Today’s readings : Proverbs 31, 10-13. 19-20. 30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6; Matthew 25, 14-15.19-21.
The problem of every Christian has always been that of a double citizenship, being in the world but not of the world. How can we reconcile being spiritual and engage with the world? Writing to Thessalonians, St Paul warns against a passive attitude that shuns commitment in being involved in worldly matters. He insists that as children of the light we cannot “go on sleeping, but stay wide awake and sober”.
Our faith can never estrange us from the world we inhabit, creating a comfort zone alien to what’s happening around us, and pretending to be concerned mainly with an individualistic concept of salvation. Religion is not about pure personal ethics that excludes its political dimension. It is not about rendering to God His due and just being accountable to Him on judgement day. We are accountable also to others and to the world at large. Otherwise religion is irrelevant and futile.
Today’s parable condemns a man whose relationship with his master (God) was shaped by fear, and who thought that by burying his talent in the ground he could restore back to his master what belonged to Him. This contrasts heavily with the attitude of the other two, who traded the talents received and generated a good turnover. Today’s Scriptures speak about the turnover our faith generates in the world.
Risk is an integral factor in any enterprise, including faith. Our faith is constantly provoked by changing times and our changing hearts. For this we all received the anointing with the Spirit which empowers us to venture in deeper insights of the Gospel mandate. For ages we thought that being faithful meant keeping things exactly as they always were, and many seem to be stuck in this old-school conservative mentality.
The parable shows how being faithful in small things leads to being trusted with greater ones. God trusts us not simply with material things but with the management of our own lives, which is by far superior. Today’s parable, strictly speaking, is not just about the talents we receive but about the true God we believe in. He is a God who gives unconditionally because He trusts us. He invests so much in us because He believes in us, and His call is to let His love transpire from the way we manage our lives.
Religion is about listening to the voice of God within and assuming our responsibility to make His kingdom come. It is about discerning God’s will for us, which is not a plan cast in stone that allows no space for us to do it our way. In this regard we often get it so wrong. Many still find it hard to distinguish between fate and faith. God respects our will because He cannot deny us the liberty He gifted us with.
His presence is not suffocating but sustaining. He is not someone always prompt to punish us for transgressions, but He sends signs and warnings whenever we go off track because He dreads seeing us suffer consequences of bad choices.
As the gospel goes, “to everyone who has will be given more, but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away”. Failing to be sober in the management of material things does not augur well when it comes to managing the deeper dimensions of living.
The entire world is now going through very difficult times and facing a crisis of unprecedented dimensions. The way we as believers respond to this crisis is crucial and can benefit humanity, which in times like these thirsts for what is rewarding in the spirit and what gives it back its soul. Engaging fruitfully with the world around us while discerning God’s light can put back in the hearts of many the trust that grounds our very being as humans.