The Need to Shake Our Faith
November 19, 2023
Today’s Gospel parable is one that troubles many on more than one ground. There is a ‘master’ who is known to be ‘hard’ and is quite violent, who ends up punishing the third servant whose only mistake is that he did not risk investing his talent, and then, most troubling of all, gives even more to the one who already has more.
Before we get into interpreting this parable, we must remember to treat parables as stories told to teach a specific lesson and not try and draw out lessons from every element in the parable. If we did attempt to do that, then we would have to ask whether the parable is meant to support capitalism (after all the master approves the first two for investing the talents given to them), whether violent punishment is approved by God, whether slavery is ok, etc etc. So some of the things in this parable that trouble us, arise because we treat the parable in this manner. What then is the meaning of the parable?
In Mathew’s Gospel, this parable is one of three parables used to teach the disciples how they must prepare themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven. The entire context is one where Jesus is almost sure that his death is imminent, and he is eager to prepare his disciples to be ready for their own struggles, so that the Kingdom of Heaven could blossom in their own hearts. So he teaches them three things, in these three parables: (a) In the parable of the young women preparing for their bridegroom (which we heard last Sunday) he is telling us that we need to always be ready for the Kingdom of Heaven, always be ready to give an account of our lives; (b) In the parable of the Last Judgement, which comes next Sunday he is telling them that unless they love their neighbour, they will not experience the Kingdom of Heaven.
So what was Jesus trying to teach through the parable we heard in today’s Gospel? When Jesus started re-interpreting the Scriptures to give teachings that seemed new to his listeners, his preaching was seen as disruptive and threatening to the earlier interpretations that people had received from the religious authorities of their day, and with which they had learnt to live in ‘peace’. Thus we have Jesus teaching repeatedly: “You have heard that it was said….. But I say to you…..” (Mathew 5: 21-48) clearly indicating his new interpretation of standard Scriptural texts. Then there are his teachings that say the poor are blessed and the rich have much to be worried about (Luke 6:2--26), which went completely against the then prevalent Jewish belief that having wealth indicated that God was blessing one because of one’s faithfulness to Yahweh. And such teachings made people question their own traditional understandings of their own faith. Through this parable then, Jesus was telling them that they had to be open to the risk of losing the safety they had experienced in following the traditional teachings with which they had grown up for all the years of their lives, in order to be open to gaining a much deeper understanding of their own religious teachings. And so, through this parable, he is telling them not to be like the third slave who, for the sake of his own safety, lest he lose what he already had, and for his own peace of mind, had hidden his talent in the ground, had closed himself in. Rather, he should have been able to open himself up by putting his ‘talent’ out there, even if it threatened its safety, in which case he would have got even more.
Let me connect this with our lives today. I have often had people tell me that they do not want to start asking questions of their own religious faith and beliefs, (e.g. concerning the truth in the Bible, or the teachings handed down by the Church to them, etc) because if they allowed themselves to start asking these questions, then this would threaten their own interior peace and sense of safety that they had already found in the kind of religion that they currently followed. In fact I remember when I was teaching in a diocesan seminary in India, that I was told with disapproval that my teaching was raising so many questions in the minds of the seminarians, that some/many of them felt that their faith was threatened. Or again, isn't the fear of many that is expressed in the outrage they feel when Pope Francis tries to re-interpret Catholic teachings, similar to this fear of letting go of those traditional ways of understanding what Jesus came to teach which they had been used to for so many years, and which had given them solace and ‘safety’. To use the imagery of the parable, are these responses just indications of those who reflect the attitude of the slave who buried his talent because he preferred ‘security’ rather than the possibility of ‘growth’?
This teaching that one must be willing to risk oneself in order to gain much more, can also be seen in relationships. We are often told that one can only find love, if one gives oneself up completely and allows oneself to become vulnerable. But, of course, in the process one risks being hurt. However, without being willing to risk that hurt, perhaps one can never find true love. It is a lesson that Jesus often harked back to as in that famous teaching of his: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)
This understanding of the parable, can also help us move towards an understanding of the troublesome phrase found at the conclusion of the parable:: “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away”. This is apparently not a one-off teaching of Jesus, for we find the same teaching in Mark, in Luke and in another part of Mathew’s Gospel itself.
Often enough, this statement of Jesus has been used to justify the huge income differentials in the world today as something ordained by God. But it doesn’t make sense to believe that a Jesus who preached that the poor are blessed, and the rich are condemnable, would justify such unequal situations. So how do we understand this concluding statement of Jesus?
Take the example of two potential ice-skaters. There is one who has a deep urge to learn ice-skating, who practices and practices, from her/his first hesitant steps on the ice till s/he becomes a graceful dancer on the ice. On the other hand, there is another who starts beginning to ice-skate, but doesn’t go very far, and then gives up, with the result that over time, even the little skill of ice-skating that s/he may have developed is gradually lost. Thus we always grow in the direction in which we move our lives by our repeated efforts. Those who invest more of themselves like the first ice-skater, will gain even more skill and grace in skating, while others who are like the second ice-skater lose even the little ability or skill they may have developed. So those who keep opening themselves up to Jesus’ new way of understanding their faith and practising it, (whether it be at the time Jesus preached, or even today when we need to understand our faith in today’s very different world) will be rewarded even more, while those who close themselves up when they are challenged by such new interpretations, will gradually lose even the little understanding that they had perhaps gained.
So, this saying of Jesus is not an endorsement of the increasing disparity we often find in many spheres of life, but rather a statement reflecting an insight into the reality of life, an insight that is as applicable to our own religious growth.
A woman of strength who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not harm all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city gates.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;
Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-30
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, [a] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave, you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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