For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them

 

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.  And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.  Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.  And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.  But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money.  After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.'  His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servants; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'  He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.'  His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'  Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  And I was afraid, and went and his your talent in the ground.  Look, there you have what is yours.'  But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.  So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.  Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.  For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.  And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"

 

- Matthew 25:14-30 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus has been giving a discourse to the disciples in the end times, and His Ssecond Coming.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus gave the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins:  "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.  But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.  And at midnight a cry was heard:  'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'  Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'  But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.  Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'  But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'  Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

 

 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.  And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.  Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.  And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.  But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money.  After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.'  His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servants; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'  He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.'  His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your lord.'  Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  And I was afraid, and went and his your talent in the ground.  Look, there you have what is yours.'  But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.  So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.  Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.  For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.  And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"  In the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (given in yesterday's reading; see above), the concern given was with the lamps which should have been full of oil, an image correlated with mercy and the grace of the Holy Spirit.  My study Bible says that today's parable illustrates the use of gifts given by God.  Even one talent was a huge sum of money (a talent was a certain weight's worth of precious metal, usually silver but also gold).  Here it represents the goodness which God has bestowed on each person.  The amount each receives is based on that person's abilities (Romans 12:4-7).  My study Bible notes that God does not show partiality in the ultimate reward, for all are invited to share in the same joy.   But note that the wicked and lazy servant could not evade responsibility for ignoring his talent; my study Bible comments that idleness is as much a rejection of God as outright wickedness.  To bury a talent in the ground is an illustration of using one's God-given gifts for earthly pursuits.  The bankers, according to my study Bible, represent other faithful people to whom the man could have turned to help him use his talents wisely.  As help was available to him in the Church, the man doesn't have an excuse. 

 

 In today's parable, there is a great deal of emphasis on the positive.  That is, on the positive action of doing something with the talents given by the man to his servants.  Again, it is imaged in St. Paul's expression of the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  What do we produce with the things God has given to us?  How are we capable of expressing fruit of the spirit?  The word "talent," as one may presume, has come to have its present meaning in English from this story.  Its original meaning was as a weight measure for precious metal, value as currency or exchange.  But as we can see from the parable, the product of the talent(s) or investment of the master is all about what is a bountiful blessing for the estate of the master.  The servants don't keep the profit; it all becomes a part of the servants' profitable work for the master whom they serve, and the growth of that estate.  So we're mistaken if we assume that this is simply about doing something with the talents we're given, or making a profit or career for ourselves somehow; the parable is not directed toward a self-centered perspective.  With what does God invest us?  What gifts are we given from God?  We no doubt have many innate talents with which we might be born.  But we're also given a gift in baptism; and the greatest grace we're given is that of the Holy Spirit.  Certainly in the great communion of saints, some are blessed with particular gifts they're known for.  For example, St. Barnabas, one-time companion of St. Paul, who himself had brought Paul to the apostles (Acts 9:27), was named for his gift of encouragement or consolation (see Acts 4:36-37).  As he contributed this particular gift to the early Church and the growing ministry of the apostles, so the name they gave him reflected the great value of his contribution.  In this sense, we can come to understand the nature of the talents given by the master and what results we produce.  So often we confuse talent with something that is monetarily profitable, but this is not the point of the parable.  The point of the parable is how we share those gifts and make the estate grow, build it up and edify it.   Again, in these early passages about St. Paul, we read in the Book of Acts that when Barnabas first brought the then-named Saul to the apostles, no one would speak to him, for they were all afraid of him and his past history of persecution of the followers of Christ.  But Paul's testimony thanks to Barnabas, and his gift of speaking, soon came to the attention of the community.  Included in Paul's gifts was his relatively sophisticated knowledge of Greek, so that in the wider Greek-speaking world, and when Gentiles began to come into the Church, Paul would prove so greatly valuable.  In Acts 11, we read, "Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:25-26).  Of course, this doesn't simply mean formal gifts to the Church per se; to serve the kingdom of God, to serve our true Master, is in the ways in which we reflect the grace we're given and choose to live our lives with respect to the kinds of righteousness God wishes as part of God's will for our world ("Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven").  We can use our gifts as did St. Barnabas, to console and encourage others.  We can use our gifts as did St. Paul, to edify and spread faith in all ways, to help understand and explain, and to testify.  Note how it is St. Paul's very experience of conversion that become a part of the "talent" he's given to take out to the world and produce spiritual fruit, to expand the Kingdom in the world.  We can all participate in this kind of action -- of putting our faith and the love of God into action of our own in the world, in the ways in which we choose to relate to others, and the kind of gifts we reflect in the world.   Let us keep in mind that it is most important that it is a prayerful life that leads us to use our talents in ways that please God:  we may find that we're asked to contribute beauty to others through artistic talents of all kinds.  A beautiful garden can uplift even as we've seen many gardens dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, who through the Holy Spirit, gave birth to the greatest gift of all, the beauty therein reminiscent of what has been given to us all and reminding us of the prayer and beauty of Mary and her example to us.  There are an infinite number of ways in which whatever gifts we have -- even those which may be overlooked -- can be directed in prayer for the great fruitfulness of the spirit in this world.  For just as Christ was born into the world with the cooperation of Mary, this is how each of us may also cooperate with the Holy Spirit through our "yes" and our willingness to be profitable servants (Luke 1:38).