Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Lk 19: 11-28
November 22, 2023 | Wednesday

Today’s Gospel

Jesus was now near Jerusalem,and the people with him thought that God’s reign was about to appear. So as they were listening to him, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country in order to be crowned king, after which he planned to return home. Before he left, he summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver. He said, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’ Bu this compatriots, who disliked him,sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’

He returned, however, appointed as king. At once he sent for the servants, to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made. The first came in, and reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.’

The master replied, ‘Well done,my good servant! Since you have proved yourself faithful in a small matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.’ The second reported,‘Sir, your pound of
silver earned five more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘And you, take charge of five cities!’

The third came in, and said, ‘Sir,here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping. I was afraid of you, for you are an exacting person: you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.’

The master replied, ‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Why,
then, did you not put my money on loan, so that, when I got back, I could have collected it with interest?’

Then the master said to those standing by, ‘Take from him that pound, and give it to the one with ten pounds.’ But they objected, ‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!’

The master replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for my enemies who did not want me to be
their king, bring them in, and execute them right here in front me!’”

So Jesus spoke, and then he passed on ahead of them, on his way to Jerusalem.

Today’s Reflection:

Today’s gospel shows how a wrong concept of God can do harm to the human soul! The first and second servants multiplied the talents given to them by their master but the third one did it in an interestingly different way. The parable speaks about the kingdom of God and the master is God himself. The third servant had a distorted concept of God and this distortion made him think that God is a thief and a greedy Master, one who takes what does not belong to him. This signifies that the third servant’s action of burying the talent on the ground is done out of fear and insecurity. As a consequence, the talent given to him did not bear any fruit and he did not enjoy the fact of having a generous Master. The same is true with us when we allow fear and insecurities to envelope us. We will never be spiritually fruitful. / Vulnerasti, 2023