An Instruction for the 16th Sunday After Pentecost

Did you hear, beloved brothers, the Savior’s parable of the talents from today’s Gospel reading? This parable is most instructive. Everyone needs to know its meaning and remember it always. Incline your ear. Here is its meaning. It speaks of servants to whom a master, setting off for a distant country, entrusted his estate: «to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability» (Mt 25:14-30). Notice: these servants are us, people. This master is our Lord Jesus Christ, our Creator, the Distributor of talents, who has ascended from us into heaven, who sits at the right hand of the Father, and who will come again to earth to judge the living and the dead. The estate, or the talents, are the powers and abilities of the soul, as well as the powers of the body, which God has given us, and with which, in this age, we all act, which we put out, as it were, to profit, and by means of which, according to our own skill and diligence, we multiply our spiritual wealth. By the talents we should also understand whatever service in society God has entrusted to each person, according to his abilities, or whatever material wealth someone possesses. By the sense of the parable, whoever has received more talents from the Lord must, naturally, do more good for his neighbors, must perfect himself more in this present life for the life to come; and from whoever has received less, less will be required in the accounting. From the ordinary person it will be required: did he labor conscientiously and conduct his affairs honestly; did the rich man not amass his wealth by deceit, cunning, or intrigue, or by gambling and usury; did he himself live, and did he raise his children, in the fear of God; did he fulfill the Christian duty of prayer, was he sanctified by the Mysteries, did he give alms? Each will bear his own burden. From the priest an account will be required of his ministry, his teaching, and his life: did he teach his flock the faith and a good life, did he raise them for eternal life? But listen further to the parable. The one who received five talents (a weight of silver) from the master went and set to work, and gained five more talents besides; the one who received two gained two more; but the one who received one went and buried his master’s talent in the ground—that is, spent his whole life in senseless, inexcusable laziness, eating, drinking, making merry, enriching himself by every possible means, only to live merrily here, while taking no thought for that other life, for faith, for prayer, for good deeds. It is clear that his talent lies buried in the ground, since our talents—that is, our heart, our mental faculties—are not an earthly treasure but a spiritual one, not meant to lie in the ground, not meant to be spent only on earthly affairs, but a heavenly, spiritual treasure, by means of which we must school ourselves in heavenly, holy conduct and lay hold of eternal life. «Lay up for yourselves no treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy», says the Lord, «and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal» (Mt 6:19-20; Lk 12:33-34)—that is, do good deeds not for the earth and earthly, worldly advantage, but for heaven, for God, for eternity. So then, honor, brothers, to the servants who received five and two talents and multiplied their master’s estate; shame, the utmost shame, to the one who received one talent and, out of laziness and stubbornness, buried it in the ground. And there are many people, unworthy of the name of man, who bury their own talent in the ground, who only drink, eat, make merry, deceive, steal, and so forth. But see what awaits both kinds of servants: the time comes to give an account of how the master’s silver was used. The master comes—that is, the Lord, who ascended into heaven, comes to the dread judgment to demand an account from His servants. His servants, to whom the talents were entrusted, appear before Him. The one who received five talents comes forward and shows the master ten talents; then the one who received two comes and shows four. The Lord, commending each of them for their increase, says: well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master. Then the one who received one talent comes forward, and what does he do? Having done nothing while the master was away, when this master returns, the lazy servant speaks impudently to him, calling Him a hard man, who reaps where He has not sown and gathers where He has not scattered seed. Is this not exactly how, brothers, all lazy, unkind, unfaithful Christians speak, who, in excuse for their inexcusable laziness in laboring for good, for forming themselves according to the spirit of the Christian faith, lay the blame on the faith and the Church, on the Lord Himself, calling the precepts of the faith hard and impossible to keep, and daring to call the good Lord some sort of harsh master who demands what is almost impossible! O lazy servants! Look at your fellow servants who received five and two talents: they will convict you. How did they multiply their talents; how is it they say nothing of the kind to their master? But see, brothers, what the lazy servant says further to the master: since You are such and such a master, he says, I, being afraid, went and hid Your talent in the ground; here is what is Yours. In the ground: where is this, if not in one’s own sinful flesh, having exhausted one’s powers and abilities in satisfying one’s passions? Come, brothers, to the grave of the lazy man, and sigh there heavily, heavily; for there you will see his one and only talent buried in the ground; he did nothing for heaven; he carried everything with him into the earth. You spoke truly, poor man, a man worthy of eternal tears! But here is the sentence of the righteous Judge upon him and those like him: you wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed; therefore you ought to have deposited My silver with the bankers, and at My coming I would have received back My own with interest. How could the Lord not require a profit of good deeds from Christians, when He has given, to help them, all the treasures of His assisting and all-effecting grace; how could He not require of a Christian a profit—for his own eternal blessedness—when, in the Lord’s own world, a tree bears abundant fruit every year, when a grain of seed yields a profit in the field? Truly the Lord requires a due profit; and it is a sin, a grievous sin, for a Christian not to bear the fruit of virtue in his life, and to remain a barren fig tree, taking up ground in vain. Hear, finally, the judgment upon the lazy servant: the Lord says: «so then, take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth» (Mt 25:28-30). Fear, brothers, grips the soul, when one considers that among Christians there are a great many lazy servants, who live carelessly, in pleasures, and give no thought at all to that fearsome, eternal outer darkness, where unceasing weeping and gnashing of teeth await them. O Lord! Do Your will with us! We pray to You, that all lazy servants may turn to You in repentance and virtue. But if not, then they are truly worthy of Your fearsome, yet righteous, judgment. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Amen.