By
His
Eminence
Metropolitan
Panteleimon of Antinoes
In today’s
Gospel reading, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoke about the Parable of the
Talents. He brings us before a serious subject, which concerns each and every
one of us. Every man has been gifted by God with various talents, different
charismata, various skills. These talents one must concern as gifts from God,
who entrusted them to us so that we will give an account to God.
St. John
Chrysostom, interpreting the Parable of the Talents explains, that with the
term “talent” our Lord Jesus Christ means the abilities and skills of each and
every one of us to practice every good deed with responsibility. So, if we hold
an official public position, or we have a special place in society, or if we
have been blessed with wealth, or we are gifted with capability of knowledge
and teaching, or with whatever other spiritual gift, All the “talents” are
God-given.
According to
the Parable, the “talents” are given by God to man. But, in Holy Scripture God
calls men generally as His children, but here He calls them “servants”. This
God does in order to reveal, that we are responsible before Him, and that we
should obedient in a perfect way; not because we are considered as “servants”.
But, because God’s Law is perfect and beneficial to all. He who follows God’s Law
becomes truly free and offers himself to perfect obedience to God. Even our
Lord Jesus Christ became the prototype example for all faithful. For us He
became a “servant”, and humbledHimself so much, and became obedient to the
Divine Will till death. “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human
form, 8 he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).
The Parable’s
lord gave the talents to his servants and immediately departed to a country far
away. God gives us His Talents, then various gifts, but never stands over us as
a despot or tyrant to force us in any way, but He leaves us to use our talents
freely as we wish. If we do not use them properly, then although He continuous
to respect our free will, He shows mercy and patience till the moment when He
will return to demand an account from us.
The talents
are given in order to be used with responsibility, as we will give an account.
Time goes by and we will give our account. This account is necessary and Christ
assured us many times that it will take place (see Matth. 18:23-24; Luke
19:11-26).
But, if
thetalents are ours, then why should God demand an account from us? The skills
might be ours, but we have them from God. Our skills our either naturally, or
they have been given by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, consequently, they are
from God. For this reason our Lord in the Parable says, that the lord gave his
belonging to his servants. The charismata which we have, we must see them as
belongings of God, which have been given to us by God. Thus, we should use them
as divine gifts and use them and increase them to a perfect level, according to
God’s instructions.
Our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself recognized this obligation for Himself, as He considered as His
duty to preach the Kingdom
of God to all the cities
and country side.
The
responsibility for our deeds and use of our talents and skills is generally for
all of us. Our Lord assured us that each of us will give an account according
to his works (Rom. 14:12).
This
understanding that one day we will give an account should guide us throughout
our lives. Our skills, small or big, should be used with great responsibility.
It is not enough to do something, but we should struggle to increase the
talents. Woe, to that person who had received a talent and he hid it!
Let us accept
with humbleness and gratitude the various talents and charismata and let us
struggle to multiply them for the glory of our True God, the Holy Trinity. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment