Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 17.10.02 Prov 31,10-13.19-20,30-31; i Thess 5,1-6; Mt 24, 36.25,14-15.19-21 God’s Kingdom is like this... Chapter 25 of Matthew not only closes the ‘teaching section’ of Jesus in the Gospel, but it sums up all that Jesus stands for, providing a final vision for our history on earth. It contains three stories: Ten Bridesmaids: 5 wise & 5 foolish; Three ‘talented’ servants and the last judgment. The three stories are tightly locked-in together with the concept of God’s Kingdom and King. It starts with: ‘At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this...’. Then the 1st story unfolds concluding with a disturbing warning: ‘Watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man comes’. Now, this warning raises several questions: what are we to watch for? Who is this "Son of Man"? What is ‘the day or hour when the Son of Man comes’?... To give an answer to these questions, the second story (the talents) opens with these words: ‘for it ( Kingdom of heaven) will be as if a man...’ and unfolds.. But even this story ends with several disturbing questions: who is this ‘man who leaves the country’ and entrusts his talents to his three servants? what is the meaning of ‘long time’? And of ‘settling accounts’? Isn’t the story rather unfair? In it, the last servant may be lazy, but not wicked: why take away from the one who has nothing, even the little he thinks he has? And why "throw him out into darkness..."? So again, all these questions are answered by the third story, which starts with the words: ‘When the Son of Man comes...’. Finally, here we find who the King is, and on what grounds is judgment imposed. Notice the parallels between the stories: in the second story we read: ‘Well done good and faithful servant, enter the joy of your Lord’; and in the last story, the words are: ‘Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the Kingdom, for I was hungry’: Jesus himself is the King of the Kingdom. If you don’t use, you lose it: In the parable of the talents, is hidden a reminder of events that happened after the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in year 70AD. While Matthew sizes the severity of the tragedy, he invites his contemporaries to reflect that it is not the ‘end of the age’, indeed it is the beginning of a new Kingdom in Christ, where God is in charge, and Christ is the final judge of all. The lesson of the parable is: when upheavals rage, and life becomes unpredictable, risky and provisional; when terrorism threatens our very survival, what options have we? Matthew’s answer is: especially at this time, one cannot afford to be caught unprepared or lazy, careless or mindless. Instead, let’s be warned and stay pro-active all our life; let’s work even harder for survival, always looking for the best available outcomes. This life is all we get: let’s use it with wisdom and cunning: gather all energy, strive with all our might, use all our skills (talents). In life, what you use, gets doubled, but what you do not use, you simply lose forever. As we life, we all get our share of calamities and temptations, tribulations and hardships. When this happens, we must not despair as if nothing matters. Instead, Matthew urges us to get going, stay involved into the traffic, and trade and toil of life. Let’s improve our situation with our talents entrusted to us. This lesson is especially driven home in the case of the careless & lazy servant: he got only one talent; he didn’t have to do a lot. Instead, he hid it, did nothing & gave it back. In the parable he stands berated and found guilty of sloth and wickedness: not because he got only one talent. This is all he could handle. But because he accused God of being a hard Master. Today Reflect: ‘how big is your God’, as he says: ‘well done, good & faithful servant..’
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