33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A

The Parable of the Talents takes up the question which that of the wise and foolish bridesmaids left unanswered from last Sunday: what is ‘readiness’? While the bridesmaids might be said to be passively waiting, here in this parable, it is not a matter of passively ‘waiting’, but of responsible activity, producing results which the coming ‘master’ can see and approve. The period of waiting was not intended to be an empty, meaningless ‘delay’, but a period of opportunity to put to good use the ‘talents’ entrusted to his ‘slaves’. It is a theme that is clearly present in the account of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servant.

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.

There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel

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