Wednesday in the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, November 17, 2021

Luke 19:11-28

While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’ He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came and reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’ And to this servant too he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’ Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’ He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.’ And to those standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.’ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten gold coins.’ He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.’” 

After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.

The parable that is read for today’s Mass is similar to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, 14-30, and this has caused some scholars to think it is the same.  But this is not so.  The Lord tells this parable before he arrives at Jerusalem and he does so for the reason St. Luke gives: the people “thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.”  That is, the Lord explained to the people in this way that the kingdom they awaited so fervently would not be established in this first coming of his, but in his second coming. The Lord told the Parable of the Talents, on the other hand, as part of his teaching on the end of the world and on the great judgment at that time.  The Lord told the parable in Luke first, then, before entering the City, and adapted it later in order to teach on another matter.  This shows the genius of the Lord’s parables, that they can be adapted to different situations, audiences, and teaching.  

“A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.”  Jesus speaks of himself here, and that he will ascend into heaven, after his Resurrection, to obtain the Kingdom from God his Father, and then, at a time of his choosing, he will return to earth.  “He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ ”  The number ten signifies totality, and so the Lord gives all his servants the commandment to live faithfully and the grace with which to do so.  “His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ ”  That is, those wicked leaders and demons who considered themselves the Lord’s equals or betters through their pride and envy, and so are here called “his fellow citizens”.  “But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading.”  The nobleman, now king, said he would return and he did.  Here, the Lord returns to the earth in glory and majesty and the angels gather together all his servants so that they may render an account to him.  “The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’ ”  Now, the Greek text tells us exactly how much each servant received: a mina, worth about $500 in today’s money. The first slave thus earned $5000 by trading with his mina.  This is a remarkable profit, and the king is pleased, and the reward is breathtaking: “Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.”  From slavery to ruling ten cities!  The second servant comes next, perhaps a little nervous because he has not gotten such a profit.  But the king is pleased with this servant too: “You, take charge of five cities.”  Again, a stupendous reward well out of proportion with what the servant has done.  We see how the Lord rewards our faith and good works on earth, raising us up from the dust of which we are made to glory in heaven.  

The last servant, who has seen the others rewarded as a result of their labor, is filled with trepidation for he has put forth no labor at all.  He trembles as he tries to excuse himself: “Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.”  This servant tries to blame his master for his own failure.  The master is not pleased: “With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.”  At the last judgment, the Lord will not waste any words with the wicked for they do not deserve them and they know full well that they chose to reject him rather than work for him.  These words, then, are meant for us to hear so that we might understand the teaching.

“Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.”  That is, the wicked lose everything and have no more chance, at the time of the judgment, to repent and do penance.  When the master tells his attendants to give the gold coin to the man with ten, they are astonished.  The king says to them, “I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”  Those who are strong in the faith through continual prayer and repeated good works will profit through perseverance, while the wicked who does not attempt to do the will of God, even in favorable times, will lose what faith they may have once had.  “Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.”  These are those who never possessed faith, rejecting it out of hand, and enticed the wicked to act with greater wickedness.  The devil and his angels are among them.  They are said to be “slain” in that their loss of heaven and their condemnation into the fiery darkness is permanent.

We see here the eagerness of the Lord to overwhelm, as it were, those who are faithful to him.  The holiness we obtain on earth may be a “very small” matter when compared to that of Almighty God, and yet he gives to those who have striven for it a place in the brilliance of his eternal Kingdom.  And let us labor to gain the ten minas simply in order to please him who is the love of our lives.