NOTES for Mt 3:13-17

In today's parable there is a fundamental difference between the actions of the servants who received five and two talents and the one who was given a single talent. The first two, whom the master in the parable calls faithful servants, put the means entrusted to them to work. In fact, they do exactly what the master himself would have done had he not gone to a foreign country. Thus they are doing not so much their own work as his, carrying it out according to the abilities given to them. By contrast, the servant who received one talent, although he does not squander another man's money, refuses to act. Moreover, when the master calls him to account, he shows outright hostility toward his master's very way of acting. "Multiplying talents," he tells his master, "is your business; do it yourself, then, for it has nothing to do with me."

The silver in this parable is a kind of symbol of everything that God gives us, above all His gift of life and His mercy. Human life is seen here not as a process of metabolism, but as your participation in the life of the Lord Himself. It is like a feast: if you decide not to touch the food, you cannot help but remain hungry, even though a full plate stands before you. If you do not want to take part in God's work, you are left with nothing.