Prov.

31: 10-13; 19-20; 30-31

Cycle A I Thes. 5: 1-6 19 November 2017
Mt. 25: 14-30
 INTRODUCTION:
Our Gospel this Sunday is the
very challenging Parable of
the Talents. The dynamic of
investment, risk, and return is
a very good model of the
spiritual life. Your being
increases in the measure
that you give it away.
 INTRODUCTION:
That's the Law of the Gift
and it can be found from end
to end of the Bible. One
application of this Law has to
do with faith itself. Your faith
will grow in the measure
that you share it with
others.
1
CONTEXT: A man goes to a journey.

Before leaving, he entrusts money

to three of his trusted servants. To
one, he gives five (5) talents; to a
second, two (2) and to a third, one
(1) -- each according to his ability.
1

The first servant traded his

five talents in the open market --
today, indeed very risky! The
second does the same and both
doubled their money. The third
man, cautious, buries his talent
sure to give back to the master
upon his return.
1

When the master returns,

he praises the first two servants
and gives them a greater
responsibility. The third man he
upbraids as "you wicked, lazy
servant" and takes away the talent
from him and gives it to the one
INTERPRETATION:
A talent is an enormous amount of money.
2

Jesus loves to tell stories taken

from rural life but this one is taken
from the world of business --
for us in the West, closer to our
experience.
2
The dynamic of
investment, risk,
and return
provide a good
model for the
spiritual life.
2
The reason for this is God exists in
gift-form. The Divine Being is a
letting/giving God. We see this in
the Trinitarian relation.
2
The Father is such in relation
to the Son; the Son is son in
relation to the Father; the
Spirit is so only in relation to
the Father and the Son.
2

Therefore, if you want to have God's

life in you, you must become
conformed to his way of being.
We think that if we want to have
God's life in us, we have to
take and get.
2

Well, no! Quite the opposite! You

have to learn how to give, if you
want to have God. Let this little
formula sink deep! This is the
way to sum up Christian life.
2

Think of the talents now as

everything we receive from God:
life, breath, being, all our power of
mind and will.
2

Because they come from God, they

are meant to become gifts. If you
cling to these in the manner of the
third servant, they don't grow; in
fact, they wither away.
2

The first two servants received

more. Why? Because they
risked what they have been
given. They were willing to
give it away and thereby
doubled their wealth.
2

That is why at the end of the

Parable there is the conclusion:
"For to everyone who has, more
will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not, even
what he has will be taken away."
(v. 29)
2

What it means is the one who truly

has the Divine Life knows how to
give it away and that in turn will
make the original gift increase.
2

The opposite holds true! If you try

to cling to the Divine Life, you will
in short order lose it. The Divine
Life cannot be clung to
because it is in gift-form.
2

Therefore, if you spend your

life clinging to God's gifts,
you will in short order lose
them.
2

What happens is that we sinners

get caught up in the bad rhythm
trying continuously to fill ourselves
when in fact we should be
emptying ourselves out.
2

In the language of Peter Moren,

"We are a country of go-getters
where as Christians we should be
go-givers."
3
APPLICATION:

Let us apply the above

principle to Evangelization
or the sharing of the Faith.
3 Life increases in the manner that
you give it away; so Faith increases
in the manner that you share it.
3
There are many people who
struggle with unbelief or with
weakened faith either because
our faith is under attack from
a lot of different angles or
because a person has
undergone a difficult
experience in life like a death
of a loved one.
3
Remember the principle!
Some people can't seem to
begin sharing their faith until
they are really sure.
3
No, it is in the very act of sharing
our faith that our faith becomes
strong. It would be wrong to wait
around until one's faith is strong
enough to share it.
3
Remember again the
economic content of Jesus'
Parable: money won't grow
until it is risked.
3
A safe strategy is self-defeating.
Your faith has to be risked!
Privatizing our faith is the surest
way to losing it. It has never been
easy to proclaim our faith!
CONCLUSION:
Find some concrete way to
profess your faith or share
your faith in such a way that
it grows even a little!

+ART