God creates inequality for the sake of the beauty of inequality, people cannot see beauty in inequality.

God creates inequality for the sake of love, which is kindled and sustained by inequality, people cannot see love in inequality.

This is the ancient human rebellion of blindness against clairvoyance, madness against wisdom, evil against good, ugliness against beauty, hatred against love. Even Eve and Adam gave themselves over to Satan in order to become equal to God. Cain also killed his brother Abel, because God did not equally despise their sacrifices. From that time to the present day, the struggle of sinful people against inequality continues. And up to that time and until now, God creates inequality. We say "until that time," because God created the angels unequal.

It pleases God that people should not be equal in everything external: in wealth, power, rank, education, position, etc., and He does not command us to compete in this in any way. Do not sit in the first place, - commanded our Lord Jesus Christ. It pleases God that people compete in the multiplication of inner blessings: faith, kindness, mercy, love, meekness and goodness, humility and obedience. God gave both external and internal blessings. But He considers man's external goods to be cheaper and insignificant than internal goods. He puts external goods at the disposal not only of people, but also of animals. But He reveals a rich treasury of internal, spiritual blessings only for human souls. God gave man something more than animals, which is why He demands more from people than from animals. This "greater" is made up of spiritual gifts.

God gave external goods to man so that they would serve the internal. For everything external serves the inner man as a means. Everything temporal is predestined for the service of the eternal, and everything mortal is predestined for the service of the immortal. A person who follows the opposite path and spends his spiritual gifts exclusively for the acquisition of external, temporal goods, wealth, power, rank, worldly glory, is like a son who inherited a lot of gold from his father and squandered it by buying ashes.

For people who have felt in their souls the gifts of God placed in it, everything external becomes insignificant: like an elementary school for one who has entered a higher school.

It is the ignorant who fight for external goods alone, not the wise. The wise men are waging a more difficult and more valuable struggle - the struggle for the multiplication of internal goods.

Those who do not know how or do not dare to look into themselves and get down to work in the internal, main field of their human existence fight for external equality.

God does not look at what a person works in this world, what he has, how he is dressed, fed, educated, whether people respect him - God looks at the heart of man. In other words: God does not look at the external state and position of man, but at his inner development, growth, and enrichment in spirit and truth. This is evidenced by today's Gospel reading. The parable of the talents, or spiritual gifts, which God puts into the soul of each person, shows the great inner inequality of people by their very nature. But it also shows much more. With its eagle's eye, this parable embraces the entire history of the human soul, from beginning to end. Whoever fully understood this one parable of the Savior and fulfilled the mandate contained in it with his life, would gain eternal salvation in the Kingdom of God.

For He will act as a man who, going to a foreign country, called his servants, and entrusted to them his possessions: and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability; and immediately departed. Man should be understood as the Most High God, the Giver of all good gifts. Slaves mean angels and people. A journey to a foreign land signifies God's long-suffering. Talents are spiritual gifts that God bestows upon His intelligent creatures. The greatness of all these gifts is shown by the fact that they are deliberately called talents. For one talent was a large coin, the value of which was equal to five hundred gold chervonets. As has been said, the Lord deliberately called the gifts of God talents, in order to show the greatness of these gifts; to show how generously the Most Gracious Creator endowed His creations. So great are these gifts, that even he who has received one talent has received quite enough. By man is also meant our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which is evident from the words of the Evangelist Luke: a certain man of high birth. This Man of high birth is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Only-begotten Son of God, the Son of the Most High. And this is also clearly seen from the following words of the same Evangelist: "He went to a far country, that he might receive for himself a kingdom and return" (Luke 19:12). After His ascension, our Lord Jesus Christ went to heaven to receive His Kingdom, giving the world the promise to come once more to earth as Judge. Since by man is understood our Lord Jesus Christ, it means that by His servants are the apostles, bishops, priests and all the faithful. On each of them the Holy Spirit poured out many gifts - good, but different and unequal, so that the faithful, complementing each other, thus all together would be morally perfected and spiritually grow. The gifts are different, but the Spirit is the same; and the ministries are different, but the Lord is one and the same; and the actions are different, but God is one and the same, working all things in all. But everyone is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the benefit of... Yet all this is done by one and the same Spirit, dividing to each individually as He pleases (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). In the sacrament of baptism, all the faithful receive an abundance of these gifts, and in the other sacraments of the Church, God strengthens and multiplies these gifts. By the five talents some interpreters understand the five senses of man, by two the soul and body, and by one the unity of human nature. The five bodily senses are given to man to serve the spirit and salvation. With body and soul, a person must diligently work for God, be enriched by the knowledge of God and good works. And a person must devote himself entirely to serving God. In childhood, a person lives with five senses, a full sensual life. In adulthood, he feels in himself a duality and a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. And in the mature spiritual age, a person realizes himself as a single spirit, overcoming the inner division into five and two. But it is precisely at this mature age, when a person considers himself a conqueror, that he is in the greatest danger of disobeying God. Having reached the greatest heights, he then falls into the deepest abyss and buries his talent.

God gives gifts to everyone according to his strength, that is, according to how much a person can carry and use. Of course, God also gives people gifts according to the plan of the holy economy. Thus, those who build a house do not have the same abilities and do not do the same work: they have different abilities and different tasks, and each of them works according to his own strength!

And immediately he departed. These words signify the swiftness of God's creation. And when the Creator created the world, He created it quickly. And when our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth for the sake of a new creation, for the sake of the renewal of the world, He quickly accomplished His work: He called His servants, distributed gifts to them, and immediately departed.

So what did the slaves do with the talents they received?

He who received five talents went and used them in business and acquired the other five talents; in the same way, he who received two talents acquired the other two; And he who received one talent went and buried it in the ground, and hid his master's money. All the labor activity and all the commerce that exist among men is a picture of what is going on—or what ought to happen—in the souls of men. From everyone who inherits any property, people expect that he will increase this property. Everyone who has acquired a field is expected to cultivate this field. Anyone who has learned a trade is expected to engage in that trade, both for his own benefit and for the benefit of his neighbors. Anyone who knows any handicraft is expected to show his knowledge. Everyone who invests money in trade is expected to multiply this money. People move, work, improve things, collect, exchange, sell and buy. Everyone tries to get what is necessary for bodily life, everyone tries to improve his health, satisfy his daily needs and ensure his bodily existence for as long and as long as possible. And all this is only an image of what a person should do for his soul. For the soul is the main thing. All our external needs are images of our spiritual needs, reminders and lessons that we need to work for our soul, hungry and thirsty, naked and sick, unclean and miserable. Therefore, each of us, who has received from God five or two, or one measure of faith, wisdom, love for mankind, fear of God, meekness, obedience to God, or longing for spiritual purity and strength, is obliged to work in order to at least double this measure, as the first and second slaves did and as people who are engaged in trade and crafts usually do. He who does not multiply the talent given to him - whatever this talent is - will be cut down like a tree that does not bear good fruit, and thrown into the fire. What every farmer does with the barren fig tree, which he has dug in, grafted, and fenced in vain, but which still bears no fruit, will be done by the Supreme Householder of the universal garden, where men are His most precious trees. See for yourselves what bewilderment and contempt people evoke who, having inherited the property from his father, does nothing, but burns through the inheritance for bodily needs and pleasures! Even the lowest beggar is not so despised by people as such a selfish sloth. Such a person is the true image of a spiritual sluggard, who, having received from God only a talent of faith, wisdom, eloquence, or some other virtue, buries it, without using it, in the dirt of his body, does not multiply it by labor, and out of pride and selfishness does not benefit anyone.