“God
Chose the Weak of the World to Shame the Strong” by Peter Sonski (@29sonski)
Piety
“God chose the weak of the world to shame the
strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for
nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something.” 1 Corinthians
“The eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear
him, upon those who hope for his kindness.” Psalm 33
“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.” Matthew 25
Study
The
parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) tends to be both familiar and
confounding. One can accept Jesus’ praise for the first two servants who use
their assigned talents, but his harshness toward the third servant who reserved
his talent is troubling. There is a plausible interpretation of this parable
however that helps it to make abundant sense.
Consider
first the context of the parable of the talents in Matthew’s account. It follows
the accounts of the faithful—and unfaithful—servants (Matthew 24:45-51) and the
Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), two parables that are admonitions of
fidelity. It precedes the famous last judgment
description (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus’ final teaching in Matthew’s Gospel
immediately preceding the passion narrative. These bookend pericopes give
abundant perspective to what Jesus considers a “talent” in today’s gospel
account, namely an expression of mercy.
Why are
the two outgoing servants invited to share the “master’s joy,” while the
tight-fisted fellow is condemned to “the darkness outside, where there will be
wailing and grinding of teeth” (Matthew 25:30)? Perhaps it follows from Jesus’
Sermon on the Mount admonition: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
This
insight is courtesy of a homily
by Bishop Robert Barron: “The divine mercy—received as a pure gift—is meant to
be given to others as a pure gift. Buried in the ground, that is to say, hugged
tightly to oneself as one’s own possession, such a talent necessarily
evanesces. And this is why the master’s seemingly harsh words should not be
read as the punishment of an angry God but as an expression of spiritual
physics: the divine mercy will grow in you only inasmuch as you give it to
others.”[i]
Action
Just
for today, consider your own need for mercy.
“Who
can say that he is free from sin and does not need God’s mercy? As people of
this restless time of ours, wavering between the emptiness of self-exaltation
and the humiliation of despair, we have a greater need than ever for a
regenerating experience of mercy.” (Pope
St. John Paul II, Regina Caeli message, April 10, 1994)
[i]
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2014/09/22/the-deeper-meaning-of-the-parable-of-the-talents/
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