The End Things

This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the Parable of the Talents: 28 Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. 29 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. 30 And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

The master was portrayed in v. 24 as someone determined to hang on to the proceeds of his servants’  trading as well as the talent just returned. But there is a surprising twist to the story in v. 28 as the story moves the spotlight away from the master to the successful servant who represents effective discipleship. But why is he now in possession of the ten talents which he had previously surrendered to his master (v. 20)? Should we suppose that the money has been returned to him for further trading (perhaps this is what the “many things” of. v. 21 referred to)? Otherwise eleven talents seems a ridiculously large sum for a servant to be given. But probably we should not expect the parable to mirror real life, and this is a way of underlining the theme of the disproportionate rewards which God gives to his faithful people, e.g. 19:27–29. So this slave’s success attracts further reward, on top of what has already been declared in v. 21, and the same proverbial saying which was used of the progressive enlightenment of the disciples in 13:12 now underlines the theme that success breeds further success, while failure is further compounded. It would, however, be pressing the imagery too far to infer that the blessing of the good disciple is at the expense of the forfeiture of the bad.

There is thus a fundamental division between good and bad disciples, between the saved and the lost, and the language of ultimate judgment is deployed again to warn the reader to take the parable’s message seriously. What ultimately condemned this disciple, and made him not ready to meet his Lord at the parousia, was the fact that he had proved to be “useless” for the kingdom of heaven. Like the man ejected from the wedding feast in 22:13, his performance had not matched his profession, and it is only those who “do the will of my Father who is in heaven” (12:50) who ultimately belong to his kingdom.

A Final Thought

Even though “talent” in our text refers to a large sum of money, I also think that we can use it to refer to abilities that God has given us and how we use them while we are waiting for Jesus’ return. We need to consider them as gifts from the gracious God and we need to consider that what we do with them becomes our gift to God. The parable is not a gentle tale about what Christians do with their individual gifts and talents, as helpful as that may be, but a disturbing story about what Christians do or do not do with the gospel as they wait for the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

Image credit: The Parable of the Talents by Willem de Porter, 17th century, National Gallery of Prague, PD-US

Worthy of Wisdom

Note: this homily is for a children’s Mass

Many years ago, when I was living in Kenya, the community recognized certain people among them as the mzee, the elders. People that had not only lived a long life, but were recognized as having garnered wisdom from their life – from the difficulties, the mistakes, the successes – and now carried the treasure of that experience as wisdom that was available to the tribe. When people needed advice about an important decision or a difficult problem, they went to the wazee of the community.

What about us? To whom do we go if we have a difficult problem. If I have a pastoral dilemma I probably won’t go to Kindergarten to ask the students there for advice. I will go to chat with Fr. Jim or Fr. Chris. That’s me, what about you? You might ask your parents, your grandparents, or your teachers or a coach.

And yet, in today’s first reading, St. Paul tells us something surprising. He says that God sometimes chooses people whom the world considers weak or unimportant to show us something about His wisdom. And that includes children – perhaps even kindergarten kids.  Not because children know more than adults. There are lots of things you still need to learn. But it does mean that you have something to teach us. Let me give you an example.

Imagine that a new student comes to school. The student doesn’t know anyone. At lunchtime, everyone is sitting with their friends, talking and laughing. But the new student is sitting alone. I know that often adults will encourage students to sit with the new kids, but perhaps the adults are busy. Then one of you notices.

You simply walk over and say, “Would you like to sit with us?” It might seem like a very small thing.

But think about what just happened. You noticed someone whom others had overlooked. You recognized that someone needed a friend. And you did something about it. That’s a kind of wisdom.

And it brings us to today’s Gospel. Jesus tells us that when we care for someone who is hungry, lonely, sick, or in need, we are caring for Him. Jesus is telling us that sometimes we encounter him in people we might not even notice.

And perhaps that’s something children can teach adults, remind us when you notice things we miss. When you notice when someone is sad or being left out. When you notice when something isn’t fair. And when you take action – even as simple as “Would you like to sit with us?”

Of course, children don’t always get it right. Neither do adults. We all have things to learn. But here’s what I want you to remember. God doesn’t have to wait until you’re grown up before he can work through you.

You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, or the strongest, or the oldest. You simply have to be willing to notice the people around you and respond with kindness and love.

As it says in the Book of Wisdom, Wisdom “makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her.” St. Paul reminds us that Wisdom finds the children worthy. So, be attentive to those around you. Because sometimes the wisest thing we can do is simply notice someone who needs us. And when you do, you may be helping the rest of us see the world a little more as God sees it.

Image credit: created by Dalle-3 on 8-26-26 with elements: word “Wisdom”, wooden letters, light bulb, warm wooden background

The Third Servant

This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the Parable of the Talents: 24 Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; 25 so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ 26 His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? 

The third servant’s inaction is perhaps to be attributed to simple self-interest: he could not expect to get any significant personal benefit from whatever his trading might achieve, so why bother? He may also have been afraid of how such a master might react if his commercial venture failed, but if so he has chosen his words badly: his description of his master’s “hardness” explicitly recognizes the desire for profit which makes his own safety-first policy so unacceptable to his master. So his own words are rightly turned against him for his failure to engage in any degree of risk. But risk is at the heart of discipleship (10:39; 16:25–26); by playing safe the cautious servant has achieved nothing, and it is his timidity and lack of enterprise which is condemned. Some scholars describe his attitude as representing “a religion concerned only with not doing anything wrong.”

The servant’s portrayal of an unreasonable, grasping despot is not of course meant to be taken as a sober assessment of God’s expectations of his people. Parables often use surprising characters to illustrate aspects of God’s activity, (e.g. The burglar, 24:43; the eccentric employer, 20:1–16; the grudging neighbor, Luke 11:5–8; the lazy judge, Luke 18:1–8; the man who commends his steward’s dishonest practice, Luke 16:8) and the parable reader must learn to distinguish between the message conveyed and the vehicle. But even if God is not unreasonable and exploitative, the parable as a whole emphasizes that he makes exacting demands on his people.

Image credit: The Parable of the Talents by Willem de Porter, 17th century, National Gallery of Prague, PD-US

The First Two Servants

This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the Parable of the Talents: Immediately 16 the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. 17 Likewise, the one who received two made another two. 18 But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.

The first servant eagerness is a model for enthusiastic discipleship. He and his first colleague achieved spectacular results (100% profit), but clearly there was a risk involved, which their other coworker was unwilling to face. No doubt he would have justified his action as prudent rather than lazy (his master’s term for it, v. 26), but his prudence results in no benefit to his master.  Of course there is some benefit to simply maintaining the status quo. A contemporary rabbinic axiom was “Money can only be kept safe by placing it in the earth.” (b. B. Meṣiʿa 42a).

The “long time” in this parable corresponds to the delay in 24:48 and 25:5. There is time for life (and trade) to take its normal course. What exact course is taken depends on the servant. The settling of accounts immediately on the master’s return indicates what the opening scene has not made explicit: that the master was expecting his money to have been put to good use in the interval.

20 The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ 22 (Then) the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ 

Note that the master’s response to the first two servants does not depend upon the initial endowment. He welcomes each of them regardless of their abilities, what they were given to begin with, or even the final margin of gain. Consider the workers in the vineyard (20:1–16) where some did not have the opportunity to work as long as others, but all were equally rewarded. These servants are commended, like the servant of 24:45, as “faithful:” they have done what was expected of them. But the reward for reliability, as for the servant in 24:47, is not to be released from responsibility but to be given more of it. You don’t “retire” from being a disciple. If a sum such as five talents is “small matters,” the great things which follow will be a huge responsibility indeed. But along with the added responsibility goes a significant change of status, the new relationship of sharing the master’s joy.

In the story of the Rich Young Man, 19:28 suggests that in the “new age” the reward for faithfulness will be to share the authority of the enthroned Son of Man. Is it reading too much into our parable to envisage heaven as a state not of relaxed pleasure but of active cooperation with the purpose of God as well as enjoyment of his favor?

Image credit: The Parable of the Talents by Willem de Porter, 17th century, National Gallery of Prague, PD-US

Courage, Wisdom and Humility

Today is Veterans Day, a day when our nation pauses to recognize the men and women who have served in the armed forces. For many of us, this is more than a date on the calendar. It is a day of remembering people we served alongside, people who helped shape our lives, and people whose sacrifices we continue to carry in our memories. And today’s first reading from Titus offers a good starting point for our reflection when St. Paul writes: “Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities, to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.”

It makes clear key themes all veterans would recognize: obedience, respect for authority and a willingness to serve. These are essential for accomplishing the assigned mission as well as protecting the lives of the person in the same foxhole, the same ship, and the same “anywhere” our men and women serve. Military service is an honorable endeavor, one that the Church recognizes as such when it serves national security, protection of the innocent, and most especially, preservation of the peace. These are the “good enterprises” that Paul mentions. And “good” is where discernment is needed.

The obedience owed to duly appointed leaders does not relieve the soldier, sailor, or airman from discerning what is “good,” what is right. And yet the military cannot function if every individual decides independently which orders to follow. As St. Paul writes and the Church was long professed: legitimate authority deserves respect and obedience but it does not stand above the moral law.

We live in times when decisions about the use of military, kinetic action are rarely simple. They are never simple political calculations but always have a key moral element and as such required reflection – both before and after. Just this year we have seen kinetic action in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South American and elsewhere. We here this morning are like the majority of the military in that we don’t have access to intel and facts. What we think we know is incomplete or disputed. Nonetheless, the responsibility to ask whether an action is just, necessary, and proportionate remains.

The Church’s teaching recognizes that those who make decisions to use military force carry a particularly heavy burden and grave responsibility. While all that is “above our pay grade” we and those who serve under military authority have responsibilities of their own. Even though we do not have the same information, authority or moral burden, we are called to act with integrity. That perhaps is one of the important lessons of Veterans Day.

Today we remember and honor the courage of those who have served. The courage to accept a difficult assignment, to act decisively when lives are at risk and the courage to ask a difficult question when something does not seem right. This and more is all part of the moral responsibility that comes with service.

St. Paul’s words are not addressed only to soldiers or veterans, but to all of us because we all live under legitimate authorities, have responsibilities to others and encounter situations in which doing what is expected of us may not be the same as doing what is right. As Sunday’s reading emphasized, we need to clothe ourselves in Wisdom to discern the difference.

None of us will live a life of perfect judgment. With incomplete or incorrect information we will make poor choices or outright mistakes. We all have decisions we wish we could “do-over.” Perhaps we all carry the memory and burden of those choices. Today’s reading ends with the reminder that God saved us, not because of our own righteous choices, but because of his mercy. Ultimately, our hope rests not in our ability to have made every decision perfectly, but in the grace of the One who continues to call us toward what is good.

So today, we give thanks for those who have served our nation – both the living and the dead. We pray for those who still serve, especially those who must make difficult decisions in dangerous circumstances. And we pray for those entrusted with authority, that their decisions may be guided by wisdom, justice, restraint, and a genuine commitment to peace.

Perhaps the prayer we can all pray for ourselves: Lord, give us the courage to serve, the wisdom to discern, and the humility to seek your mercy.

Amen

Image credit: WordPress AI using the text of the post directing focus on Veterans Day | downloaded 11-7-2026