Wednesday, 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel parable talks about nobleman who went off to a distant country. When the nobleman-turned-king returns, he exacts an accounting from his servants.
While the first two increase the sum of money through their industry, the third wraps it in a piece of cloth, earning no profit at all. The king then proceeds to applaud the diligence of the first two servants and award them rule over ten and five cities respectively. He reprimands the third servant, however, and orders his gold to be given to the servant with ten gold coins.
The account of the three servants raises this question: What is their responsibility as servants during this interim. The obvious answer is that servants must remain faithful to their charge. They must be productive – that is, they must make the most of have they have received. Needless to say, not everyone has the same resources. For Luke, however, the decisive point is that believers view themselves as gifted servants – gifted with varied talents and gifts. This is how we must view ourselves: people endowed with gifts and talents for the benefit of others.
To make others the beneficiaries of these gifts is to gain a place in the kingdom. Ultimately, our gifts are not meant for ourselves but for others. The Lord demands our productiveness or productivity with the use of our time, talents, and resources. The Lord is telling us that whatever talent we have, little or great, we must lay it at the service of God. It is not one’s talent which matters; what matters is how one uses it.
“To everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” The meaning is this: If a person has a talent and uses it, he or she is progressively able to do more with it; but if he or she has a talent and fails to exercise it, he or she will inevitably lose it. It is the lesson of life that the only way to keep a gift is to use it in the service of God and in the service of our fellow human beings.
As such, each one of us must be a good steward of God’s gifts. Let us use these gifts for the greater glory of God.
Parokya ni Osong 