topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
17 November 02


 

The parable about the three servants whose master entrusted each with a differing amount of talents with its focus upon the third servant who buried his talent has been used by many preachers to remind their congregations to use their talents and to develop them so that they won’t be underachievers.  Likewise, many parents preach the same message to their kids, telling them to develop their talents so that they won’t grow up and become underachievers.  For both congregations and kids, it’s as if Jesus himself is warning them: “You had better not be like the third dolt who went out and buried his one talent!”

It’s a great little sermon, especially for people who live and work in a dog-eat-dog world where competition rues the day.  Identify your talents, develop them, and multiply them, all so that you will emerge triumphant over all those other dolts who fail to get the message.  To top it off: even Jesus said so!

But, be careful about going there because the word “talent,” as it is used in today’s gospel, does not identify an ability one can exploit for personal gain or benefit.  Instead, a talent was the equivalent of fifteen years of an average wage earner’s pay.  In USA dollars, that’s the rough equivalent of nearly $600,000.  Think about what you could do with $600,000 tax-free dollars!  Not too shabby of a deal.  To receive five, two, or even just one talent was to receive a very large sum of money, even for the individual receiving just one talent.

Furthermore, the third servant’s decision to bury the one talent he received was not at all an unusual practice.  In fact, it was a common practice in Jesus’ day, one protected by civil law.  If someone like the master in today’s parable entrusted his talents to another person and that person buried those talents in a deep hole (it had to be deep enough so that ordinary plowing would not reveal the hidden stash), that individual was freed from any responsibility for the talents should they disappear.  However, if the individual didn’t bury the talents but invested them and then lost them, that individual remained responsible for repaying those talents for the rest of his life.

On the face of it, then, burying the one talent the third servant had received meant that he would never have to worry about being held liable for that one talent upon his master’s return.  In effect, the third servant hedged his bets by making absolutely sure he’d never be accountable for losing that talent.  But, for that to be true, everything would have to remain the same; nothing could change.  That was a serious miscalculation because all of us know that change not stability more oftentimes than not rues the day.

But, there is another, more important matter that needs to be considered.  When the master returned, he announced what the third servant believed was a change in the rules of the game.  What the law rewarded, namely―being safe and protecting oneself―was now dishonorable and what the law punished―being adventurous and taking risks―was now honorable.  However, this couldn’t have been a change in the rules of the game because the other two servants had gone out and taken a chance by investing all of the talents their master had entrusted to them.

So, the all-important question posed by Jesus’ parable, then, is: Why didn’t the third servant know this?

Perhaps part of the explanation has to do with the tendency we have to think that justifying what we do and using the law to bolster our justification is better than taking the chance to do what is necessary no matter what other people may think about it or how they will respond to it.  In light of this human tendency, the problem with the third servant was that he feared what might happen were he to lose the talent entrusted to him and, because of his fear, the third servant was not able to understand what the other two servants understood all so well, namely, that the standard of evaluation being used by the master upon his return would not be whether the servants returned his talents―according to the requirements of the law―but whether his servants were enterprising enough to take the initiative, to venture forth into making responsible decisions on their own, and to live their lives not by playing it safe but by risking the talents entrusted to them by investing those talents.

This parable is not about multiplying money, however.  Instead, it is a parable about faith and being what St. Paul called “children of the light.”  For Jesus, faith is not a matter of simply following the rules of the game and doing so in order to have the guarantee of eternal life.  No, for Jesus, faith is a talent―a very great sum, indeed―that God has entrusted to each and every one of us.  God expects that we act upon and risk our faith, perhaps even to take very bold gambles with it, all in order that this faith of ours will multiply.  Then, when God returns, we will be able to return all of it and more.

It’s this matter―acting upon and risking our faith―that Jesus and St. Paul are really interested in because, in order for faith to multiply, it requires investing faith in those areas of darkness where God’s light is most needed.

It may be that we need to invest the light of faith in the darkness of a relationship that has soured over the years and stands in need of healing, perhaps even immense and painful healing.  As Jesus’ disciples, are we willing to invest the light of faith in that relationship, even if it means that we return empty-handed for our efforts?  How many spouses, family members, and friends―children of the light―are not willing to invest their faith in these soured and pain-ridden relationships, choosing instead to bury their talent in the false belief that God will vindicate them and their side of the story when the Master returns?

Again, as Jesus’ disciples, it may be that we need to invest the light of faith in the darkness of sin that we’ve chosen.  As children of the light are we willing to invest the light of faith in seeking healing and forgiveness for the evil choices we’ve made, even if it entails the high cost of humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness?  How many people call themselves Catholic and yet are not willing to invest their faith in the Sacrament of Penance but, instead, choose to bury their talent in the false belief that God will not hold people accountable for the evil choices they have made or that their sin pales by comparison with other sinners?

It may be that, as Jesus’ disciples, we need to invest the light of faith in the darkness of not standing up for what our faith teaches because we fear ridicule, embarrassment, or rejection.  As children of the light, are we willing to invest in the building of God’s kingdom by proclaiming the gospel even if it means that others may turn against us?  How many people―take pro-abortion Catholic politicians, for example―bury their talent in the false belief that politics and religion do not mix?  When the Master returns―and He will, we just don’t know the day and time―do these people really believe that He will accept their assertion that winning at the polling place is fundamentally more important than proclaiming the gospel of life?

Faith is a talent―a very great sum―that God entrusts to each and every one of Jesus’ disciples.  As disciples, we are to act upon and risk this talent, not to play it safe under the pretense that the law and clever arguments will protect those who bury their talent.  But, knowing the immense worth of faith is one thing; it is an altogether different matter to invest this talent in those dark areas of our lives as disciples in order that our faith multiply.

Being entrusted with faith presents Jesus’ disciples with a privilege as well as a duty.  Through in the parable of the three servants and the talents, Jesus suggests that faith is not about being careful.  Faith is about realizing the value of what God has already entrusted to us and, then, taking the risk to invest our talent in promoting the reality God’s kingdom in or lives and the lives of others.  As children of the light, we are free to risk our talent in promoting the reality of God’s kingdom in our lives and the lives of others.  We are also free to bury our talent in the false hope that we will be vindicated when we stand before the Master.  The master in today’s gospel parable makes it very clear: he will tolerate no tepid excuses supported either by the law or being afraid.  No, when it comes to the talent of faith, the Master expects his servants to be more enterprising than they are careful.

 

 

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