Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

TALENTS

Today’s readings can be linked to the famous work of the philosopher Plato called the Republic. According to the learned thinker the Ideal City State should be classified according to citizens’ abilities or capabilities. He proposed that the citizenry should be grouped into three classes: The guardians, who are philosophers, govern the city; the auxiliaries are soldiers who defend it; and the lowest class comprises the producers (farmers, artisans, etc).

To Plato the citizens will be place in a group based on their capabilities and not just by placement sake. There is no room for favoritism here but strictly by one’s ability to perform.

In today’s Gospel, the owner of that household’s line of thought can be likened to that of Plato. We are told the owner of the house gave his servants talents to work with and will give account on his return. For one to grasp the precise understanding of the parable, one should get the precise meaning of a talent within that cultural milieu.  The talent was not a coin, it was a weight; and therefore, its value obviously depended on whether the coinage involved was copper, gold or silver. The most common metal involved was silver; and the value of a talent of silver was considerable. It was worth about fifteen years’ wages for a working man.

Now, since within Palestinian culture the talent was a weight, landowners normally loaned out talents to their servants to work with according the servant’s abilities; and that is what the owner of the house did. Like Plato’s classification of an Ideal City State, people came to belong to a class depending on their abilities and once there is that understanding society is likely to be effectively run. But this was not the case for the third servant in today’s Gospel. The first two understood the modus operandi and set their minds to work and were successful. Their successes earned them praises and rewards. In the case of the third servant, indifference and laziness should be seen as a virtue to fight authorities’ meanness and wickedness. The lazy servant has eyes only for the lord’s strictness, not his kind generosity, and tangles himself up in contradictions: “You harvest where you have not planted; so out of fear I went off and buried your money in the ground.” There can be no doubt that originally in this parable the whole attention is riveted on the useless servant. If the lazy servant had really viewed the talent entrusted to him as a measure of sternness, he should have worked all the harder; but his ostensible fear let him forget that the nature of the goods entrusted to him is to produce more.

God made it clear to man, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread…” (Genesis 3:19). Unfortunately, some people spend all their time complaining that God has given them a “small talent.” Instead for them to work, they have buried themselves in all kinds of negativities. This is a big challenge to a lot of young Africans and in other parts of the world, I would like to think that some young people are also buried in negativity – always blaming their predicaments on parents and any adult figure they can think of. In my homeland (Ghana), the Government introduced a policy called “Planting for Food and Jobs” and some young people who made up their minds to use their university degrees to work hard on our fertile lands are making it big while some of their colleagues are still complaining of lack of employment because they want to wear suits and ties and sit in an air-conditioned office. We need to change our mindset.

St Paul warns us in the second reading against procrastinating with our efforts, because the day at which we must give flawless account is unknown to us. Anyone who strives in a Christian sense is always ready to render account; the day of the Lord cannot take him “by surprise like a thief”.

The first reading offers us example of industriousness which the lay servant in the Gospel lacked. The first reading is used a lot during weddings. It is the dream of many men that their wives can be likened to the woman described in the first reading. The inspired writer writes on the qualities of this ideal woman: “when one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands. She put her hands to the distaff and her fingers ply the spindle…Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.” If I did not have the vocation to the priesthood, such qualities I would have sought in my wife and if I find none, then it would have been better off as a lay chaste celibate. Any way it is too late because I am happy as a priest. My advice to my young brothers and sisters, get-up and make good use of your talents.