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. |