+The context of our parable is significant this morning. Jesus tells this parable “because he was near Jerusalem and they, his disciples, thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately.” There was a mounting hope and expectation going on around Jesus, many seeing him as the long expected Messiah who was about to begin a whole new era for the Jewish people. Our parable, familiar to us already from last Sunday’s gospel which seems to be St Matthew’s rendition of the same, reveals to us what Jesus expects from and hopes for from his followers. He is about to go up to Jerusalem to give his life, giving them an unexpected example of just what he and his use of this parable are really meant to communicate.
We have all been given a coin, given our own unique gifts that we are to use for the good of our brothers and sisters. Our gifts are traded as we use them in such a way that others are blessed, enriched by our lives. Jesus was about to share his own great gifts for the salvation of us all, about to lay own his life for love of us that we all might be filled with God’s own goodness and love. The Eucharist we are about to celebrate makes present here and now this giving of Himself for love of us, calling each of us to do the same for others each day of our lives. St Cecilia did this fully in her own time.