Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 | Ps 128 | 1 Thes 5:1-6 | Mt 25:14-30
The parable Jesus tells today works very much in tandem with last week’s reading and brings us to the threshold of the Solemnity of Christ the King next week. Both parables concern an absence and a return together with a reward for those entrusted to meet the master at the end.
Specifically, a talent, as it is meant in this weekend’s gospel was a historical measurement of weight deployed in the ancient world to calculate monetary value. A broader reading, however, could see the three servants were given various levels of gifts. Either way, the question of what we are doing while we wait for the master’s return should strike us more.
Given the distribution of gifts (which will be varied for us all) we should ask ourselves the question: How do I spend my time and how do I share the gifts given me? (Especially as it pertains to our faith.) Because the language used to convict the last servant says something about faith. A way to sum things up is—life is simply too precious to greet the Lord empty-handed.
The Lectionary translation has the servant characterizing his master as “demanding,” but the Greek word used really means hard, harsh, or severe. The servant, afraid to trade because he might lose the money and incur the master’s wrath, failed to realize that the master showed confidence in him by giving him the talent and was willing to take a chance on him. The fault lay not in failing to gain any money, but in not even trying out of lack of trust in the master and his wisdom in giving the talent to him in the first place.
God of love, there is no way that I can give you back as much as I have been given. Do not let me see myself as a number on a heavenly balance sheet. Whatever you call me to do, help me to spend my life with love and generosity. I believe that this life is worth my best effort. Refresh my energy, for sometimes I feel it wearing out. You did not count the cost. Help me to do the same. For you, eternal God, have not just promised a “reward,” but you have promised me Yourself as my future.