Unequal Gifts.
At the very opening of this parable we shall encounter a thought which touches on the saddest and most irritating problem that our century has tried to solve; that of the origin of inequalities. Jesus here unhesitatingly attributes it to God. He compares God to a master who divides unequally his goods. He does not say (1) that the master loves those least to whom he gives least. (2) He does not say that the master acts capriciously; on the contrary, he gives it to be understood that He acts in His wisdom, since each of the servants receives: "according to his several ability." (3) He does not say that this unequality lasts beyond the time of trial, that is to say, beyond the present life. The two faithful servants who had received different shares obtain the same reward and they enter into the joy of their master. But, these reserves made, let us acknowledge that Jesus Christ says clearly that the master gave to one, five talents; to another, two; to the other, one.
I. That which Jesus Christ says, Nature equally says. Absolute equality in no way exists in Nature, for absolute equality, if you consider it, would be uniformity; now there is nothing less uniform than the works of God.
II. Not only is this inequality a fact, but it is besides a social bond between men, it obliges them to trust to each other, because it is the affirmation of their mutual dependence.
III. What should we do before this fact? Accept it so far as it does not wound the conscience. Accept it in seeking to lessen it, to smooth down its asperities; but accept it at length, humbly, manfully, without murmuring. You are poor; you are a workman; you serve; you are not among those who are called the privileged ones of this world; you have not ten talents only one talent. What does it matter? Are you the less loved by God for that? Are you less a man, a child of God, an immortal soul? Look at your life in its true greatness, in the light of eternity; say that if you serve, Jesus, the Son of God, the King of souls, served and suffered; say that His hands, before being raised to bless humanity, were hardened by holding the instruments of labour; say that our true nobility, our true dignity, we owe to those children of the people who are called Peter, Andrew, Philip and James; and that since Christ has saved humanity in serving and suffering for it, there is no solid greatness and lasting glory but that which is gained in serving and giving up oneself.
E. Bersier, Sermons,1st series, p. 1.