As we advance toward the culmination of the liturgical year, we hear another Gospel reading in which Jesus conveys that we must render an account for our lives when we die. This message harmonizes with Catholic teaching that we are justified—and thus saved—by faith and good works.
Protestant apologists counter with what they believe is a scriptural silver bullet from St. Paul: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9, emphasis added).
The Church concurs that we cannot save ourselves, and here St. Paul teaches about initial justification, the free gift of salvation received at baptism, which Paul confirms elsewhere from his own experience with Ananias: “And he said . . . now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name’ (Acts 22:12-16, emphasis added).
Baptism
Baptism washes away our sins because Jesus our Savior died to atone for them (Gal. 1:3-4). Also, as St. James teaches in his own epistle, “a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas. 2:24). Jesus affirms that salvation is not a one-time, momentary event but attained through a lifelong process of ongoing justification. Thus, the reality of mortal sin and that we can turn away from our Lord after coming into discipleship with him at baptism. Jesus teaches these truths throughout the Gospels, including in his Sermon on the Mount (e.g., Matt. 7:21-23), his encounter with the rich, young man (Matt. 19:16-26), and through his various parables, including in Matthew 25 on the wise and foolish virgins, and also on the Last Judgment.
Talents or Gold Coins
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 19, we hear another such parable, that of the talents or gold coins, a variation on which is also recorded in Matthew 25. When the rich young man asks, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16), Jesus does not respond, “Do? What do you mean? It’s by faith alone, man!” as Martin Luther erroneously taught, based on his misreading of Galatians 3:28. Rather, Jesus tells the young man to keep the Ten Commandments and, similar to his words in the Sermon on the Mount, raises the moral bar when the young man says he has done so.
Our Lord teaches a similar lesson in today’s Gospel. When a servant returns his master’s gold coin, having buried it in the ground instead of bearing fruit with his God-given gift, the master does not let him off the salvific hook because the servant had faith, nor does the servant invoke this doctrine. Rather, the ungrateful servant is condemned because he had rejected his master’s gift through the choices of his own life:
God’s Mercy
He said to him, “With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.” And to those standing by he said, “Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten” (Luke 19:22-24).
When we sin, we should never despair of God’s mercy, for as the Good Shepherd he is always desirous to forgive us (Luke 15:1-7). At the same time, as today’s Gospel reminds us, we should also never commit the grave sin of presumption (CCC 2091-2092).
