Mt 25:14-30When we listen to the parables of Jesus, like the one we have just heard in today’s gospel, we need to recognise that the story is being told at various levels. Each of these levels helps us make sense of Jesus’ teaching. The first level is the story itself, with all of the details it contains. The second level is the way the story is interpreted by those who were listening to Jesus, because it says something about their lives and the way they lived. The third level is the way the story says something about our lives. Let’s see how this parable works at these three levels.
At the first level it is really a story about commerce and finance. The parable speaks about talents. It helps to know that a talent was a unit of money. So Jesus is using a familiar example from the world of trade and finance to make his point. It almost seems a universal principle: if you have money you can make more, but if you don’t have it then you can’t do anything. The servant who received the five talents and the one who received the two talents both go off and trade with them, and very quickly their investment has doubled. When the master returns home they are both praised for their astuteness and their good use of resources. The parable also tells us about what seems to be another universal principle of trade and finance, namely that when people lose confidence the whole market can come tumbling down. I guess we have all heard a lot about this in recent weeks as our own world faces up to a financial crisis, which the experts say is partly a crisis of confidence. The servant in the parable who received the one talents is paralysed by fear, so he does nothing. Or rather, he does the equivalent of what people have done when there is a crisis of confidence: he hides the money, just as we hear of people putting their money under the bed. He won’t even put the money in the bank. People like this think it will be safe under the bed and they won’t lose it, but of course it loses its value, so really they suffer a significant loss. Notice how the master treats this servant: he has him thrown into prison.
The lesson from the parable seems quite clear. Those who use the talents wisely and generously will find that they have more than enough to share around. Those who cling to what they have been given out of fear that someone else may get some advantage from it will find that they are the ones who end up being miserable.
This brings us to the second level at which the story is being told. It is also a story about the people who were listening the Jesus. What was going on as they heard it? My guess is that they were shocked by the fate of the third servant. They would have felt a bit sorry for him, because he seemed to take the safe pathway. Jesus, of course, wanted to shock them. The spiritual meaning of the parable is not about making money and trading investments. The talents point to the things that God has given them, particularly the Law and the Prophets. The question Jesus wants them to face up to is: how have they used these graces of God. How faithful have they been to God’s plan for them? This means that they have to confront the question of just how well they know God. Do they simply know a God they should be afraid of because God is hard and demanding? Or are they free enough to take responsibility for their own lives and live in the spirit of God’s abundant promises? The parable is a judgement on these people. When they hear of the servant who is thrown out in the dark they are meant to recognise their own fate here. And this is a fate of their own making.
This leads us to the third level at which the story is unfolding. What is the parable saying to us? You might like to consider this from your own perspective, whether you are young or old, studying or working, beginning your career or about to retire, or whatever. Quite clearly it is meant to be heard as a story of God’s generosity to each of us. I don’t think it is really a story of what special gifts God might have given us so that we can compare ourselves with others. One important gift God has given all of us is his word, which we can reflect on. The more we take time to do this the more we will be like those servants who got double return on their investment. As we reflect on the word of God we will grow in wisdom that will help us make good choices for living. Another gift God has given us is the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. The sacraments help us grow in personal friendship with Jesus, and to orient our lives within that friendship.
The overriding message of the parable for us is, I believe, that our Christian faith invites us to be people of boldness and confidence. The parable calls on us to live with imagination, so that the faith will truly grow in our world as we live openly, rather than fearful of God. I believe that the parable calls on young people particularly to project a positive image of a God who loves us and gives us the freedom to do good things in the world.
Fr. Gerard Kelly
