33rd Sunday Year A - Homily 6

Homily 6 - 2020

I had never noticed before that the lectionary provided an abbreviated version of what is a longer parable. It has allowed me to notice points that previously were lost in the plethora of extra details of the fuller version.

The “wealthy master” who was about to “go abroad” “entrusted his property” to the slaves. He did not give it to them, but entrusted it. It wasn’t theirs, but he trusted them, expecting them to use it responsibly, according to their different “abilities” and opportunities.

Somewhat similarly, God, in this historical time between Jesus’ Ascension and eventual mysterious return, has entrusted my life to me. God has trusted me — to use my life according to the personal abilities entrusted to me at my birth and the particular opportunities that have come my way as my life has unfolded. My life has been life given in trust — to be accepted gratefully, respected, enjoyed, developed, and used responsibly. It has been my life, yet not only my life. It has belonged even more to God — to be lived in responsible relationship to God, as well as to the other persons who shared, share now, and will share moments on the journey of life with me.

I find it wonderful to look on my life this way. I haven’t been always responsible. God knows that — and trusted me accordingly, trusts us all accordingly. God’s love is an adult love, that sees forgiveness as a core dimension of all true love [and that accepts forgiveness as an inevitable part of the “job description” of being God].

As Jesus told the story, he had the wealthy slave master saying to the slave on his return from abroad, “Come and join in your master’s happiness.”

Happiness, after all, is another core dimension of all true love. Accordingly, it is also an inevitable element in the “job description” of God. God is a joyful God, a God who knows how, and is free enough, to enjoy. God enjoys forgiving. And our joyful God, always joyful God, invites us to enjoy life together: God and us, and with each other, too.

The only requirement on our part is to love, as best we can, God and each other. The joy is for now, and will climax in eternity.