16th Sunday after Pentecost

Forefeast of Nativity of Theotokos

We heard in today’s Holy Gospel about the Lord who gives to his servants various talents. Two of the servants wisely invested them so that  when the master returned he was able to double the value of what had been given to him. The final servant, who was only given the one talent, was fearful and exacting… he had hidden his talent in the ground and when the master returned he gave back nothing more than what he had been given.

The master praised those servants who had taken their gifts and used them wisely – benefiting and increasing the wealth that had been given them. To that servant who did nothing with his gift, the master condemned him as a wicked and lazy servant. He took from him the one talent that had been given and gave it to others who had proven themselves better caretakers of the master’s gifts.

God has given to each and every one of us the greatest gift of all… the gift of the grace and love of God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul pleads with us in today’s Epistle reading… we must be careful to ‘not receive the grace of God in vain’.

This evening and tomorrow we will celebrate the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. She, above all others, is the supreme image for us of one who received the most precious gift of God and lived out her life in such a way that this grace of God was not received in vain.

It is hard for our minds to grasp that the Creator of heaven and earth would deign to become incarnate and would choose a young virgin in which to begin his formation as a human being. How is it possible that a human being could contain within herself the Lord God? What purity must the Holy Virgin have possessed to behold this grace which surpasses comprehension?

In the stichera for the feast which we will sing tonight, we hear: ‘Today God, Who resteth on the noetic thrones,/ hath prepared for Himself a holy throne on earth./ He Who hath established the heavens by His wisdom/ hath in His loving-kindness created an animate heaven./ For the God of wonders, the Hope of the hopeless,/ hath caused His Mother to spring forth as a Life-bearing plant from a barren root.// Glory to Thee, O Lord!’

What a wonder! He Who established the heavens by His wisdom, establishes heaven within the womb of the Holy Virgin. And she, by her great virtue and purity, proves to be a worthy recipient of this great Grace.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ… God continues to offer and establish these outposts of heaven within the human heart which will receive Him. He stands at the door of our heart and He knocks. And if we will have the humility and the trust to open that door, He establishes that Kingdom of Heaven within us.

These Gospel and Epistle readings fit together quite well and share a similar message and instruction to us… exhorting us to recognize and appreciate the invaluable generosity of God and His mercy for us, and warning and awakening us to make sure we do not squander this treasure and this opportunity which God sets before us. 

God extends His grace and love to us, but we must be awake enough and wise enough to not receive this grace in vain. How do we do this? Apostle Paul tells us in today’s Epistle:

‘…By purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

We may indeed have nothing as evaluated and perceived by the world, but let not our hearts be troubled. God has given us the talents of faith and hope and love. Let us invest wisely in them so that they can bring forth dividends a hundredfold more! Let us be good and wise caretakers of the Master’s gifts… God gives His love and mercy to us generously, let us be generous givers as well.