Homily for 33d Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for the
33d Sundayin Ordinary Time
Nov. 13, 2011
Matt 25: 14-30
Christian Brothers, Iona College

“A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them” (Matt 25: 14). I suspect that most people’s favorite parts of the Gospels are the parables. We all love a story. And, unlike some of the long discourses that we find in other parts of the Gospels, the parables show us the Lord’s teaching in action.

In these last weeks of the Church’s liturgical year, the readings usually encourage us to think of the Last Things: death, judgment, heaven, hell. So in recent weeks we’ve already had 2 parables of judgment, the wedding feast for the king’s son with the attached parable of the wedding garment (Matt 22:1-14), and the 10 virgins (25:1-13); we hear a 3d one today; and next week we’ll hear the most explicit one, in which the Great King gathers the nations to pass judgment on every individual (25:31-46).

Last Sunday’s parable and today’s, which are consecutive passages in Matthew’s 25th chapter, are also linked to the 2d Coming, to Jesus’ return: “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the bridegroom is long delayed, but eventually he arrives and admits to the marriage festivities those who are ready and waiting for him, and shuts out those who aren’t. In the parable of the talents, the master goes away on a long journey, but eventually returns and demands an accounting from his servants. In both cases, as also in the parable of the wedding guest who isn’t properly dressed (22:11-13), those at fault are consigned to “the darkness outside” (22:13; 25:30; cf. 25:11), banished from the joy, the festivity, and the light of the great hall of the master—from the banquet of eternal life. There’s celebration, there’s reward, there are light and warmth for the faithful, cold and black punishment for the foolish—which, in biblical terms, generally means those who ignore the wisdom of God’s Law.
Tonite’s parable in particular: the mark of fidelity is how the servants handle the talents entrusted to them (25:14). A talent was money, equivalent to 60 or 70 lbs. of silver. This master is entrusting something of very great value to his servants. “Talents” doesn’t refer to what we mean in English, i.e., a certain ability or skill. But the master does apportion his possessions among his servants “according to their ability” (25:16).
So we must ask: What very valuable possession has the Master entrusted to us, his servants, that in his absence he expects us to use wisely and earn a return for him? What investment has the Lord Jesus made in us?
Brothers and sisters, it’s our faith. It’s the Gospel.
Every Christian has been given this priceless gift, not to hoard privately like the 3d servant in the parable (25:18) but to invest and earn a return. Every Christian is responsible for evangelizing, for letting his light shine for all to see (5:14-16), according to his abilities, i.e., according to his state of life and his circumstances. There’s even a news story in the current issue of CNY about that: “Entire Body of Christ Must Be Missionaries,” in which Fr. Andy Small, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, is quoted on Mission Sunday last month as telling the congregation in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, “If you’ve been baptized, you’re a missionary. Nobody gets out of the obligation to be a missionary. It’s the essential and most fundamental part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.”*
So those of us who are religious and educators perhaps have received 5 talents from the Lord to engage in the commerce of our apostolic work, to win for him another 5 talents, many hearts and souls by our words and our example, by our faithfulness to our vows and our love for one another.
Those of you who are lay, spouses, parents, you might have received 5 talents too, or perhaps “only” 2 talents. While you’re not primarily engaged as an apostle like a priest or a religious, you’re still charged with ministry, with evangelization: bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel, to God’s love, to faithful and chaste love, to the dignity of every man and woman created in the divine image—bearing witness to each other, to your children and grandchildren, to the people you work with, to people you see socially.
Your children or grandchildren, too, are witnesses and examples to their peers of what it means to belong to Christ in how they practice truthfulness, chastity, kindness, obedience, going to church, etc.
All of us as citizens who happen to be Christ’s people are charged with bringing the truths and the values of the kingdom of God to bear on public life and public policy: priests and religious by their clear teaching of the social demands of the Gospel, and laity by more explicit efforts to make that teaching a reality in the laws and habits of our state and our country.
At the end of the 1st century, when Matthew wrote his gospel, Christians were persecuted in many places and generally discriminated against. Many of them could easily enuf have lain low and given no public indication of their faith—“burying their master’s money in a hole in the ground,” keeping their faith in the secrecy of their own homes. Likewise, Christians today may worship in their churches on Sundays and in their homes, but “out of fear” (25:25) might leave their faith at that, telling themselves that religion is a purely private matter and has nothing to do with life outside home and church, with efforts to make the kingdom of God a greater part of human life. Jesus’ teaching in today’s parable suggests that he’s not impressed with private faith, faith kept secret: “Throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (25:30).
On the other hand, using our talents, putting our faith to work in the world around us, our Master counts as genuine faithfulness and earns his praise and rewards (25:21,23).

* Ron Lajoie, “Entire Body of Christ Must Be Missionaries, Priest Says,” Catholic New York, Nov. 3, 2011, p. 24.