Schooler's Sagacity and Senility: Homilies from Fr. Bill

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

22 SEPTEMBER 2019

          Jesus has a unique way of getting our attention with his parables.  This is especially true with this parable of the dishonest steward.  Stewards in charge of their master’s possessions had wide responsibilities.  His contemporaries would have been surprised that the dishonest steward “got away with murder.”  When we hear it in our own cultural context, it seems that Jesus is encouraging us to be dishonest to get out of trouble. 

            Now that Jesus has gotten our attention, we must remember that this parable follows after the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  That son did something outrageous (which is what “prodigal” means).  He demanded his share of the inheritance.  This demand is outrageous because the inheritance is passed down only after the father’s death and only to the older son.  The son considered his father dead and trampled on the rights of his older brother.  When the son finally came to his senses and realized the mess he had created, he decided to return to his father and offer to serve as one of his slaves.  Instead, the father did something even more outrageous.  He showered mercy on him and welcomed him back as his son.

            The steward in today’s parable also acts outrageously.  He had been squandering his master’s property and got caught.  He came to his senses when his master announced that he was being fired.  Like the prodigal son, he also takes action.  He negotiates with his master’s debtors to provide himself an income.  Instead of condemning his steward, his master commends him for the way in which he acted so prudently. 

            The key to understanding both parables lies in the mercy and outrageous generosity of God.  Both parables teach us that we are dependent on God for life itself.  Only God can save us.  Jesus clarifies this truth with sayings about wealth and possessions.  He refers to our wealth and possessions as “very small matters.”  We need them to sustain our lives on our pilgrimage to the New and Eternal Jerusalem.  When we realize that we depend on God for everything, our trust in possessions is put into perspective.  If we are trustworthy with these “very small matters,” expressing our gratitude and sharing them in generous ways, then we open ourselves to the ultimate and greatest matter of sharing in the Lord’s rising as we share in his dying.

            Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters.  We must choose between God and mammon.  The word “mammon” comes from the Aramaic language that Jesus spoke.  The Aramaic word simply means “riches”.  Those “riches” are not only the wealth we might have, but they also include other material things like power or prestige or success.  In challenging us to make a choice between serving God and mammon, Jesus warns us that putting all our energies into mammon can easily distract us from depending on God alone.  Our Church suffers today, because too many priests and bishops in the sex abuse crisis opted to give lordship to the mammon of power instead of trusting in God and the needs of the Church.

            That is the message of the prophet Amos.  Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, the wealthy people were so focused on making money and making themselves comfortable that they completely forgot about the needs of the poor.  Worse, their pursuit of wealth included taking advantage of the poor and those who lived on the margins.  They were impatient to get beyond the Sabbath and religious feasts so that they can get back to their business of doing anything they could to increase their wealth.  Like Amos, Jesus is calling us to look at our own wealth, our own possessions, and our own efforts to sustain and increase them.  Do we give lordship to God?  Or do we spend all our energies giving lordship to mammon?