10 virgins. 10 talents. 1 Samaritan

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Last week's Gospel reading was  taken from Matthew 25:1-13 - the story of 10 virgins invited to a wedding banquet. 5 of them came prepared; the other 5 were not. Thus the ones who had made preparations were able to attend, while the remainder couldn't gain admission.

We'd discussed this passage in our women's group and thought we'd "covered the bases" pretty well. But once again we found we'd missed an important angle, one which was later stressed by our priest. We discovered again that there are many meanings to be drawn from a few verses.

Our priest found a correlation between this story and that of the good Samaritan (found in Luke 10:25-37). When his discussion of the wedding banquet began to shift towards the tale of the good Samaritan, I thought he'd veered off track. But he pointed out that in each instance, Jesus was condemning those who do nothing. 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, I'd always found myself focusing on the Samaritan who cared for the man who'd been beaten, robbed, and left for dead. If you'll remember, others - ostensibly "good people" - a priest and a Levite - had seen him and walked on by. The Samaritan - a member of a people despised by Jews of Jesus' day - saw him and responded. The care and kindness offered by the Samaritan very likely saved the man's life. 

To me, the thrust of the message had always been to follow the example of the Samaritan in helping those in need. But Father Thahn looked at these stories from a different angle. To him, the message was that we are given gifts, talents, and abilities to be used to serve others. And the question that logically flows from that is: am I using these God-given gifts, or am I doing nothing?

We have indeed been given gifts, although they are different and, at least to our eyes, not always given in equal measure. And although we certainly should be offering thanks to God for these gifts, we also need to remember that we're responsible for what we do with them. I suspect that if we were to evaluate our actions in light of this, the majority of us would have to acknowledge that we have room for improvement there.

There is yet another parable that seems to be relevant here; it is found in Matthew 25:14-30. This is the parable of the ten talents. When the master returned after entrusting three servants with varying amounts of his treasure, he found that two had made good use of what they'd been given while the third had buried it. To those who had been productive with what had been entrusted to them, the master said, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!"

Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear those words when we meet our Master? 

But as if all that weren’t enough to drive home Jesus’ point, this week’s gospel reading comes from Matthew 25:31-46:

Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'

“And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'

"Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'

“He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'

“And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."