Matthew 25:14-30

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed. … There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines” (1 Cor 12:1, 4-11).

Thus says the Apostle in his First Epistle to the Corinthian Church. Gifts. Talents. An Inheritance. A Stewardship: all these things, brethren, has our Lord entrusted to us for the building up of the Kingdom of Heaven, for our salvation, to the glory of God. In both today’s Gospel reading and here in St. Paul’s Epistle do we hear the reality of our theanthropic cooperation—the divine-human synergeia—confirmed.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability” (Matt 25:14-15).

God is Lord of the creation. He is Master of the cosmological oikos. “Thus sayeth the Lord, ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool’” (Isa 66:1). God, who is infinite, ineffable, almighty, superabundant in innumerable charismata, divine energeia; this same God calls us—redeemed sinners, adopted sons and daughters in faith—to work alongside him in the restoration, preservation, and perfection of the creation. Truly, what a remarkable proposition!

            Yes, brethren, we have been saved by God in Christ Jesus out of our sins; we have been saved from sin, death, and the devil.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins… . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” (Eph 2:1, 4-6).

We have been saved from our sins. We have been gifted the Spirit of God. We have received grace, and continue to receive the outpouring of divine grace through the Mysteries of faith. We are bathed daily and weekly in divine grace, through prayer, fasting, praise, thanksgiving, worship, fellowship, communion. We are being transfigured momentarily into the image and likeness of God in Christ Jesus. Again, we have been saved from our sins; we have been saved to the glory of God. But! What have we been saved for? What have we been saved… for? To spend eternity adrift on a cloud, with chubby cherubic faces, sinless, peering off into the void, fat and content? What have we been saved for? Yes, by the grace of God, through the intercession of the saints and the mediation of the angelic hosts, in prayer and humility, we will climb, step-by-step, the Ladder of Divine Ascent, and at the last… we will embrace Christ… but what for?

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed… to work it and to keep it” (Gen 2:7-8, 15b).

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him” (Rev 22:1-3).

Ah, when we juxtapose, brethren, the beginning and the ending of our Holy Scriptures, we are given a clearer understanding of what we have been created and saved for: synergeia with God, co-operation with God. Man was made to work and to worship; with his work to worship; to work in prayer, in thanksgiving, gladly, contentedly, gracefully.

            When we understand this, brethren: that we are called out of sin for something, that we are gifted for something, that we have—yes—failed in our stewardship but are nonetheless redeemed and entrusted with an even greater stewardship, then! we may embrace (nay, must embrace) the call of our Lord articulated in today’s Gospel parable. We have been saved; we are being saved; and we have been graciously afforded the gifts—the articles—of our salvation, talents, if you will. “And to one he gave five… , to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey” (Matt 25:15). Brethren, do you understand? We are currently living this parable! We are active participants in the Parable of the Talents! It is not a story told two millennia ago; it is our very lives! It is the here and the now! Christ has ascended to heaven. He has journeyed—the Incarnate One—to the throne room of God; he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and “he shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” And on what basis?

“After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

… Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to 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 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 unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matt 25:19-21, 24-26, 28-30).

Yes, brethren, we will be judged on the basis of what we did in faith with the talents entrusted to us. And no! this is not Pelagianism. As orthodoxically as we can possibly state it: God saves! God has freely and lovingly become man. He has taken on our human nature; he has died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven as a man, forever transfiguring the nature of man! And we, mysteriously united to Christ in Holy Baptism, are the benefactors of this divine activity. Yes, in one sense, this parable is indifferent to our salvation per se. The gifts have been given! The talents have been entrusted! Do you understand? These ones, these servants, are servants of the Master. These servants are you and me! And here, here we are, in the Church, active participants in the Mysteries, co-recipients of the grace of God. We are the elect of Christ! … Yet even the elect… are called to stewardship, to synergeia. We are saved from sin for synergeia, “for we are co-workers in God’s service” (1 Cor 3:9a), says the Apostle.

“Yea, a man may say, ‘Thou hast faith, and I have works.’ Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works” (Jas 2:18).

Each of us, each and every one of us, brethren, has been entrusted with a gracious inheritance, a Christian stewardship: preaching, teaching, service, hospitality, discernment, friendship, counsel. These gifts are spiritual gifts; that is to say, they are gifts given to us by the Spirit of God, who is sent to us by the Father. These gifts are the consequence of an established and fixed relationship with the God who has saved us from our sins. These gifts are for our edification in righteousness through service to the Body of Christ. All have been gifted; all have been blessed. Thank God.

And… all will be judged on account of their faithful… or faithless… stewardship. May we act with fear and trembling. May we act in thanksgiving and love. God, help us.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord, Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!