Mass readings for Nov. 15:
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Psalms 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30 or Matthew 25:14-15, 19-21
You can tell we are nearing Advent. The readings, you see, are all about being prepared for the master’s return, the coming of the Son of Man. That’s Advent talk. The Church is whispering to us to begin to look for the Lord.
Last week, for instance, the lesson of the parable of the wise and foolish maidens was simply to watch. “Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13). St. Paul’s teaching was that we believers should not grieve as if we have no hope, for we know about the “coming of the Lord.” “Therefore, console one another with these words,” Paul wrote (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
And this week’s readings merely build on last week’s lessons about hope and watching. The lesson this week is that we believers should not just watch for the Lord’s coming, we should prepare for it. That is, we shouldn’t watch for the Lord in such a way that we freeze, that we neglect everything around us and do nothing; rather, as we watch for the Lord, we must also serve the Lord. That is, for Christians, watching must also be doing.
Now our ancient ancestors would have understood this parable of the talents more readily than us. That’s because this parable reflects the ordinary economic reality of the ancient world. Anyone with a job would have understood this parable immediately.
The economy of the ancient Roman world, you see, was built upon masters and landlords just like the one in this parable; it was built upon masters who entrusted their vast properties or farms to stewards, either freedmen or slaves.
Such stewards were given wide freedom to do their work, yet they weren’t micromanaged at all. But it was understood and expected that such servants would keep an accurate accounting of their work. It was understood that a steward could be called upon at any moment to explain his work and to pay whatever his master was owed. It was also understood that a good steward, because he had made a profit, would immediately be able to share those profits with his master.
And so, the lesson is really very simple. As we await the Master’s return, we should do what’s necessary so that, when he does return, we have something to show for it. The graces we have received, the virtues and the truth: these are the “talents” we’ve been given and which we must put to work for the good of the Master’s kingdom and before his return. For, as the Church, we Christians are to be “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation
21:2).
The graces we’ve been given are not meant to sit idle. We are not meant to sit idle either just because we know the Lord is coming back. This is why St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “If anyone will not work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). St. Augustine often used this parable from Matthew when preaching to the newly baptized. It served as a warning, he taught, against thinking that the spiritual battle was over just because one was baptized; it served to remind the newly baptized that the spiritual life had only just begun.
But what does any of this mean for us? If you’ll allow me to get a bit mystical here, what this means for us is that the parable of the talents suggests that we must live our entire lives as if it’s a preparation for both the cross and the coming of the Lord. That’s how we can tell we’re preparing properly: when we know we are readying ourselves for both the cross and the Lord’s coming.
Now what do I mean by this? Well, think of where this parable sits within the Gospel of Matthew. By now Jesus is done arguing with people. Instead, he’s preparing his disciples for Calvary, telling them that they need to learn how to see things in light of God’s bigger plan. That is, they will need to learn how to see the crucifixion as revelation. Preparing to see Christ is always in some sense a preparation for the cross, seeing Christ in suffering and death and resurrection. Sharing our “talents” in this sense means helping ourselves and others grasp this mystery of the cross in our lives, this paschal mystery of suffering and peace.
For that is where Christ is to be seen; that’s one way Christ comes to us – in the advent of the sufferer, the outcast, the vulnerable. Yes, come Advent, we are meant to look for Christ liturgically and spiritually and eschatologically, but we are also meant to look for Christ on the cross and on all the crosses of our world, wherever there is suffering.
This, I think, is what it means to be ready for the Lord’s return. We are to be people who can be found whispering alleluias near all the crosses of the world. We are to be people who are sharing our “talents” with all those who suffer, with those in despair because we Christians should be people who have hope. Because we know.
