33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A
Matthew 25:14-30

Commentary of Fr. Fernando Armellini

A good Sunday for everyone.

An old wise man from Israel who lived long before Christ, asked the Lord: “Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty, if we are strong.” And he shared with us this reflection on the transience of life in Psalm 90, composed by him. If we do not keep this truth in mind, we run the risk of behaving like a foolish person who built his house, his life, in the sand, on which it has no consistency. His life eventually falls apart and collapses and there is nothing left of such a life.

Or we could end up like those foolish virgins Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of last Sunday; those girls who had forgotten the necessary oil to feed the lamp of faith and they ended up groping in the dark. And when you are in the dark, you trust those who are next to you to tell you everything, but they too are in the dark. And when these girls opened their eyes they realized that their lives had been a failure. People can clap too for the choices of a fleeting life, but in the end, it’s not these applauses that verify the success of a life, but the judgment that the Lord gives.

It is on this truth that Jesus wants us to reflect with the parable that he tells us today.Let’s hear how it starts:

“A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away.”

Jesus has staged four characters that are easy to identify. We immediately understand who Jesus is referring to. The man who goes on a long journey is himself that at the end of his life he left this world and went to the Father’s house. The three servants represent his disciples, those who said yes to his call and became involved in the kingdom of God, in the construction of a new world.

These servants are us and let us note well that we are called servants, not employees, workers. There is a big difference because the employees or the workers work to take home a salary at the end of the day. The ‘servant’ in the bible has another relationship with the owner. Servant is the one who is personally involved in what the owner wants to do or build. He is fully involved and shares the employer’s project, he feels it as his own.

This is why in the Bible the title of ‘servant of the Lord’ is reserved for great characters from the history of Israel: Moses, David, the prophets, who did not work to receive a reward, rather, they risked their lives to carry out the Lord’s work.

In parenthesis: in the New Testament, we have some people who have applied to themselves this honorary title. Thus, the beginning of Paul’s letters: “Paul … (does not say rabbi, he says) servant of the Lord.” James “servant of Jesus Christ.” These are people who have put their whole life at the service of God’s project, of the gospel. A woman also has this title: Mary, who says of herself: “Here I am, I am the servant of the Lord,” my whole life is yours. Closed parenthesis.

We must ask ourselves a question: Am I aware of this identity as a servant? Do I feel personally involved and do I feel as mine the cause of the gospel? Or is it something that worries me only marginally because the interests of my life are different from that of the Gospel? Do I feel like a salaried person who at the end of my life, as I have behaved well, hope for the reward I deserve? If so, I’m not a servant, I’m still an employee.

We will notice that at the end of the parable no payment is mentioned. Only joy will be talked about for those who see the realization of God’s project in which he or she collaborated; and it will be an immense joy to realize that he or she was a builder of God’s story, that story that will not be canceled, instead, that will last forever. Let us now see the inheritance that Jesus left us when he left. We servants, we want to know what we have received from him to bear fruit. The image with which Jesus presents his inheritance is the ‘talent’ which is not a coin but a measure of volume or weight.

In Palestine, at the time of Jesus, the Attic talent was used, corresponding to 26 kilos of pure silver. It had enormous value. Calculations were done: a value corresponding to the salary of 20 years of work. Therefore, even the third servant who received only one talent had at his disposal a huge sum to bear fruit.
What was Jesus referring to by the image of ‘talent’? What inheritance has he left us? It is proven that it is difficult to eradicate the idea that talents indicate the personal qualities of each one; what God has given to each person and that they are different from each other… so, there are those who have the talent for painting, others have the talent for music; We also say that some have the talent for sports. But talents are not the qualities that each one has; in fact, the inheritance is given by the Lord, in proportion to the gifts and abilities of each.

Let us now try to identify the talents that he has left us. If we are his servants, we will have to put all our abilities, at the service of this treasure. What did Jesus leave us? We have to look into the Gospel, we open it and find that it left us many gifts: He left us his peace: “I give you my peace.” Also: “I give you the power to cast out demons,” “the power to cure all kinds of diseases and ailments”, “I give you a new commandment” and many other gifts, but we want to know, in the end, what is the inheritance he left us.

Before leaving this world, what has he left us? The verb used in Greek is important, in this parable, it is ‘paredokem’ – ‘paradídomi’ = teach, show. The servants spread their hands because he had an important gift to give them. If we review the gospel and go to find where Jesus gives us his inheritance, we find this verb on Calvary, when John says: at the end of his life, after having taken that vinegar that they had given him, Jesus “bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

This is the talent, this is his heritage, his Spirit that will have to be put into practice with all our abilities. Let’s try to think: if Jesus at the end of his life had not left us this inheritance. What would have happened in the world? He would have left us a wonderful example of a life of love, of someone who never thought of himself but only of a new world, a world of love and gave witness of this love with the total gift of himself. A love that reaches even to the enemy, to give your life for even the one who hurts you.

If this was all what Jesus had left, then it would have been just a wonderful example. But who gives me the strength to be like him? This strength to love that way does not come from our human nature, from our biological nature; from nature we get the impulse of the flesh, as Jesus says speaking with Nicodemus, “what is flesh is flesh.” The impulse that comes from our human nature takes us in the opposite direction. The Spirit is the divine life that he had left us as an inheritance. This inner urge this new nature that has been given to us, which is the life of the Heavenly Father, divine life, this divine force leads us to live as Jesus lived. A life given for love. This is the inheritance that now, based on all our abilities, must make it yield fruit.

And now, the second question we can ask ourselves: Am I aware of the treasure that the Lord gave me? Am I aware of having received the same Spirit that led Jesus to give his life? Or, perhaps, for many Christians this is the last in the list after so many other interests, from the most serious to the most banal in which they feel involved.

Now let’s hear how the talents are managed by the three servants:

“Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.”

The one who had received five talents immediately understood the value of what had been given to him, and immediately went to use them. That ‘immediately’ indicates the need, not to waste time. Immediately all abilities are put at the service of this inheritance that the Lord has left. And the time between the departure and the arrival of the owner is that of our life. If we are to change the world, we must get to work immediately because it is the Spirit of the Lord, as Psalm 104 says, that renews the face of the earth. The Lord wants us not to waste time. Let us remember that when Jesus sent his disciples he said to them: “Greet no one along the way,” go straight to your mission.

And the passage presents the behavior of the servants. The first two servants are dynamic, enterprising, diligent, and double the capital. All their abilities are at the service of this gift that was given to them by the employer. And this Spirit, this inheritance produces according to the abilities of each one.

The Spirit is like the sap of plants; it is the same but then in each tree this sap produces different fruits; the same thing happens with the sap of the Spirit that is in each one of us and manifests itself based on the capacity that each one has to make the Spirit bear fruit. If one has extraordinary intelligence, it can be put at the service of sin, to build smart bombs or put that ability at the service of love. For example, a medical doctor, puts his abilities together not to accumulate money and to feel good, but to give life to those who are sick. If one has the gift of being a baker: he will not sell the waste to get rich, but he wants everyone to have the best possible food for their life. Another has the ability to be a journalist … must put this talent at the service of love, therefore, in the service of truth, of justice, not in the interest of some powerful people.

This is the fruit of the Spirit. It is presented by Paul in chapter 5 of the letter to the Galatians. This is the fruit of the Spirit. It is presented by Paul in chapter 5 of the letter to the Galatians. The fruit is love. Imagine a world guided by the Spirit, where everything turns into love, everyone is interested in the life of the brother and the sister. Joy is the fruit of the Spirit. Those who put their skills, their gifts at the service of the inheritance that Jesus left us, builds joy, want to see everyone happy; and fruit of the Spirit is magnanimity, does not pay attention to small things; it is benevolence, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control. Let’s imagine a world where all the gifts of each one are put at the service of the Spirit. It is heaven.

The third servant is going to bury the talent, this gift, underground; does not put his skills at the service of love. This gift must be invested, it is a treasure, but if I have many gold bars, and I put them in a safe, from time to time I will see if they shine … they are useless, they do not produce anything. To make them produce I have to put them into circulation and then these gold bars can produce houses, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, bridges, roads, wheat fields … If one buries the divine life, one continues to live according to the flesh, according to the instincts of biological life; and we know very well the fruit of the flesh, it is described in chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the Galatians: they are fornication, impurity, idolatry, enmities, discord, jealousy, dissension. The Spirit is not used; these gifts are put at the service of sin.

In practice, this third servant, by burying the Spirit, has buried himself as a man; has renounced the gift that characterizes him as a man because what characterizes us as a person is the ability to love freely as the heavenly Father does. We do not know the reason why the third servant behaved in such a foolish way. He buried his life as a man and now is the time to evaluate the choices that each of them have made.

Let’s listen to the master’s judgment on how his inheritance was handled:

“After a long time the master of those servants came to ask them for an account. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents came and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’”

After a long time comes the master of those servants. It is not said that he returns, he comes the second time. The first time he came to give his gift, his Spirit. The second time he comes to evaluate what has been done with this gift. “To settle accounts with them.” This translation is a bit strong: ‘συναιρει λογον’ — ‘sunairei logon’ = ‘to start a conversation with them.’ He had delivered his goods with complete confidence; he did not suggest how they should be used, he trusted his servants, but now he wants to know what they did with them. Let’s pay attention, it’s not that he wants to get back the gift he gave them; he gave it and that’s it; he did not make the servants work to pass it on back to him; he just wants to know: What have you done with your skills? Have you put them all at the service of this gift, so that it bears fruit?

This is what the first two servants answer: “I received and I gained.” They understood well that what they received was a gift, they did not have to return it, the gain was theirs; here’s the wisdom: they knew they had received a great treasure and made it bear fruit for them, they produced love, they grew in humanity, they loved fully, their life was all love, all attention to the needs of the brother and sister. They both receive the same praise. “Well done, good and faithful servant ” Jesus had said to that rich young man: “Only one is good,
the heavenly Father.” Now Jesus tells this servant who has built love to the full: “Good servant
… like your heavenly Father.” He is trustworthy. If you have been faithful in little things, you have built love, that is why you have faithfully used the gift that was given to you, now receive the ‘extra.’ The extra is the joy of the Lord, the joy of having been builders of God’s history, which is the one that remains. But the glories of the greatness of this world are ending.

Let’s try to ask ourselves: Do you think of the child of God growing within you, the kingdom of God that must grow in the world? Question yourself.

Let us now listen to the judgment on the third servant, who is the main character of the parable, although he is not the protagonist, but the whole narrative tends towards him; and Jesus wants to highlight the behavior that should be condemned. Let’s listen:

“Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back. ‘His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'”

From the mouth of the third servant we have heard a very harsh judgment towards God. “You are demanding, you reap where you have not sown and gather where you have not scattered.” No hint for God’s love, no sign of filial affection. Who put this image of God into his head? The Image of a ´Boss’… Unlike the other two, he did not understand that he had received a gift, that he did not have to return anything to the master. He had been given the inheritance so that he could get rich, be well. Instead, he continued to feel like a salaried- worker who had to work without making mistakes. He did not understand that making the master’s gift come to fruition belonged to him: a love that would humanize him.

The consequence of this image of God is that the one that ruins everything is fear; if we don’t understand that God loves freely, even when we make mistakes, how can we understand that loving freely makes us his children, makes us grow as people? We become people when we love, inspired by his own life. The master is very resentful as seen in the parable. He couldn’t bear to be thought of that way about him.

He rates this servant with three adjectives: You are unworthy: with this term ‘ponerós’ = ‘unworthy’ – the master tells him, ‘you are excluded from my relationship, you think I’m tough, you didn’t understand that I’m love and only love, even towards those who make mistakes.’ Then ‘lazy’ – ‘oknerós’, you are not busy, you are lazy, disinterested for the good of the brother and sister; and then you are useless, “acreios,” it means that you are a nullity; your life is wasted because it has not been invested in love.

And this is not all, because the master rebukes what the servant said about him. It is clear that he is resentful … ‘If you think of me in this way that I am one who reaps, this is the idea that you have made of me, so watch out for the consequences; you should have put everything in the bank and I would have withdrawn it with interest. What do you think about me … do you think I was going to take away the gift I had given you?’

What is the bank the master talks about? It is the life of the community, of those who know what heritage they have in their hands and make it bear fruit. The community of disciples who are moved by the Spirit and they work for the brothers and sisters. In this community, each one is called to perform a service to make those in need happy. And the lazy servant had his talent taken away. Since he did not render the service that he should have performed, now the talent is given to the one who is already very busy, in fact, to the one, the most committed to the community; he will be the one who will perform the service that the lazy servant should have done.

The punishment: ‘You are excluded from the joy of those who belong to the kingdom of God. You will be thrown into darkness.’ The ones who are thrown into darkness are the ones who have a failed life. ‘You are not in the kingdom of God, you belong to the ancient world, that of accumulation, of competition; the one who does not move for love ‘. That ancient world where wars are fought to impose and dominate. It is not damnation to hell, it is the fact that, by burying the Spirit, the divine life in you, you dehumanize yourself.

We wonder if there are these three servants, two perfect ones and one who simply does nothing, bury everything. These servants do not exist. Jesus is a Semite and the Semites love these contrasts to give an idea of what the Lord expects of us: ‘Either they are blessed or cursed,’ there is no middle ground, ‘love or hate,’ ‘happy or woe’ … This kind of servants do not exist and the really good ones, if they have a few talents that would be something extraordinary already; but also those who have received only one talent, anything, they also present it at the end of their lives because there is no person who does not perform some action of love in life, and these loving actions all come from the inheritance of the Spirit that Jesus of Nazareth left us.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.

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