On Good Tuesday, the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates the
Holy Gospel which refers to our Lord Jesus Christ’s denunciation against the
religious leaders of Israel and the Secretaries and Pharisees. It also commemorates the Parable of the Ten
Virgins and the Parable of Talents.
During the liturgy of Good Tuesday, all these parables are
read. The parable of Talents has a clear
eschatological meaning and teaches us that we should always be ready for the
Day of Judgement. According to the
Gospel of Matthew, the five virgins who were prepared for the bridegroom’s
arrival were rewarded, while the ones who were not prepared were dismissed,
Then the parable of Talents, according to the Gospel of St Mathew, tells the story of a master who entrusts his property to three servants, and in
accordance with the abilities of each man they were given a number of
talents. One of the three servants
received five talents, the second two and the third one.
The servants we sent out to make use of the talents and when
they returned home the master asked the servants for an accounting of the
talents with which he had entrusted them.
The first and second servant explained that they each put
the talents to work and doubled the value of the property and each servant was
rewarded by the master. However, the
third servant had not utilized his gift and merely hid his talent, so he was
punished by his master.
The parable teaches us that success is a product of our hard work and God rewards those who put considerable effort to better their lives
and the lives of those in their community.
The parable teaches
us that we are not all created equal, it
also teaches us that we should not use our talents for our own selfish
purposes, but to honour God and our fellow men.
The parable of talents is not only about salvation but about
how we use our work to fulfill our duty.
It’s about lifelong stewardship.
The unfaithful servant in the parable did not only waste
his master’s money, he missed an opportunity.
As a result, he was judged weak and lazy.
We should be very careful of what we do, with what we have
been given, because one day we shall be held responsible.
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