Holy Wisdom Church
In this
morning’s gospel, much attention is paid to the fellow who did nothing but try
to preserve the worth of the one talent given to him. He can be compared to the
Pharisees and Sadducees who were the preservers of the law. According to their
understanding the law could not be changed one jot or tittle. Any change, any
development, any alteration, anything new was to them anathema. That attitude
was a paralysis of religious truth. The desire to keep things exactly as they
are is not commendable. God finds no use
for a shut mind. Consider how difficult for the Israelites to accept that Jesus
message was for the Gentiles as well as for the chosen people. All could receive or choose the
repentance that leads to life. God finds no use for a shut mind. Peter and the
rest of the disciples were shown that they could eat of the animals they had
considered unclean.
The man who is punished in this parable is the
person who did not try. He had not lost the talent but did nothing with it. His
shut mind prevented him from trying. A lot of studies have been done and are
still ongoing on how to preserve our brains from dementia. Aside from trauma
due to accidents or diseases, one thing is clear. If we don’t use the different
parts of our brain it atrophies just as our muscles will if we don’t keep
moving. Our brains need to be activated
by use. Our brains are one talent we have all received.
Another
inference from this parable is that we do not all receive the same gifts.
However many we do receive though, we need to use them for the good of others
as well as for ourselves. Speaking in
tongues is a gift of God, not to be ignored. This gift is mainly for the
benefit of the one speaking in tongues unless that person also has the ability
to pass it on to others. None of our gifts make us better or superior to
others. They are gifts and we have not done anything to warrant them. They are
rather a challenge to progress farther. The
servants were not told to sit back and take life easy. It seems the reward of
work well done is to be given greater tasks and responsibilities in the work of
the master.
In the
reading from Sirach this morning, we are told that when God created humankind
he gave us the power of free choice. If
we choose, we can act faithfully in carrying out what we perceive as God’s will
for us. We choose between fire and water, between life and death. Understanding what changes need to be made and
what needs to be accepted as is, is a challenge to our intelligence. What kind
of things need to be changed? It takes
effort to think about it.
The ancient
world in general revered hospitality. The Israelites because of their own
sojourn in a foreign land and wandering in the desert were called upon to show
compassion and hospitality to strangers and to protect them from harm. The
account of Abraham serving the three men who appear at the oaks of Mamre show us
unrushed hospitality and the giving of what Abraham had to give. We know Abraham was rewarded with the promise
of a child. While we do for others without hope of a reward, we also know that
Jesus has said what we do for others we are doing for Jesus himself. Those include
those in need-the hungry, the thirsty and the stranger as well as our friends,
family and foe alike.
Hospitality
is only one area of choices we make in our own sojourn in life. There are many
others. Jane Goodell is supposed to have said:
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a
difference you want to make.”
Whatever
talent we have been given, little or great, let it be for the service of our God.
Christ is in our midst!
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