November 19: Risking, a Sunday Scriptures blog

stock-marketMaster, I knew you were a demanding person … so out of fear I … buried your talent in the ground. These are the words of the servant in the parable that we hear next Sunday, “The Parable of the Talents.” The context of this parable, from the eschatological section of Matthew’s Gospel, is the proper attitude people should have toward the coming of the Son of Man in “end times.” We know from some of the Epistles that there were those in the early Christian community who did nothing responsible or productive because they figured the end time was tomorrow! For us, perhaps the lesson is more about risk: The servant would not take a risk for fear that his investment would fail and he would lose everything. That is a modern temptation, I believe. Life itself, and especially discipleship life, is a risk. Marrying or making a vow as a priest or nun is a risk; bearing children is a risk; volunteering is a risk; picking up the phone or starting an email to someone who does not like you, or whom you need to forgive, is a risk; standing up for something is a risk. For Jesus, going into Jerusalem was a risk that seemed to end in failure, his death. But his death taught us that the only real failure is not having the courage to put our love “out there,” where it might be trampled on or rejected. A powerful lesson for our week!

– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.