Build The Kingdom Of God With All You Have!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, November 15, 2020 

Today’s Gospel (Matt. 25:14-30) which is called “The Parable of the Talents” is another eschatological discourse from Jesus. Eschatology is a major field of theology that deals with last things like death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul. Simply put, it is the theology or science of last things. According to Matthew, Jesus told this story two days before his passion. The master in the parable represents Jesus who “goes on a journey” when he dies and returns “after a long time” at the Parousia. But before he leaves, he entrusts his possessions to his servants. To the first, he gave five talents, to the second two talents, and then one talent to the last. After the master leaves, the servants who receive five and two talents planned how to use their portions for the glory of the their master. They went to work, took initiatives and risks as well. In the end, they doubled their talents and got the commendation of their master, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” But third servant, rather than use the spiritual endowment given to him by the master, buried it. As a result, he was called “wicked, lazy, useless servant;” and the talent given to him was also taken away from him. In a biblical sense, a talent represents more than the modern definition of an inborn trait. In this sense, it is the totality of the spiritual and material goods that God gives to Jesus’ disciples.

Sisters and brothers, every human being is endowed with certain spiritual and material goods. Everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. So, we are tasked with putting them into good use to benefit the kingdom. We are called to be productive citizens and disciples. Laziness can cost one the kingdom. Loafers are useless for God’s purpose because they bear no fruit. A time is coming when the master will return to settle accounts with each of us. If you notice, Jesus talks longer about the last servant who was given one talent. Why? Because he wants his disciples to avoid complacency and laziness. The work of the kingdom is the responsibility of all. The second reading (1 Thess. 5:1-6) says that all of us are children of the light and children of the day. Light is one of the enduring symbols for God in the sacred scripture. Jesus himself says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). He also says, “You are the light of the world,” (Mtt. 5:14). We are the city on a hill that cannot be hidden. As children of light, we are to build a kingdom of light, life and love. We are to use God’s endowments to build a kingdom of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. Our nation today needs people of faith to rise up and be counted. For racial and political healing to happen in this great nation, men and women of faith must desire it, preach about it and be involved in making it happen. A few weeks ago, we had a listening session for people to speak about their experiences with racism. We had all races in the parish covered. Unfortunately, it was poorly attended. May be folks were too busy to attend or concerned of coronavirus infection. But if we stayed away from events like that simply because the topic itself makes us uncomfortable and upset, we are like the servant who was given a talent but rather than use it, buried it.