Sunday 33 A (2023)

Next Saturday evening

Bishop Ralph will confirm sixteen young people and two adults.

Do pray for them during the coming week and,

if you can, come along and pray with them, and for them

as they are anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

…….

Taken together, last Sunday, this Sunday and next Sunday give the whole of Chapter 25 from Matthew’s gospel

– the last chapter before the Passion itself.

Last week the bridegroom arrives

and finds five of the ten bridesmaids ready to meet him.

Today, the master returns

and finds two of the three servants

have worked for him while he was away.

Next week, the Son of Man comes in his glory

and separates people according to how they treated those in need.

Some of Jesus’ illustrations and parables are aimed at his opponents; however, these three illustrations seem to be directed at Jesus’ disciples,

to shake out complacency.

We are left in no doubt: how we live our discipleship matters.

In the parable I just read, a ‘talent’ is a weight of silver or gold;

nobody seems sure about its value, beyond that it is very large:

one calculation suggests it corresponds to half a million pounds today.

Anyway, the servants have been entrusted with very considerable assets,

and the master expects them to use them.

From this scripture passage,

the word ‘talent’ has entered everyday language:

a talent for music; for numbers; for writing;

for languages; for running; and so on.

However, I want you to push that sense to the back of your mind,

for it can undermine the full force of Jesus’ parable.

Those kinds of talents are from God, and are relevant,

but they are not of the essence.

For the essence we must look more deeply at what God gives us.

Our whole natural life is a gift from God:

not just that we are,

but also who we are

and our social relations.

For the Christian,

this natural life is infused by the incomparably greater gift

of God’s Holy Spirit

the gift of knowing Jesus,

the gift of being drawn into God’s life.

We are marked out by the Holy Spirit as belonging to God,

we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

These are ‘the talents’ we are given by the master:

our natural life in all its facets anointed by the Spirit of God.

These are the talents we use, we multiply,

by being Christ for others:

by serving them,

by praying for them,

by sharing the joy of the gospel with them.

‘The talents’ we will celebrate sacramentally next Saturday evening.