Today, I want to say a word on last Sunday’s gospel. I appreciate some of you are not Christians so, very briefly:

last Sunday’s gospel about the Parable of the Talents. Basically it tells about a rich man who assigned 3 servants with the task of taking care of his property, while he left for a business trip (or something…). He gave each servant a number of Talents (some precious currency of Jesus’ time). To one he gave 5, to another 2, and 1 to the other. As soon as he returned from his trip, he asked after his servants and wanted to know what they had done with the talents he gave to each. The one who was given 5 told the master he had made another 5. The one who was given 2 did practically the same thing, and now had 4. While the one who only had 1, said he didn’t do anything with it and had only that same 1 to give back.

This is a Christian gospel, but like everything Christian: it applies entirely to humanity.

It doesn’t take rocket science to notice how unequally distributed wealth is, globally. 80% of the world population currently depends on 20% of the world’s resources, while the other 20% are enjoying 80% of it (check these statistics, they might’ve changed slightly). The fact you’re sitting on a chair with a roof above your head and an internet connection, reading this, already means you’re one of those 20% (i.e. richer than 80% of the world).

This reality often prompts us (Christian or not) to wonder about God’s justice. Because how can God be good if he allows the world to be in shambles. Without delving into the subject of Humanity’s Infinite Freedom and it’s consequences on the world (maybe a blog for another day), I would refer to Sunday’s gospel as one of the many answers to this common dilemma. It’s simple really.

More will be expected out of those to whom more was given

That means whatever you have has been given to you, irrelevant to whether you believe it was God’s doing or simply chance. While you may very easily get accustomed to it, and think that you’ve earned it by the sweat of your brow, nobody pays a dime to tell their brain to wake up in the morning or their heart to keep beating. So look in the mirror and ask yourself what you can do to help your fellow man more and better.

Photo by John Baker on Unsplash