Sunday 13 November

Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31, Ps. 128, 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6, Matthew 25: 14-30

Active or passive

The ‘talent’ in Matthew’s parable is far larger than the already substantial ‘pound’ in Luke’s similar story. Even the least favoured servant receives an inconceivably large sum. The rabbis taught that a person who at once buried property entrusted to them was not liable for it. From that perspective, the third servant has acted perfectly reasonably. Some of the opponents of Jesus sought to ‘build a fence around the Law’ – to keep matters religious for ever unchanged. Jesus, however, wanted much more than passive preservation of the religious status quo. Am I open to growth and development in my faith?