No servant can serve two masters
Luke 16: 1-13
The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/092219.cfm
From the time of ancient civilizations since our day today,
there has always been some method of barter and trade; some form of cost and
spending. We wouldn’t normally think
that Jesus had much to say about financial matters but in truth he had much to
say about the use of money; both its benefits and its dangers. In keeping with Jewish rabbinic teaching he
often taught through stories (parables) in order to make his point. Normally those examples reflected situations
of everyday life in his time; things that people were very familiar with
already such as agricultural methods; planting and harvesting. Today’s Gospel is one of the most perplexing
and difficult scriptural passages to understand but it does reflect familiar
customs.
The story involves an astute and crafty estate manager who was
skilled in the art of crooked business deals.
He found a way, when he was dismissed for “squandering” the property of
a rich owner, mismanaging his master’s money, both to provide for his own
future and to bring praise upon the rich owner of the property who fired him
for being dishonest. Although his intent was less than admirable, he was clever
in creating a kind of “win-win” result.
The untrustworthy steward created a sense of admiration for the
master who fired him – he went to his masters debtors and advised they reduce
their indebtedness to him. Assuming that recommendation came from the master
himself, not knowing the steward was about to be fired, they then would praise
the master for his mercy to them and be willing to take in the crafty steward
for being the bearer of good news to them. That may be clever but he
essentially was once again steeling from his master in reducing the
indebtedness.
Now what Jesus then says about this manager is shocking in one
way: “I tell you, make friends for
yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed
into eternal dwellings.” Jesus’ recommendation is not all that clear here.
Does he advise we use the same type of tactics as the steward in the
parable? Is he in praise of dishonest
methods in order to gain success? Maybe a look at the first reading for this
Sunday would put more in full perspective.
The prophet Amos in our first reading clearly warns his
audience about the greedy: “Hear this you
who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!” Amos warned
those who use power and wealth to their own advantage while they sacrifice the
more basic needs of the poor who need assistance to attain their own security. “The
Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob; never will I forget a thing they have
done!” This is a warning to those who are governed by their own pride and
personal security at the expense of the more fundamental needs of others.
In light of that, we may see the Gospel parable as both one of
praise for its clever methods but a warning as to how and where we spend our
resources. Our Lord essentially is in praise of cleverness and knows that if
one is as enterprising with the good use of money, much good can be done and
one will win the praise not only of others but all the more importantly, the
praise of God, the true owner of eternal wealth.
The road to discipleship is not an easy one yet is for those
who pay attention to the words of Jesus and put those teachings, methods, to
practical use: prayer, self-sacrifice, attention to the needs of others, to be
charitable for the cause of others, not my own advantage, to live a life formed
by the Gospel values and not those limitations of this world.
More, the relationship between the poor and the rich; the
“haves and the have-nots” and the social conditions of our time in which so
many are suffering from the greed of others is timely with this parable. The
greatest sin Jesus railed against was that of greed and injustice. To be blind to both the material and the
spiritual needs of the disadvantaged is a grave injustice and sin.
Wealth in and of itself is morally neutral. Yet, how we use that abundance either for
ourselves or to adopt a more open and enterprising mind and consider the
greater needs around us, then to devise ways to assist those who need our help,
is I think what Jesus is getting at here.
God looks upon the poor with special favor. As Pope Francis reminds us, he came to us in
the guise of the poor; as a poor man, and spent much of his time with the
outcast and the forgotten.
The Gospel closes with a prophetic warning: “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and espies the other.
You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
(Lk 16: 12-13).
If power, wealth, and the pursuit of success is measured by the
“master” of this world that which the world offers becomes our god. Or if we see the material resources we have
as an opportunity to assist the needy or to spread the Gospel more completely
in some way, then our “master” becomes God himself and his glory; his
praise. In the end, we must be as
enterprising, as clever and intent about our ultimate fulfillment before God as
the dishonest steward was about his own reputation and his security. It may
feel like a strange comparison but it does make the point.
So, we must decide who our “master” is. To whom do we owe our stewardship? We are stewards of the treasure God has given
us: our life, our resources, our opportunities, our faith. God is the Master of
the parables and we are the ones entrusted with his wealth as gift to us. How are we managing?
Does God and the Gospel have a role anywhere in those
priorities or is it down the list. Five
dollars a week to my parish may be more of a token to sooth my own guilt than a
real way to participate in the spread of the Gospel for example. Yet, if that’s the best I can do with my
situation then it is more generous than those who have so much more yet give
less proportionately. If only more would be as "on fire" about
matters of faith as they are for political positions or candidates, or the
latest technology, sports teams, fashion, or material success as a measure of
self-worth, what might our culture be like? Who or what is my real god (God) ?
So, this complicated parable today deserves some
reflection. Yet the bottom line may be
to consider not only my material life but my spiritual life as well. Simply coming to Church on a weekend is a
good and necessary witness. Yet, if
that’s all I do I may find I live more for myself than I do for the spread of
the Gospel. Jesus in short recommends
today that we prepare for the future, as the steward did, but to build up not a
treasure for greed but spiritual wealth for our eternal benefit.
O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law
upon love of you and of our neighbor,
grant that, by keeping your precepts,
we may merit to attain eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
(Collect of Mass)
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