He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear! (The Parable of the Talents)
Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky)
The
Parable of the Talents, as expounded by the Evangelist Matthew, is the
last parable before the Lord’s sufferings. It ends with a warning:
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 25:30).
The Parable of the Talents is preceded by the Parable of the Ten
Virgins, and the Parable of the Talents is itself an elaboration and
clarification of the thought expressed in the Parable of the Ten
Virgins. This last parable also ends with a warning that we not be left
without God’s Kingdom: "Verily I say unto you, I know you
not" (Matthew 25:12), and, explaining what He meant, ends it with
these words: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the
hour wherein the Son of Man cometh"
(25:13). Developing this thought further, the Lord then preaches the
Parable of the Talents: "For the kingdom of heaven is as a man
travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and
delivered unto them his goods, and unto one he gave five talents, to
another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several
ability; and straightway took his journey..." (Matthew 25:14-15).
The parable then ends with the fearsome sentence of Divine Justice:
"Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And when he had said these
things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear"
(Matthew 25:30).
Further, immediately after this, the Lord expounds upon the Last
Judgment. And so, in the Gospel narrative, the Parables of the Ten
Virgins and the Talents are a preparatory introduction to the discussion
on the Last Judgment. At first the Lord speaks of it covertly, in the
guise of ten virgins and the Bridegroom, later more clearly explaining
the coming Judgment in the Parable of the Talents and, having prepared
his audience to understand the mysteries of God’s Kingdom in this
manner, now spoke directly about the Last Judgment and about His eternal
Kingdom.
For many it remains unclear why this warning in this narrative is
warranted. If one looks at it from the human perspective, the condemned
committed no serious or capital legal offenses that would merit eternal
damnation. People have grown accustomed to living according primarily to
legalistic understandings, simply constraining evil, paying no mind to
the development of good, and, if one were to approach the Gospel using
this measuring device, then it will be impossible to comprehend it.
In actuality, the foolish virgins, though justified in much, possessing
both virginity and a desire to be with the Bridegroom, did not show
enough care or foresight, and did not obtain for themselves beforehand a
sufficient supply of oil (spiritual life – love). They attempted to
overcome their shortage at the last minute, borrowing some or buying the
salvific oil, but this proved impossible for them; it had to be obtained
beforehand, and they remained without the royal palace, because they had
not within them that light which is necessary to gain entry therein. The
wicked and slothful servant failed only to heed his Master’s charge
and did not fulfill it, finding himself cast into outer darkness. Those
condemned at the Last Judgment were not guilty of any serious crimes,
for example, of murder, theft, adultery, and so on, but of acts not
listed in any criminal code, of not showing obedience and love for the
Lord, not fulfilling the commands of the Gospel in their lives, and not
performing labors of love in God’s name. If one were to judge these
condemned according to a legal code, then their actions would not reveal
any punishable crimes. But in no way does this mean that civil laws are
more humane than those of the Gospel, but it means that the God’s
Kingdom is based on different principles than human society.
At the cornerstone of the Gospel lie obedience to the will of God and
love, inextricably interconnected. "Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in
my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as
I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love"
(John 15:9-10).
In this regard, by talents, of which the Lord speaks in the parable, we
are to understand not money or the capabilities of the human soul to
perform some activity, for example music, song, drawing, and the like,
nor even good deeds, but, according to the interpretation of
Metropolitan Anthony, by talents we are to understand the possibility
and ability of man to perform labors of love, to nurture the good nature
of his soul and, as its outward expression, good deeds. Metropolitan
Anthony writes: "The talent is every possibility to perform good;
these are such virtues as kindness, tenderness, sympathy – these are
the talents, and if one does not exercise them, they will be
extinguished and no longer will there be those gusts of sweetness and
goodwill that so gladden people. He who has love and knows how to
express it has not buried his talent" ("Thoughts of His
Beatitude, Metropolitan Anthony, expressed in sermons," 1935-6, p.
32).
According to Metropolitan Anthony, good deeds will flow from you
themselves, if only you have good inclinations in your soul, especially
love, and only these good deeds, these expressions of love, have value in
God’s eyes. These good inclinations grow and are strengthened in our
souls by our conscientious labors and the co-operation of God’s grace.
The Epistle reading assigned for the day when the Parable of the Talents
is read in church is very interesting. In his antecedent narrative, the
Apostle Paul, pointing out that the Apostles are the messengers of
Christ and that they summon all to reconcile with God and become
righteous in His sight, says further: "We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of
salvation have I succoured thee (Isaiah 49:8). Behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
This accepted time is the stage of our life itself – the time for
labors – after we have come to know the Lord through the Gospel.
We can see in the Apostle Paul himself the wealth of talents given to
him, and how he multiplied them an hundredfold by the labors of his
zealous life. "In all things we approve ourselves as the ministers
of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in
fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by
the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power
of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left" (2 Corinthians 6:4-7).
Having such talents and multiplying them by the unending labors of his
life, the Holy Apostle lit the fire of faith across the whole world and
kindled a flame in individual hearts. So was the holy first-martyress
and equal-of-the-apostles St. Thecla captivated to be Christ’s bride.
She, a young and beautiful maiden, was taken by the preaching of the
Apostle, and became as his daughter, and took for naught all the
beautiful things of this world that lay before her. She had discovered
the greatness and beauty of her own soul in her supernatural labors,
unshakably carrying her faithfulness to Christ God through her whole
life, and was crowned with the crown of the first martyress and an equal
of the apostles. So it was that through some talents were obtained more
talents. His incessant preaching to the Universe through his epistles
will resound until the end of time.
Why are the growth of the gift of love and obedience to the will of God
the foremost building blocks of Christianity?
Because the goal of a Christian life is the acquisition of God’s
Kingdom. And in the eternal Kingdom of Glory, in exact contrast to our
earthly life that lies in evil, there will be no possibility for evil.
There evil will be bound and will but suffer in its own powerless and
irredeemable malice. There, good and love will be reality, and at the
same time the participants of God’s Kingdom will be free in the image
and likeness of God. In the conjunction of love and freedom, and in
their limitless growth – therein lies eternal bliss. The foundation of
this spiritual process must be laid on the earth. Man must make God’s
inherent gift of love a reality, and expand it. Just as there is a time
to sow and a time to reap, to sow in the spring or fall and reap in the
summer, so can the participants of God’s Kingdom be only those who
grow and nurture within themselves that gift of love in this earthly
life. He who does not labor over this gift and buries it in the
ground, growing in its place hatred and evil as the wicked and slothful
servant, and who does not show sufficient attention and care to his
soul, as the foolish virgins – such a one will find no place in
God’s Kingdom. This is the message of the whole Gospel.
This is why the Lord concludes His Parable of the Talents by crying out
His warning to us all: He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear!
1955
