Episode 52: Year A – 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word, we focus on the Gospel reading alone, which is taken from Matthew 25:14-30. There are two details that relate to the apologetical topics of good works (and their relation to salvation) and the doctrine of Hell.
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on the Gospel reading alone, which is taken from Matthew 25:14-30. There are two details that relate to the apologetical topics of good works (and their relation to salvation) and the doctrine of Hell.
The Gospel is the Parable of the Talents. Here’s what we read:
It will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately 16 the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. 17 Likewise, the one who received two made another two. 18 But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. 19 After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ 22 [Then] the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; 25 so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ 26 His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? 28 Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. 29 e For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
The first detail that I want to focus on is the casting out into the darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Like in last Sunday’s Gospel reading, we have another opportunity to reflect on the reality of Hell.
An initial read seems like it’s a slam dunk for support of Hell. The servant is excluded from the master’s house and sent into the darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
But someone might counter that there’s nothing explicit about this exclusion being permanent.
In response, I’d say there’s nothing in the text that indicates the exclusions is not permanent. If this exclusion were only temporary, there’d need to be some suggestion that servant could eventually be readmitted to the master’s house. But no such suggestion is present. Without such evidence, we’re justified in reading the exclusion as a permanent.
Also, I’d say that permanency is hinted at in the fact that the talent is taken away and given to one of the others. This seems to imply that the talent is not going to be given back. And if that’s the case, he’s not going to be let back into the master’s house.
Another indication of permanency is the servant is said to be “useless.” This is the direct opposite of what our Lord says to one of the good servants: “Well done, my good and faithful servant . . . Come, share your master’s joy.”
If the good servant receives a reward that’s permanent, i.e., heaven—symbolized by remaining in the master’s house, then it seems the bad servant would receive something permanent as well, i.e., hell—symbolized by being excluded from the master’s house and cast into the darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. To say that the punishment for the wicked servant is not permanent but the reward of the good servant is permanent would be to rob the contrast of its force. Therefore, we conclude that Jesus is teaching us the reality of the Hell.
The second detail that I want to focus on is the whole idea of taking the talent given and making a return on it. If we consider the talent as representative of the blessing of being in friendship with Christ, or charity, then it would follow that we are called to make good use of that charity in relation to others, which would be done through charitable actions. And, according to the parable, if we don’t make good use of that gift, then it will be taken away from us and we will be cast into the darkness.
Given that we can reasonably interpret the darkness as Hell, we can conclude that Jesus is teaching us that our good works do contribute to our final salvation. What we do after we have the gift of charity determines whether we will enter heaven or not.
As many of you listening already know, this is significant because some Christians reject the idea that our good works have any causal efficacy when it comes to entering heaven. But this parable of Jesus shows that to reject such an idea is to reject a teaching of Jesus.
Now, there’s another apologetical application here. Notice Jesus says that the talent given will be taken away. Again, if we consider the talent as representative of the gift of friendship with Christ, then it follows that Jesus is teaching us we can lose that friendship, which is just another way of saying that we can lose our salvation.
This has apologetical significance because some Christians believe that once you’re saved, your always saved. Again, Jesus’ Parable of the Talents proves otherwise.
Well, my friends, that does it for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. There are three apologetical topics that we have opportunity to reflect in the gospel reading for this upcoming 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year:
- The relation between good works and our salvation
- The possibility to lose our salvation, and
- The Reality of Hell
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I hope you have a blessed 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.