Matthew 25:14-30 – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

Matthew 25:14-30

A.Text/Context

• It is very common in the New Testament Times that when a rich person travels he would entrust his money to his servants so that even while he is away, his business will continue
• Aside from that, traveling is very dangerous during those times because there are many thieves along the way and criminality was rampant
• And of course there are no secure places to hide the money so the traveler has to entrust his wealth to an agent or caretaker or his trusted servants
• And so this is the background of today’s gospel, the master goes away for a journey entrusting his money which they call at that time as talents. He distributed his money to his servants
• After a long time, the master returned and the servants were eager to report the investments they made to their master
• The 5 talents became 10. The 2 became 4, because they made a good business from the capital. The master was pleased and said: Come share the master’s joy
• When the servant who received the one talent made a report he said that out of fear that he may lose in a business, he just buried the money and then return it intact to his master
• The master said: You wicked and lazy servant. And so the one talent that he has was taken away and given to the one who has 10
• And then the useless servant was ordered thrown outside into the darkness
• If we look at the parable and understand it literally, it seems that the master who is actually God himself seems to be heartless and cruel to the last servant because he is only thinking of profit in business
• But it is not the way that we must understand the parable. It actually means that God has given us gifts or talents, or skills, or intelligence according to our own capacity and we must be ready to give an accounting upon his return
• And we are expected that we must use those gifts and let it grow for the sake of God’s kingdom
• The servants who were given 5 and 2 and have it increased to 10 and 4 respectively, are the people who made use of their gifts to the maximum
• The servant who was given only one talent just buried it without any productivity so it remains the same, are actually the people who have plenty of talents or gifts but they never made good use of it because they never shared it
• The message of the parable is actually a matter of sharing. You share the gifts that you have for the glory of God
• But those who do not share obviously cannot give anything and remember this: the little that he has is even taken away by the Lord
• So the message is very clear, even the little gift that God has given us if we fail to share it to others can even be lost because God can take back what is given, and God has the freedom to do so
• God gives, God will take it back, and also God can give it back again

B. Human Situation

• That is the point of reflection that the gospel is giving us today
• And in our life as Christians, varieties of gifts are given to each one of us and we are expected to develop and share them to others
• Some of are given mathematical and accounting abilities and so they are good in business while others are very good in talking and so they become teachers and politicians real estate managers and preachers
• Others are good in leadership and the others simply followed
• Others are meant to work in the offices and the others really love to work in the farm
• And so we have different courses that lead us to different careers in life making our lives very diverse
• In sports, perhaps you are a varsitarian in basketball because you are tall but you do not need your height if you want to excel in gymnastics
• You must be good in boxing but you cannot play the piano. Obviously, a boxer with hard and firm hands cannot play well as a pianist because the instrument needs soft and pliant fingers
• Others are endowed with so much physical beauty they become celebrities
• So what I mean, you cannot get all the talents that you want. If you are strong in one, you are weak on the other
• That is why whatever talent we have it is meant to be shared to others. Because the skills we have, the talents we have complement with what the others have. We make others complete with what we have
• That is why you might be wondering sometimes others are already wealthy yet they become wealthier still?
• That already answers the question. The richer we are, the greater is the social responsibility to assist those who are in need
• Others are so brilliant and intelligent and there is a purpose why. God gives them such intelligence so that they will be able to make plenty of discoveries through research to make our lives better
• If we fail to use that, we fall into the error of sin, in what we have failed to do. And some people just barely have talents; and even with that they still very selfish
• In our lifetime, we already met or knew a lot of people rich and poor alike and people are really the same
• There are wealthy people who are very generous but some, even if they are already wealthy are still very greedy
• There is no difference between the rich and poor when it comes to charity. We are reminded in the 1^st reading in Proverbs the  virtue of charity

C. Challenge

• The challenge that the gospel brings us today is that whatever kind of gifts that we have be it many or few, big or small, there is only one thing that God wants us to do
• Let your gift grow and share it to others. If you do that many people will be happy. St. Paul reminds us in 1^st Thessalonians to let the day of the Lord not overtake you like a thief
• We must remember that for all the intelligence and skills and talents that we possess, we are accountable to that
• It is actually God who endowed us with that and we are given the responsibility to develop them. It is not ours
• Can you imagine if a very brilliant scientist will have an accident and suddenly becomes amnesiac and forgets everything! All knowledge gone forever. If God gives, God can also take it back
• God demands from us to share to others the many good gifts that he gives to us in the spirit of love
• But he does not demand to share more than what we can do. We need to share only what we are capable of according to the amount of the gifts we receive
• Some will have to share more because God has given them more. Some will only have to share a little because God has only given them little. But even that little gift we still have to share it to others
• And lest we forget: the gift we have is our strength but it is also our weakness at the same time. So there is nothing to be proud of before God
• And let me end this homily with these words: what we have, we recognize that it comes from God; therefore we must stand ready to give it back to him by sharing them to others

Matthew 25 verse 14-30