“Working together with him,” St. Paul writes, “then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1 RSV). What does it mean to accept God’s grace in vain? How is it possible for us to do so? Doesn’t grace perfect nature? Doesn’t accepting it transform us and save us? Yes, but only insofar as we work with or cooperate with it, that is, only if we take what has been given to us in grace and let it truly multiply in our lives. If think of grace as some sort of magical aid which renders our own actions not only superfluous but useless, we are likely to bury it deep within ourselves, doing nothing with it, and therefore, risk losing it and our own salvation, because we have accepted it in vain.
“Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2b RSV). Every moment of our lives is the time of our salvation, the time in which we are to embrace grace and work with it. Without it, we are limited; with it, our potential becomes unlimited as we find ourselves being moved beyond ourselves and into a synergetic relationship with God. But what is that potential for? Our own union with God, yes, but more than that – it is for having us properly realize who and what we are in God, to become persons who, united with God, act in the world in and for the world, making t better. We are to take the grace given to us and share it with the world. How do we do that? By acting on behalf of others, doing good for those who are in need.
What God expects us to do with the grace which we have received can be seen in the Parable of the Talents:
For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money (Matt. 25:14-18 RSV).
Those who worked with what they had been given, doubling its value, were given rewards, while the one who took what was given, and hid it in the ground, had the talent taken away from him:
But his master answered him, `You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth’ (Matt. 25:26-30 RSV).
As with all parables, there are many ways to read and interpret what Jesus said. Jesus expects us to interact with the parable, to discern what it can mean for us today. That is, it is intended to be read as a wisdom saying, that is, it was intended to have its own particular meanings at the time it was stated, but it was also intended to be read to allow its meaning to transform over time, according to the needs of the various people who come to hear it. In this way, it was not intended to be read as if it had only one proper interpretation, rather, what we are to get out of it was open-ended so that new readers can engage it within their own context, bringing news insights from new contexts. This is the way all wisdom material is intended to be addressed, to look at it as something which we engage in our own particular circumstance instead of offering one definitive idea which we cannot transcend. Wisdom directs us to engage what we do not yet know, to transcend our knowledge, and so engaging wisdom material is a way for us to learn the process of such self-transcendent transformation.
St. John Chrysostom, therefore, gave us one way to understand the talents and how they are to be put to use. The talents are the various skills and resources we have which are then to be put to use by helping others:
Knowing then these things, let us contribute alike wealth, and diligence, and protection, and all things for our neighbor’s advantage. For the talents here are each person’s ability, whether in the way of protection, or in money, or in teaching, or in whatever thing of the kind. Let no man say, I have but one talent, and can do nothing; for you can even by one approve yourself. For you are not poorer than that widow; you are not more uninstructed than Peter and John, who were both “unlearned and ignorant men;” but nevertheless, since they showed forth a zeal, and did all things for the common good, they attained to Heaven. For nothing is so pleasing to God, as to live for the common advantage.[1]
We double the talent when we use it for the benefit of someone else: then it becomes not only ours, but theirs, and so is seen as embracing two people and not just one. Grace, the ultimate talent, is doubled when we put it to use, when we activate it by doing works of love in the world. Then, it is not given to us in vain. If we try to selfishly take it into ourselves, hide it in ourselves by doing nothing with it, we shall lose it. When we do not activate it, it dies out. It is like a fire which dies out when it has nothing left to burn; however, if there are some embers left, breathing on it and adding kindling to the embers will allow it to come back to life. So, we must take the grace which we have accept and give to it the kindling of our actions, so that it can grow strong and bright. Then, we do not receive it in vain, but rather, we receive it truly for our salvation and that of the world around us.
[1] St. John Chrysostom, “Homilies on Matthew” in NPNF1( 10):472 [ Homily 78].
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