends this passage with the advice, “Therefore,
let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober”.
Such
alertness would allow them to prepare for the Second Coming and to
rejoice in it.
THE
PARABLE OF THE TALENTS:
Today's
Gospel passage, 'The
Parable of the Talents',
is the middle one of three parables on the coming judgment that
Matthew has linked together at the conclusion of his Eschatological
Discourse. The first parable is that of the ten virgins; five foolish
and five wise waiting for the bridegroom. The third is the familiar
parable of the sheep and the goats; the judgment at the end of time
'when
the Son of man comes in his glory'.
Jesus gives his disciples and the Pharisees this parable to
illustrate and emphasize the teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven and
how everyone will be judged according the use he makes of the gifts
God gives to human persons.
This
parable is preserved in three forms: St. Matthew's version, St. Luke's (Luke
19:12ff.), and the version in the later non-canonical Gospel of the
Hebrews. St. Matthew's is probably nearest to the original, though St. Luke's
may contain some less-developed features than St. Matthew's, together
with some elaborations and additions of his own. The original context
may have been the crisis produced by the ministry of Jesus rather
than the future parousia. The parable may have been part of Jesus'
denunciation of the scribes, who had 'buried'
the Law under the mass of their traditions and regulations.
Again,
like last Sunday's parable of the ten virgins, Jesus' original
parable of the talents has undergone a process of allegorization and
has been given a strong eschatological orientation in the process of
oral transmission and incorporation into St. Matthew’s written gospel.
The
owner has become a figure for Christ, away for a time on a (heavenly)
journey, until he returns (at the parousia) to settle accounts with
his servants (early Christian believers). The settling of accounts
has become an image of final judgment, and the servants' rewards and
punishments are meant to remind St. Matthew's audience of the importance
of using their gifts wisely and
well. So,
while we look forward to the Lord's Second Coming, as Judge and King
of the universe, we are advised to make responsible use of the gifts,
the time, and opportunities for service given to us.
In the parable we hear about "a
man going on a journey called 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".
He treated them as responsible persons and did not dictate to them
how to use these talents. He trusted them as individuals and
respected their freedom and initiative.
The master then departs and immediately the first
two servants go off at once
and trade with their talents. The third servant, on
the other hand, digs a hole in the ground and buries his one talent.
Why does he do that? Because he is afraid he is going to lose it if
he trades with it. He must have reasoned like this: 'Well,
those with more talents can afford to take a risk. If they lost a
talent, they could make it up later. But me, I have only one talent.
If I lose it, end of story! So I better play it safe and just take
care of it.' He chooses the most cautious and least risky
course of action available to him. Many of us in the church are like
this third servant. Because we do not see ourselves as possessing
outstanding gifts and talents, we conclude that there is nothing that
we can do and bury them under the ground.
The surprise in the story comes when the
master returns and demands an account from the
servants. We discover that even though the first servant with five
talents had made five more talents and the second servant with two
talents had made two more talents, both of them receive exactly the
same compliments: “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.”
No
comparison is made despite the fact that one earned five and the
other only two. They are rewarded not in
proportion to how many talents each has made, but in proportion to
how many talents each of them started off with.
In the Kingdom of Heaven we are not all measured by the same rule. It
is not the talent given to each that matters but the way they have
made us of those talents. So, what can we say about the third servant
who decided to hide his talent? Obviously, he might have compared
himself to the other servants with more talents, saw himself at the
bottom rung of the ladder, and became discouraged. He did not realize
that with his one talent, if he made just one more talent, he would
be rewarded equally as the servant with five talents who made five
more. Instead, he is filled with dread
and fear at the thought of losing the talent that he has been given
and returns it to the master. He had shown no
creativity and in the master's view he had acted irresponsibly. He
tries to give all possible excuses to his master saying that he knew
how hard and demanding the master was and therefore out of fear he
did not risk investing his money in case he should lose it. The
master becomes very angry. He
severely condemns him as being both wicked and
lazy. As a result he loses everything and ends up being cast out into
the darkness outside.
Finally,
the parable ends with Jesus saying: “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.”
It seems rather
surprising and unfair, like robbing the poor to pay the rich.
But Jesus is rather saying that those who share generously the gifts
they have been given are likely to find themselves constantly
enriched.
CONCLUSION:
As
we approach the end of the Liturgical Year, the Gospel Reading today
reminds us of 'the
end-time', the
Second Coming of Christ and the final Judgment. It is in this context
that it spells out the necessity of being prepared for whenever the
end of time catches up with us. 'The
Parable of the Talents'
which we hear today is often read as an exhortation for us to use our
talents. The
settling of accounts upon the master's return is the core of the
message of the parable. It
teaches us to boldly prefer taking active risk in our lives over
passive complacency. Being safe and comfortable is not high in the
Lord's priority of values. The obvious conclusion from today's
parable is also oft-repeated. We are responsible for the talents that
we have received from God. Some of us have more talents than others,
and there is no one, absolutely no one, who can say they have been
gifted with nothing; but just the same, we have to do an accounting
before God. The
usual measure is that much more will be expected of them who have
been given more. The
choice for us is clear: We either make good use of what God has
entrusted to us or not. If we do, then we become like the first two
rewarded servants whom the master praised and said, “Come,
share your master's joy”.
If
we do not, then what the master said of the third servant will also
be said of us, “Throw
this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be
wailing and grinding of teeth.”
During
this Mass then, let us ask ourselves how we are using our particular
gifts and talents in a creative way in the service of our Christian community and
the wider society to advance the interest of God's Kingdom.
Essentially this means the works of love, as the scene of the final
judgment upon Christ's return makes it clear. Let us be prepared for
'the
Day of Judgment'
when Christ the Lord takes account of the talents we have been so
generously blessed with, and eagerly look forward to hear him say to
us, “Come,
share your master's joy.”
And this is the Good News of today.
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