Readings: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Psalm 128; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30
In our Gospel today, we have a very rich parable of Jesus. The parable of a master who entrusted his property to his servants. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one. It turned out that the first two worked promptly, assiduously and perseveringly and gained more talents. The one with one talent did not work with it. At the master’s return, the other two were praised and rewarded for their faithfulness and the last one who blamed his failure on the master was severely punished.
This parable is loaded with very powerful and practical messages. This morning, I shall just bring out three points for our reflection.
I. The master gave each one in proportion to his ability.
Dear friends, God knows our abilities and gives us only what we can manage or handle. He doesn’t deny us anything good for us and He doesn’t send us anything beyond our strength.
If He didn’t give us something or more of something, He knows why. So there is no need to envy others or compare our lives.
On the other hand, If we are going through a difficult experience, we should just know that He won’t allow us to carry a cross heavier than us (1 Cor 10:13).
Like the Psalmist, we could learn to say, “The lot marked out for me is my delight.” (Psalm16: 6).
II. The master went for a very long time.
The servants went hastily to work expecting the master to return soon but he didn’t return so soon. The delay could be an opportunity for them to be careless, to dwindle in zeal, to squander what they made or to conclude he won’t return.
Herein lies their faithfulness, though their master delayed, they remained committed and diligent, and when he returned, he found them working. Their faithfulness was demonstrated through their perseverance in doing what was right and expected of them.
Dear friends, the Lord may seem to delay, He may seem to tarry in rewarding us, in answering us, in fighting our cause, in changing the story, but if we do not lose hope, if we do not lose heart, if we do not get discouraged, if we remain faithful and hopeful, we shall be rewarded (Galatians 6:9).
III. The attitude of the third servant.
I want to point out three attitudes from the third servant that we must be careful of today.
A. He wasted time:
While others were working, he was wasting time. Dear friends, time is an invaluable talent we have received. Time is to be used to redeem eternity, once the time is up, it can’t be recharged. Let us spend our time wisely seeking eternity.
B. He was lazy:
Laziness is one of the capital sins. Let us avoid all forms of laziness. Laziness to work, to pray, to do that which we ought to do. A lazy person finds excuses not to work, he/she works sluggishly, sparingly, and he/she complains frequently and does work improperly.
The first reading talks about a good wife. One of the qualities of a good wife is that she is industrious; she dreams and pursues it when she wakes. Christ is the bridegroom and as members of the Church, we are his brides. Christ doesn’t tolerate laziness of any form in His bride.
C. He blamed others:
He blamed everything on the master. Some of us are always blaming our problems on God and people. We refuse to move forward in life because we are busy blaming other people. Every other person except us is the cause of our problem; this is a terrible and miserable way of existence. Let us quit blaming God and people, God is never unfair to anyone. Many of us need to reconcile with our past and resolve with the help of God’s grace to move on steadily in life. We may not be able to change what happened to us or absolutely control what happens to us in life but we can control our response and how it affects us.
Have a Blessed Sunday.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on November 15, 2020.