33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

You wicked, lazy servant! Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?

MT 24:14-30

Next Sunday will be the Solemnity of Christ the King. It is the last Sunday of the Liturgical (or Church) year. This will be followed by the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the New Liturgical Year.

Last Sunday’s gospel was about the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. It is reminder to be prepared for the Parousia (Christ’s second coming) which also marks the end of time and the transformation of all creation.


This Sunday the gospel is about the Parable of the Ten Talents. Talent here refers to money and not ability. The first two servants gained more money for their master. The third earned nothing at all. The religious use of the word “gain” means winning converts. We may, therefore, interpret the parable as working for the spread of the Kingdom of God.

In Confirmation, we have received the responsibility of working for the spread of the Kingdom of God. We often think of this as referring to work in mission lands. But it is not limited to that. It must also take place in our families, our communities, our work place, our countries.

What does “spreading the Kingdom of God” mean? When we pray the Our Father, we pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s it. God’s Kingdom spreads when more and more people accept and live by God’s will. That is why the Kingdom of God is better translated as “the Reign of God”. And where God reigns, the people there is “maka-Diyos”.

The lesson then of the parable is responsible use of the goods of the earth in order to make our families, our communities, our work place, our countries “maka-Diyos”.

EXEGESIS

This parable continues the theme of rewards and punishments. It also explains more fully what is meant by watchfulness or readiness. It is not an inactive condition, but involves work - trading. There are again two classes of servant: those who use their master’s property, and those who do not. When the master returns to settle accounts with them, one group will be rewarded, the other punished. So it will be when the Son of man comes at the last day: those who have used his gifts faithfully will enter the life of the age to come and reign with him. Those who have not done so will be cast into hell.

This parable is preserved in three forms: Matthew's version, Luke's (Luke 19:12ff.), and the version in the later non-canonical Gospel of the Hebrews. Matthew's is probably nearest to the original, though Luke's may contain some less-developed features than Matthew's, together with some elaborations and additions of his own.

The original context may have been the crisis produced by the ministry of Jesus rather than the future parousia. The parable may have been part of Jesus' denunciation of the scribes, who had 'buried' the Law under the mass of their traditions and regulations.

v. 14. “It will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.”

The day and the hour of the last judgment (v. 13) will be like a day of reckoning (v. 19).

“A man going on a journey”: It will mean, in Matthew's allegorical understanding of the parable, the ascension of Jesus to heaven. His servants will mean the Christians (cf. 24:45ff where also the Christians are spoken of as servants). His property may be the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

v. 15. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

The talent was originally a measure of weight, then a unit of coinage; it was the highest currency denomination (cf. 18:24). This talent is probably worth P20,500.00 today.

It should be strongly emphasized that to Matthew and his readers the word would not carry any of the associations which it has for us (natural endowments, or abilities).

v. 16-17. The one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two.

“Made (ekerdesen) five talents more ... made two talents more”: Is it possible that Matthew understood this to mean made converts for the Church? The same word is used in this sense in 18:15 and in 1 Cor. 9:19-22, where R.S.V. translates it as “win”.

v. 18. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.

Hiding money or treasure in the ground was a common method of preserving it in first-century Palestine. Cf. 13:44.

v. 19. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.

“After a long time” will refer to the delay in the return of Christ; see also 24:48 and 25:5.

“Settled accounts with them”: The last judgment is likened to a day of reckoning in 18:23.

v. 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.’

“I will give you great responsibilities”: See 24:47. The reward which Christ will give to his disciples is to share with him in the reign of God over the world.

“Joy” may mean a festive dinner or banquet. See 8:11; 22:2ff; and 25:10 where the kingdom is compared to a feast.

vv. 29-30. 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. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

These verses are probably Matthew's own additions to the parable. Verse 29 repeats 13:12.

“And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside” is a typically Matthean sentence (cf. 8:12, 22:13).

“Where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth”: See 8:12; 22:13; and 24:51.