20 November 2013 - demanding the best

20 November 2013 - demanding the best

he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem
and they thought that the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.

Because Jesus does not bring the Kingdom immediately in its fullness he gives his listeners a mission for the time until then. 

He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’

He gives us all the resources we need.  We use these talents he gives us to build his Kingdom.  We do so in a world together with "fellow citizens" who despise the one who gives these gifts.  It isn't going to be easy.  We may be reluctant to use his resources in a world where people loudly proclaim, "We do not want this man to be our king."  What if they realize we're working to build the kingdom of the king they hate?  Maybe we can just keep these resources out of contact with the wider world until he returns as king.  Yet it isn't enough to keep these "gold coins" to ourselves. 

The king we serve is able to take up what he did not lay down and harvest where he did not plant.  He made the whole universe and yet "did not make them out of existing things".  Because of who he is we don't need to be afraid to spend the resources he allots.  We don't need to hold against him that he is a "demanding man".  He demands the best for everyone because he is the one who makes all things.  He demands the best for his Kingdom because he is the one who sustains and guides everything toward fulfillment.  He demands the best for us because he himself is that highest good toward which we move.

We are therefore able to spend the talents he gives us in a way that the world considers not only reckless but indeed doomed to failure.

Do not be afraid of this executioner,
but be worthy of your brothers and accept death,
so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them.”
Let us go forth boldly and fearlessly use the resources he gives us to build his kingdom.  Even if we encounter "whips and scourges" let us bear it like the mother in the first reading, "courageously because of her hope in the Lord."  We can do this if we know what she knows:

Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.