Luke 19:11-28 Faith, A Small
Gold Coin
Jesus said to the people: “I tell you, to everyone who has, more will
be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
As the Lord approached Jerusalem, the people began to think that the
Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.
So what did the Lord do? He told
them a parable, a parable about a nobleman who “went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and
then to return. He called ten of his
servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with
these until I return.’”
The Kingdom of God is not about to appear. On the contrary, it’s about to
disappear.
Yes, Christ will be departing very soon. But he is promising to return. In the meantime, he has given his servants
something to do: Trade.
That is, to give what they have received; to give more so that they can
receive even more. To
everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what
he has will be taken away.
What must I do? What can I
do?
Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones. The fact that we can even ask these questions
is something that is very unique to man.
Only man is expected to accomplish
something. No animal is expected to accomplish
anything, except to be itself. But with
man, life is not so simple. We are not just expected to do something; we are
expected to do what is right, good and holy.
We are expected not to do what is easy or what makes us feel good, but
to do what is right and to be good. And
since we can choose not to, we can sin. We
can choose not to be right with our self.
What can I do? I can do something that no other
creature can do: I can worship the Lord. No
other creature can raise their heads to give thanks and praise to God. No other creature on earth can acknowledge the
Lord’s presence. It’s not their
fault. Actually, it’s not a fault. All creatures on earth were created by God to
help us acknowledge and marvel God’s love and creation. But as easily as I can give thanks to God, I
can also reject him, and all with the same small coin. With my hands I can build or I can
destroy. With my tongue I can give
praise to God or I can reject him. With my
heart I can forgive sins or I can hold on to them till the bitter end.
What can I do? I can build. And since I can build, I can also build upon
what I have received. An animal will take
what it has received and keep it. For
example, bees build their hives in the exact same way they have built them for millennium. Beavers build damns the exact same way their
ancestors built them. Birds build their
nests using the same raw materials.
Nothing has changed. Nothing is
expected to change. No credit is given
to the past. One small gold coin was
given and returned.
Now we have received one small coin as well, but it is not our hands or
our feet or our mind, it is our faith.
Only man can believe. And since
only man can believe, only we can build what has never been seen before. With the eyes of faith only we can worship what
eye has not seen or ear has not heard. With
faith, only we can make life more romantic and more dramatic than sinful or
prideful man has ever experienced before. With
faith, we can build something beautiful and everlasting.
Faith is that small gold coin that should never be hidden. It must be shared with others. And the more I give, the more I receive. Faith in God yields high returns for
man. We all benefit. Those who believe in God invest in man. They never give up. They lay it all down.
Today, as I was sitting in class, my professor asked the class about future, and what are some of our short term goals, and some of our long term goals. She made us do an exercise to help us think further. She wrote up on the board, “In the year 2022, ten years from now, what will I give ten years of my life to?” we all wrote down our age with some reluctance. Then she wrote “I am proud of?...?” and we privately filled in the blanks with some of our ambitions or what we would be proud of ourselves for in the years to come. She then wrote about our “quality world” and who we want to influence us in the next ten years. Some examples were, “I want to be around funny, hopeful, successful, wealthy people.” etc. I then blurted out, “how about holy people?” one girl from the back of the class, said, “holy?” I do not think she knew what that word meant. The boy next to me, who by the way hardly ever smiles, is a hard worker and I am sure a good student, but does not seem to be a very happy person. When I mentioned I wanted to be around holy people, he shook his head like, “what in the world is this looney talking about?, holy? You got to be kidding me.” And I just thought to myself how sad…what lack of faith, what secularism. Who would NOT want to surround themselves with holy, people? Isn’t our main goal in this life is to become holy? And to be saints? Well, I think it should be. Most of my class from just the mention of the word “holy”, did not seem to grasp that concept. From listening to my fellow peers, at college and really all around me, they all have their eyes on the wrong prize. And most of their goals are not leading them to heaven. Sure, everyone wants to look their best and to BE the best that they can be. But to set the bar high, as in to attain holiness takes guts and fortitude.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving from our Family :) to Father Alfonse and YOUR Family TOO :))!!!!!!!!
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