 | Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com. |
Religion
2010-01-01 15:32:00
What does “much” mean in this context?
Question: Luke 12:48 states, “…From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” Is it possible that when our Lord used the word “much” the first time, He was talking about all of the chances we have in this life to hear and heed the Word of God, as opposed to meaning material things?
Answer: The questioner seems to have answered correctly his/her own question. But that answer is incomplete. Indeed, Jesus, being God, Who will judge everyone, will require from each person a reckoning of how he/she used or misused the talents and gifts s/he has received throughout life, from birth to death. This is amplified in Jesus’ parable about the silver pieces or talents (Matthew 25:14-30): “Happy is that servant whom his master discovers at work on his return; he will put him in charge of all his property. But if the servant is worthless, and tells himself, ‘my master is a long time in coming,’ . . . . that man’s master will return when he is not ready and least expects him. He will punish him severely.” Jesus also spoke encouragement for poor persons, who are generous, in the parable about the widow’s mite (Luke 21:1-4): “I assure you, this poor widow has put into (the temple treasury) more than all the rest. They make contributions out of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on.” And in Jesus’ parable describing the last judgment (Matthew 26:31-46), referring to those persons who are selfish or self-centered and negligent of the needs of others, Jesus says: “I assure you, as often as you neglected to do it to one of these least ones, you neglected to do it to me. These will go off to eternal punishment, and the just to eternal life.”
Thus indeed “much will be required from the person who has been given much.” No doubt Our Lord is referring to how we hear and heed all the chances we have in this life. But also Our Lord is referring to the material things we receive or accumulate during this life. As St. Basil the Great realized: “The superfluities of the rich are really the property of the poor. God allows some persons to acquire riches and have more material goods than they need: precisely in order that they might have the where-with-all to aid their less-fortunate neighbors.” Those superfluous material goods really are part of God’s property by title of creation. God expects us to use our material goods (which in reality He has loaned to us for a time) for our own needs, and those of our family and neighbors and friends; but also to assist other persons in real need, who are unable to provide for themselves and their families and neighbors. God is pleased to help poor persons through the generosity of others. And woe betide those wealthy persons, who heap up riches for themselves and their families, thinking to keep and control them after death, and neglect to assist less-fortunate and poor persons, for whom God has a special love.
Jesus also spoke this message (Luke 12:32-24): “Do not be afraid . . . for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor. . . . Save your riches in heaven, where they will never decrease, because no thief can get to them, and no moth can destroy them. For your heart will always be where your riches are.”
