Twenty-fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time
LUKE 16:1-13
With this story Luke returns to the theme of Christians and wealth. A rich man had a steward (a property manager). A report came to the rich man - his steward was squander-ing the property entrusted to him. He called him “on the carpet.” An audit was necessary because “you can no longer be my steward.” The steward takes inventory of his talents, “To dig I am not able. To beg I am ashamed.” Manual labor was excluded, but so was unemployment which could make begging necessary. He decided on a course of action by which his present employer’s debtors would be obligated to himself. One by one he called them in. Acting with the authority of a modern power of attorney, he offered them a discount if they settle now, still a legitimate practice in business. His prudence consis-ed in preparing for his future.
Luke follows the story with an interesting observation, “The children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” The “children of this world” refers to those whose outlook is primarily formed by business practices with or without any input of principles of morality. The term “children of light” had become one way of designating Christians, as we see in Ephesians 5:8 and 1 Thessa-lonians 5:5. Both expressions, “children of this world” and “children of light” were widely used in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, whose language has much in common with John’s gospel and some Letters of Paul. If Luke’s observation can be extended to our time, it can serve as an encouragement for the clergy to use the skills of the laity in the administration of Church finances.
Luke now draws a lesson about the Christian use of money. “Make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the everlasting dwellings.” “Mammon” is a Hebrew/Aramaic word for money. This is not a biblical permission to use criminally gained wealth for good purposes, although that may be one form of restitution. An acceptable interpretation of “unrighteous” placed before mammon is as follows. Money can act as a seduction to dishonesty. Better to use wealth to make friends who will be pulling for you from the other side of eternity. For Luke, those friends are the poor and the outcasts of society for whom God has a special care. When the mammon fails, that is, when one has to leave all of it behind, the poor who are already with God will plead for their benefactors’ admission to the eternal dwellings.
The story draws another application from Luke. “Those who are faithful in very little, will be faithful in much. Those dishonest in very little, will be dishonest also in much.”
He applies this statement to using money to gain eternal assets, “If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches.” So that the reader may understand the “who” and the “true riches” of this statement, Luke explains, “If you have not been faithful in that which belongs to another, who will give you that which is your own?” Meaning: wealth is the property of God only on loan to us. When used rightly, by sharing with the poor and needy, eternal, “true riches” will be given as one’s own. Sirach 29:11, “Invest your treasure as the Most High orders, and you will find it more profitable than gold.”
Luke adds a final statement about wealth. It can become one’s master. He writes, “No servant can serve two masters. He will hate the one and love the other or vice versa. You cannot serve God and mammon (money).” This does not exclude the many ways of using money to serve God. To allow wealth to gain mastery over us is idolatry. This is the meaning of Jesus’ rejection of the second temptation in Luke 4:5-8. The devil promises Jesus all wealth and the glory of the world, “if you will worship me.” Jesus replies, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
AMOS 8:4-7
This reading from 740 B.C. serves as an interpretation of today’s gospel. Amos, speaking for God, rebukes those who exploit the poor for profit, “Listen to this, you who trample the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end.” They cheat the poor by false scales. They sell to the poor the “refuse of the wheat.” They enslave them for a pair of shoes. A warning: “Surely I (the Lord) will never forget any of their deeds. The land will tremble and every one who dwells in it will mourn.”
1 TIMOTHY 2:1-8
The author calls for prayers for all people, especially for those who govern us, because it is their duty to make it possible for us “to lead a quiet and peaceful life, godly…in every way.” There is a clear rebuttal of the teaching that God created some to be saved, others to be damned, “God our Savior wills all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” How God will accomplish this universal salvation even for those who have never heard of what he has done for them in Jesus Christ, is hidden in the darkness of divine mystery. The author adds three basic teachings. There is only one God. Jesus is the one mediator between God and humanity. Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all.
