Library › St Gregory the Dialogist › Homilies on the Gospels

Homilies on the Gospels

St Gregory the Dialogist, tr. Burke, 1960; selections

5. The Talents

For even as a man going into a far country called his servants and delivered to them his goods; and to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability; and immediately he took his journey. And he that had received the five talents went his way and traded with the same and gained other five. And in like manner he that had received the two gained other two. But he that had received the one, going his way, digged into the earth and hid his lord’s money. But after a long time the lord of those servants came and reckoned with them. And he that had received the five talents, coming, brought other five talents, saying: Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents. Behold, I have gained other five over and above. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And he also that had received the two talents came and said: Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me. Behold, I have gained other two. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord. But he that had received the one talent came and said: Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth. Behold, here thou hast that which is thine. And his lord answering said to him: Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strewed. Thou oughtest therefore to have committed my money to the bankers; and at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it him that hath ten talents. For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but, from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away. And the unprofitable servant cast ye out into the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mt. xxv, 14-30.

Homilia IX in Evangelia.

The reading of this Gospel, dearly beloved, would have us consider that those of us who receive more gifts than others in this world, will be judged more strictly by its Creator. For, according as the gifts increase, the account demanded will be more exacting; therefore a man should be more humble and use his gift more diligently in God’s service, the more heavily he sees himself indebted. Here, then, is a man about to set out on a journey. He calls his servants and distributes some talents among them, so that they may trade with them. After a long time he returns to ask those servants for an account of their doings. He rewards those who have worked well and gained profit but he condemns the slothful for ever. Who is this man who sets out on a journey, but our Redeemer, who ascended into heaven in that same flesh which he had assumed? The earth is the proper home of the flesh, but it travels, as it were, to foreign lands, when our Redeemer ascends with it to heaven. This man, on the eve of his journey, entrusted his goods to his servants because he left spiritual gifts to the faithful who believed in him. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another only one. There are five senses of the body: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell; so the five talents represent the gift of the five senses: that is to say, external knowledge. The gifts of understanding and action are signified by the two talents, and the single talent represents the understanding alone. But he who received the five talents gained another five, for there are some people who, although they cannot understand interior and mystical things, nevertheless, by their desire for their heavenly home, teach sound doctrine to all whom they meet, doctrine concerning those exterior matters which they can understand. As they themselves refrain from the caprices of the flesh, they are freed from the fetters of earthly things and from the desire of visible delights, and by their counsel, they free others also. Likewise, there are some who as if endowed with two talents, have a good grasp of what refers to intellect and action: they understand the subtleties of the interior life, and outwardly they work wonders. When they teach others by their learning and example they derive, as it were, a double profit from their trading. But he who received only one talent, going his way, made a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. To hide one’s talent in the earth is to occupy the intelligence God gives us in purely earthly matters, not to seek spiritual profit, never to lift our heart above worldly considerations. For there are some who received the gift of understanding, but who, nevertheless, understand only the flesh. Of these the prophet says: “They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge”.¹ But our Lord, who gave the talents, returns to demand an account of them, for he who now, in mercy, distributes spiritual gifts, will examine each one’s merits in a severe judgment: he will compare what each received with the gain he has derived.

The servant who returned double the talents he had received is praised by his lord and is awarded an everlasting prize as he hears his master say: “Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Paltry are the goods of this world, however great they may seem, in comparison with that reward of eternal life. But the faithful servant is placed over many things when, the afflictions of corruptible life overcome, he rejoices in the eternal delights of that celestial home. Then he is admitted to the perfect happiness of his lord, when he is taken to that everlasting dwelling, to mingle with the assembly of the angels and to relish that joy in such a way that he can never more suffer the external pains of temporal distress.

The servant who was unwilling to trade with his talent returns to his lord with an excuse, telling him: “Lord, I know that thou art a hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown and gatherest where thou hast not strewed. And, being afraid, I went and hid thy talent in the earth. Behold, here thou hast that which is thine.” We should note that the worthless servant says that his master is hard, and nevertheless he refuses to serve him; he says that he was afraid to trade with the talent he was given, when in fact he should fear its profitless return to his master. This servant is a figure of many in the church, who are afraid to lead a better life, but not afraid to continue in the quagmire of their inertia; because they consider themselves to be sinners, they tremble to approach the way of sanctity, but they are not afraid to persist in their vices. And Peter himself, as yet weak in his faith, resembled these Christians when he said on seeing the miraculous draught of fishes: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.² If you consider yourself a sinner, for that very reason you will do well not to repulse Christ from you. But they who find an excuse for evading a conversion and returning to a better way of life because they consider they lack faith, who call themselves sinners and repel that master who could instruct them in sanctity, are like madmen who cannot use their intelligence, for they are dying and still in mortal dread of Life. So that this servant receives a speedy answer: “Wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strewed. Thou oughtest, therefore, to have committed my money to the bankers; and at my coming I should have received my own with usury.” The servant is convicted by his own words when his lord says: “I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strewed.” If, according to your own judgment, I demand what I have not given, how much more justly will I demand of you what I gave you to put to profitable use? You should have given my money to the bankers and, on returning, I would have received my money with interest. To give money to the bankers is to give the knowledge of preaching to those who can exercise it.

As you see the risk I run, brethren, if I misuse my Master’s talent when preaching to you, consider also the danger you yourselves are in, for he will demand an account, and with interest, of these things which you now hear. You know how usurers receive over and above what they have lent: when we return them what they gave us we must add some money which we were never given. Remember, then, that you must pay interest for the words you hear, trying with what you hear to understand what is not said. You must learn, by following your inner conscience and deducing one thing from another, to perform yet more than that to which the preacher exhorted you. But listen to the sentence passed upon the idle servant: “Take ye away therefore the talent from him and give it him that hath ten talents.”

It would have seemed more natural to give the talent taken from the worthless servant to him who had received two talents rather than to him who had received five, that is, to him who had less rather than to him who had more. But, as we said before, by the five talents the five senses are signified, that is to say the knowledge of exterior things, while the two talents represent understanding and action. Then he who had received the two talents had more than him who received five because the latter, who merited the praise of his master by his stewardship of the exterior things he had been given, was as yet without the interior gift of understanding. The one talent, then, representing intellect, was rightly given to him who looked well to his outward responsibilities. We see this occur every day in the church: many who are faithful servants in external things, who put to profitable use the outward benefits which God’s grace confers on them, attain a mystical understanding which produces also their inward enlightenment.

Immediately we hear that other sentence which is passed upon mankind in general: “To every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but, from him that hath not that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away.” It will be given to him who already has and he shall abound, for everyone who has the gift of charity receives other gifts besides. But he who has not the gift of charity will lose even those gifts which he seemed to have. So it is necessary, brethren, that charity should be the motive of all your actions. It is true charity to love your friend in God, and your enemy for God’s sake. He who has not charity loses all the good he had; he is deprived of the talent he was given and, in the words of Christ himself, he is cast into exterior darkness. The punishment of him who voluntarily lived in interior darkness is to be thrust into exterior darkness; there against his will he must suffer the darkness of punishment because here he willingly enjoyed the blindness of his passion.

We should observe that no idler is completely deprived of talent. There is no one who can say truly: I have received no talent and therefore I cannot be called to account for it. We have all received something, however small, for which we shall have to render an account. One receives the gift of intelligence, and with it the duty of preaching. Another receives worldly wealth, and with it the obligation of using it well. Another receives neither intelligence nor wealth but he learned the craft with which he earns his livelihood, and this same skill will be accounted to him as the talent given. A fourth possesses none of these things, but it chances that he enjoys the friendship of some rich man, and this familiarity is his talent. If he neglects to mediate with his friend on behalf of the poor, he is condemned for burying his talent. To sum up: let him who has intelligence speak out boldly; he who has riches must: be untiring in works of mercy; he who has a profession or art should exercise it in the service and the profit of his neighbour; he who enjoys the friendship of an influential person should fear condemnation for his indolence if he does not make intercession on behalf of the poor. The judge, when he comes, will demand from each of us in accordance with the gifts he gave us. So that each one may be sure that his account will be an acceptable one he should think continually, and with fear, of the gifts he has received. For now the time is near when he who left us will return. For when he, having been born on this earth, went far away from it, it was as if he went on a journey; but soon he will return to call us to account. If we slacken in our good works, he will judge us all the more severely for those talents which he gave us. Think, then, of what you have received, and try to profit by its use. No earthly cares must distract us from spiritual works lest, if we hide the talent we have been given, we arouse the anger of the lord to whom it belongs. The slothful servant digs up the talent when the judge is already examining his faults, as there are many who leave earthly desires or actions behind only when they are cast into eternal punishment by the sentence of the judge. Let us watch, then, in the time left us before we have to account for our talent, so that when the judge approaches to condemn he may find excuse for us in the profit which we have made. May God grant us this, who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen.

Previous · Contents · Next