33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. November 19, 2017 [Matthew 25:14-30]

“…out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground” (Mat 25:25)

Talent is one of the few biblical words that has become part of our modern language. Talent connotes a God-given ability or a natural unique skill, and yet it has not fully developed. Thus, we are called to use and harness our talents in order to achieve our full potentials and contribute to the progress of society. In fact, talents have become well-sought commodity in our society. Companies only hire the talented employees. Schools are marketed as venues of talents development. Our TV channels and social media outlets are filled by shows where we perform, compete and prove that we possess the best talent in singing, dancing, and the like. How our world is now obsessed with talents!

Going back to our Gospel, we may have a different meaning of talent. The Greek “talanta” in our Gospel’s today means an extreme large sum of money. Perhaps, a talent is worth more than one million US dollar in our currency. From the parable, the man is extremely rich that he can easily entrust his talents to his servants. And those three servants are expected to work on those talents and produce more talents. In no time, the two servants double the talents, and like the master, we instinctively praise them. The third servant does nothing, but buries the talent. This causes the ire of the master and he immediately punishes the servants because of his inability and laziness. We would agree with the judgment of the master, and draw a classic lesson from the parable, that we must also develop our “talents” and avoid laziness.

However, unlike the parable of the ten virgins (we listened last Sunday), Jesus does not explicitly mention that we imitate the master or the successful servants. There is something trickier here. Examining closely today’s parable, we may ask whether the third servant is just lazy, or there is something else? If he has so much money in his hands, why would he bury them and wait for the harsh judgment? He could have just run with the money to faraway place and make a fortune out of it? The answer is revealed in the defense of the third servant. The servant is aware that his master is a harsh man who “reaps where he did not sow, and gathers where he did not scatter seed.” This means that he knows that his master gains his wealth through dishonest ways. Surprisingly, instead denying the accusation, the master admits his misdeeds. He is a harsh and corrupt man, and perhaps, he wants his servants to imitate their master’s dishonest methods in doubling their talents. Thus, to silence his deviant servant from spreading the news, he throws him into the darkness.

The third servant says that he is afraid and thus, he buries the talent. He might be afraid of his master, but it may be that he is more afraid of offending God. By dishonest conducts, he commits injustice, makes other people suffers, and creates further poverty. He might be condemned as lazy servant, but he stands with the truth. Despite pervasive culture of lies, he remains steadfast in his honesty.

This may be unusual interpretation of the parable, but this lesson is more radical and profound than simply working hard for our talents. Through the third servant, Jesus invites us to be a sign of the Kingdom in the world. With pervasiveness of fake news and hoaxes around us, we are invited to seek and speak the truth. With so many injustices and poverty, we are called to do what is right and yet be compassionate. May I end this reflection by quoting Archbishop Oscar Romero, “A church that doesn’t provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a Word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, what kind of gospel is that? Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world.”

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP