25th Sunday Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

The tie in between today’s readings: Serving God or Serving Money?

Psalm 113:1-2; 4-7, Amos 8:4-7, 1Timothy 2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13

You can imagine the Lord’s anger toward His people in today’s reading in Amos 8:4-7 as the whole nation is corrupted by the pursuit of riches. First, they see the Sabbath and other Holy days as inconveniences because they have to close their businesses for worship. Secondly, when they’re open, they make their money by cheating the poor. Instead of providing goods and services, they lock the impoverished into servitude. God wants honesty in business and compassion when dealing with others. In the end, He dismantles the whole society by war and lets them go into captivity. We agree with the concept of doing unto others and that bad actions require bad endings. We applaud this theme, again, in the New Testament when Jesus casts the money changers out of the Temple for ripping off their patrons. So we’re puzzled with our reading in Luke 16:1-13, when our Lord apparently commends the unrighteous steward for stealing from his master in order to save his skin.

To summarize, this rich guy is going to fire his manager for incompetence, if not corruption, and tells him to bring the books for an accounting. But before the steward turns them in, he goes to his master’s clients and reduces all of their debts in order to make them obligated to him after he is let go. The strange thing is that after it’s all said and done the rich man finds out and commends the terminated employee for his shrewd actions.  Jesus encourages us to follow this example. Why? This parable never made sense to me. The guy should have been thrown in jail for stealing! I could never get a good answer. Until eventually, I found some insight into this parable from a TV sermon, of all things. Here it is.

The key is to remember that Jesus lived in an “honor and shame” society. Your reputation was very important. When the unrighteous steward reduced everyone’s debt, they didn’t know that he was getting fired. In their eyes, they saw it as a gesture of the master’s generosity. This made the rich man the most popular guy in town. The rich master received something more important to him than the money: honor.  So, he commended his fired manager for making him “Man of the Year”. When people found out what the manager had done, they went along with it because it would have been shameful to admit to stealing from the rich master by having their bills reduced (and they certainly were not going to give anything back). Everybody took their win-win situation with a wink and a nod and made sure the man who could blow this thing wide open, the fired steward, was kept happy. Jesus wants us to have the same foresight and astuteness when it comes to the Kingdom of God.

Here are a few conclusions to this story. First, get with the program! You can’t serve God and money. Serving money is another way of living for yourself. The Almighty gives you resources and the ability to obtain wealth in this life to serve Him. Second, get at it!  If you are faithful in using even the little things the Lord has entrusted to you, like your money, time, and talent, for His glory, then there are better opportunities coming your way in the next life. Neglect this and lose out on what could have been! Third, get the big picture! You are a witness for Jesus Christ in this world.  Everything must be focused on this Great Commission. The entire New Testament church is one large daisy chain that reaches back to the Jesus and the Apostles. Everyone that is going to heaven from that time until now is there because someone told them the gospel and then they told someone and then they told someone else. Be active in spreading the Good News. You’ll have many forever friends in heaven that’ll be glad you did! Fourth, get over it! If you’ve messed up this far, God will forgive. Get on your knees and back to Him!

In our reading,1 Timothy 2:1-8, Paul encourages prayer on the behalf of all men; starting from kings and those in authority and then reaching out to every person to come to the knowledge of the truth. St. Paul’s purpose in life was for everyone to know that Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man through His sacrifice on the cross. Imagine how many forever friends he has in heaven. In the end, we have our scene in the Psalm 113 reading, where all are giving God the honor and the glory for what He has done for us and through us.  So pray, work, and be diligent in what the Lord has given you. Be shrewd like the unjust steward, knowing that we will leave everything behind as we pass on in death. Let’s develop the attitude that anything that we can touch is a tool to be used for God’s Forever Kingdom. You can’t take it with you, but apparently, you can send it on ahead. Get your head in the game!