Before I give the homily, I must give two warnings about today’s gospel reading in which Jesus tells us the parable of the talents.
First, this parable is not so much about investment. Jesus is not telling us that we ought to be good investors like Warren Buffett. He’s not teaching us that we have to manage our financial assets and double them up in order to be good and faithful servants. He’s not promoting capitalism. For your information, the slaves aren’t dealing with a couple of thousand dollars. One talent is about half a million, $500,000, so five talents are worth $2.5 million. If Jesus really believed that having excellent investment skills was part of the requirements to be a good and faithful Christian, he should’ve at least given us half a million. The parable is not about stewardship or church capital campaign. The other caution is that this parable is not about discovering what we are talented at like our natural gifts or skills and use them for the church. Jesus is not urging us to take career personality and aptitude tests to better serve the church. This is important for everyone, whether one is Christian or not! Our modern use of the term talent like “America’s got talent” can confuse and mislead us. The church is not structured by those who got talent, but who are baptized in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our urge to structure our church according to our natural gifts and skills should be carefully discerned. We all know that God tells us to be good and faithful, not successfully talented at something. Then what’s the parable really about? Let’s remind ourselves that this parable comes right after the parable of ten bridesmaids which we heard last Sunday. It’s about the kingdom of God coming in the time of kairos, the time of God, not in the time of kronos. Our Christian life time is not measured impersonally and mathematically, but personally and spiritually. The theme of not knowing when the bridegroom will come still continues in this parable of the talents. The slaves have no idea when the master would come back. And he does “after a long time.” (v. 19) So we know the good and faithful slaves are living in the time of kairos and the wicked and lazy slave in the time of kronos. There’s another difference among the slaves in today’s parable. It’s about what kind of emotional attitude and spiritual temperature they have towards the master. These are shown in their responses to the master. The first two slaves who are given five talents and two talents have the same response. They say, “Master, you handed over to me five/two talents; see, I have made five/two more talents.” These slaves know exactly what’s given to them. They know what and who they’re dealing with. The other slave who is given one talent answers very differently. He says, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” First, notice that he doesn’t specify what he is given to from the very beginning. Even one talent is worth a lot. This is not about him being jealous or envious that the master gave him less than the other two slaves. He’s not really aware of what he’s given. Also, we can see how this slave with one talent looks at the master. We should definitely give him credit for being honest and having guts to describe his master as quite wicked and lazy. From his perspective, the master is the one who he should be scared of. He is afraid. He acts based on his fear. He probably thinks that he actually did a good job for not losing the talent as well as playing safe. His emotional attitude is driven by fear, and spiritual temperature is lukewarm. He simply wants to keep things the way it is and will be. There’s a lack of trust in his master. The master to him is the one who gives him a test and is ready to punish him if there's any financial damages caused by him. So, the essential difference between the first two slaves and the last one is whether they trust their master enough to take a risk! He buries what's given to him from the master. So how does today’s parable apply to us? The parable is about taking a risk in the time of kairos. It’s also about knowing and accepting what’s given to us. The symbol of talent in the parable is indeed about money. And each slave shows his gift and ability to double up their investment. Yet, this symbol as I said earlier is not limited to money or natural gifts. If we consider a talent as a unit of value, one talent is about 75 lbs, therefore, five talents 375 lbs. Think of this symbol of talent as weight which is given to each slave. The weight of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is given to all of us here. This weight of the paschal mystery is on our shoulders. Imagine back to your school years when you had to carry your heavy backpack full of books, softcover and hardcover, notebooks and etc. This may not be a pleasant experience. (Children nowadays have their textbooks in their tablet.) What do we do to set us free from this weight? We let go of this weight by giving ourselves to others. Christians are called to share, give, and empty ourselves. The weight that Jesus has given to all the Christians is to be given and invested in the poor and the oppressed. It’s not to be carried over your shoulders. It’s not meant to be kept under secret or for a private devotion. This divine weight actually buries you to the ground unless you don’t actively share. The more you give, the freer you become. The more you share your love and compassion, the reconciling power of Christ with the poor, the firmer your ground of being becomes in the presence of God. The weight of Jesus you carry becomes the firm and solid rock on which you stand when you give yourself to the poor. This business of taking the weight of Jesus off your shoulders is about taking risks of loving the unloveable, forgiving the unforgivable, hoping in the midst of despair, and believing the unbelievable like G. K. Chesterton once said. It’s about being adventurous about loving God and our neighbors. The wicked and lazy slave keeps this weight to himself. His god is too small for us. His god is the one who punishes people for every mistake they make and is like a bookkeeper of wrongs and rights. His god is a fearful one without love and mercy. This wicked and lazy slave represents the local religious leaders in Jesus’ time who seek personal security by selfishly observing the Law at the sacrifice of others This wicked and lazy slave might represent in our time those who carry the weight of the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet not sharing it and using it properly. Know that this holy weight of Jesus’ compassionate and reconciling power is given to you. Whether you like to admit it or not, it is given to you at your baptism. Christ wants us to take risks of loving the poor radically and courageously. There’s no room for fear to kick in. The God of Jesus desires us to take risks to love, forgive, and reconcile without ceasing. Fear creates hatred. Trust in the God shown in Jesus creates courage to love. The Reformer Martin Luther once said, “Sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more.” Christian faith is not filled with some pietistic behaviors and practices. It’s supposed to be fun and exciting. If we can experience the joy of sharing the holy weight of the paschal mystery here and now, there’s no way we will enter the joy of Christ in heaven. And we do this work of faith together as church. I invite all of us to feel this talent, this weight of the paschal mystery as we partake the Body and Blood of Christ at the Eucharist. The actual weight of the host, the holy sacrifice might feel light, but the weight that Christ’s body carries in it is big enough to feed this entire universe. Each one of us, according to our ability, carry this weight of the holy sacrifice, the divine mystery shown in the death and resurrection of Christ. Every day, we share this with those who suffer in our communities. We as Christians cannot get away from this weight of Christ’s love if not sharing. Otherwise, this weight will bury us into the outer darkness. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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