“Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten”
Mt. 25,14-30
Rev. Alexander Diaz
Today’s Gospel invites us to think about how we use our liberty, and put in front of us the fact of how to give account. It does this by using images and a language from twelve-thousand years ago. I want to invite you to explore with me this parable of the Talents, that further from a style which might seem a bit archaic, it presents and arises actual subjects of great importance.
According to what the evangelist Matthew relates, three servants, whom the master confided in, received money from him before he went out on a journey. After a long time, the master came back and settled account with them. It was a simple “give account” of what was done with the money, which is a common practice in the business world. As we read the text of the parable, it is easy to decipher the symbolic language the evangelist uses: The master of this story, who the servants call “Master”, is Christ, who have been absent after His resurrection and who will return at the end of times.
The “talents” or “millions” received by the servants are the “charismas” each one of us possess and the duties that He has assign to each one of us. No one has come to this world without a “charisma” , those talents are hidden inside of us and we have to develop and expand them for the development of our social surroundings, to expand our own horizon, with faith, enthusiasm, with passion and with the love God has planted in our hearts.
The “settling of accounts” is the final judgment, in which everyone will be evaluated in accordance to the results obtained. , this evaluation will be done face to face with God, theology and the tradition of the Church tells us, that is an evaluation according to the way we lived our lives, how we used our liberty, and how far were we willing to go over the minimal effort. The diverse behavior of the servants shows the diverse ways to live the Christian faith. Let us see the various models of behavior shown in the story.
The efficiency of the first two servants is the result of assuming faith, not as a theoric discourse, , but as a compromise service and as a transformation of the society to the light of the values announced by Jesus. There is so much to do in this world, yet so few who are willing to cooperate and help in the development of it. In many cases I have a feeling that society have lost the initiative to better themselves, to duplicate and facilitate a better way of constructing peace, liberty, healthy joy and the sense of living in harmony.
The first two characters represent those who get to work imagining how the business owner would do it. Ask yourself, ¿what will Jesus do in a case like this, right now, if He were me? What will He answered those who ask questions? ¿How will He make it easier for someone that sees no sense in his own life? Jesus, thru the talents He has given us and that we have to put to work, wants to give us an answer to all these questions, He wants to built a society that do not stand still, that will not feel comfortable of being dependent, instead He wants to begin a new adventure, an adventure that will transform, that will allow people to dream and learn to live the Christian realities. These realities and those answers we demand today, are present in you and I.
On the other hand, the third character was paralyzed by fear. His prejudices and imaginary fears did not allow him to act and put his talent to work. Fear is one of our worst enemies, because it won’t allow us to grow, we are afraid of what is going to happen, we are scared of what others might say, or we are afraid of being wrong, afraid that we might do the wrong thing, to be mistaken. I think that none of those characters should stop the way we march towards our personal development.
The third character was not able to develop his talent because he was afraid of making a mistake, he was not able to challenge himself, he was not able to break his own chains, his own barriers. We have to break the barriers of fear, we have to stop being so fragile and weak, how many things we have not done or have done half way because we are afraid of the people close or around us.
Be not afraid, walk and do not look back. The parable of the talents is a way which allow us to consider two different styles of Christian life:
In one hand, our life of faith is presented as a transformation task of our reality. God is counting on our collaboration, He needs our lips to continue announcing the Good News, He needs our hands to continue supporting others, He wants us to make His presence known wherever we go, make Him known to the limits of the earth.
On the other hand, the parable demonstrates to us a sad spectacle of believers, who remain passive to the needs of the Church and the community. They won’t talk, they won’t do anything. For these people, faith is an absolute individual experience, which takes place in the intimacy of their own conscience and transcends to their social lives. They limit themselves to be good individual in their own environments.
Let us pray, that the parable of the “talents” help us to be conscious, be aware of the charismas we have received and the social responsibility that weights on each one of us. We have to settle account with our own conscience, to society and to God of the charismas we have received. We will also hear the words “well done my good and faithful servant “ or the sentence “you wicked and lazy servant”. Let us use responsibly all the possibilities given to us thru our liberty.
AMEN!!
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