17/11/2021

The story of the Maccabees' resistance to the attempted Helenisation of  King Antiochus continues in today's reading. We too have to resist the apparantly systematic destruction of all things Christian by our Liberal/Libertine society. We are humans created man and woman. Our sexes are part of God's creation but the vanity of science has filled our minds to such an extent that there is an assumption that because we understand how something works we can do what we want with it. Many of us are brilliant and capable of sending men to the moon; messages can be sent around the world and back in the twinkling of an eye. Great buildings are built in cities and surging rivers tamed. All is done in God's Creation for there is nothing that is done in this world that is not done without the  material which God created.

The Law of the Lord is far more important than the manipulation of matter. Jesus knows that we are part of human society which has developed out of his creation. He knows that even as we walk with him especially, towards Jerusalem, thoughts of prestige and power begin to take over our minds. So he tells the story/parable of the talents.The message seems to be that  punishment will come to us if we do not make good use of what we have in this world and total destruction will be the reward of enemies of the king. But I have never ever been comfortable with this parable and still it is so today. A quick glance at Wikipedia shows me that I am not really alone in the difficulties to be found in this parable even Milton has his own slant which seems to have in it some sort of contradiction "They also serve who only stand and wait" to the servant who made nothing of his talent.

Dear