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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mass Readings
First Reading: Amos 8:4-7
Responsorial: Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
You can’t serve both God and mammon!
My brothers and sisters, in today’s readings we hear a little bit of a confusing story about the dishonest steward. It’s a little confusing because at the end of the Gospel, it sounds like Jesus is commending the steward’s craftiness. Can that really be the case? First, let’s set the scene.
Mammon isn’t just money. It refers to worldly wealth and perhaps even a worldly attitude that goes along with everything this world promises us. With that understanding, let’s jump into to the readings.
In the Gospel the steward, who is basically the manager responsible for his employer’s property and staff has been careless with his employer’s property. The employer learns that the steward has been careless. He is accused of squandering property. His employer tells him that he is going to be let go, but first he must make an accounting of everything he has done.
The steward is a little panicked. He has no idea what he is going to do once he is unemployed. So, he conceives a plan. He figures that if he generous with his employer’s debtors, they will help him once he is unemployed. He summons the debtors and reviews their debts, then has them write promissory notes for less that the amount. Whether he pays part of the debts is not known, but he eases their debt-burdens.
Now when his employer learns what he has done, he praises the steward for his prudence. It almost sounds like Jesus is praising the steward for his shrewdness. How can this be?
Well, here’s the second point. Before Jesus tells this parable, he had just finished telling the crowd the parable of the lost son. This isn’t a second day. This is a continuation of the readings from last week. Now Jesus is offering this parable. What did we learn from last week’s readings? Jesus tells us about the enormous generosity of the Father’s mercy. But at the same time he warns us that he has not come to save the righteous – those who think themselves better than everyone else.
In contrast, Jesus tells us about this prudent steward – a limited, self-motivated example of mercy. In other words, seeing these two parables side by side, this parable is about mercy with strings attached. I’ll forgive you if you agree to do the dishes for a month; or I’ll forgive you if you agree to clean out the gutters for me. This is what the world tells us we should do, right? We should adopt an attitude the espouses, “what’s in it for me?” This is the approach to life that world tells us will lead to happiness, wealth and success.
But is this a sustainable way of living our lives? After a while, managing all those strings becomes exhausting. We can’t serve both our own self-interest and be in right relation with those around us. You cannot serve both God and mammon. In this situation, you only love the one and come to become frustrated with the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.
No, when we extend forgiveness, we should extend it like God. We should offer forgiveness totally and with no strings attached. Why? Well, first, because that is how we wish to be treated by other people. Second, that’s how we wish to be treated by God. We forgive extravagantly so that when we face our judgment, we can say we extended great mercy, and we hope to receive such extravagant mercy too. So, while we can live in this world, we should try not to be of this world – totally focused on ourselves and showing no compassion or mercy toward those around us or holding people in check with strings tied to our mercy and love and forgiveness.
Homework! After being nourished at the table of God’s Word and the Eucharist, I encourage you to reflect on the following questions this week.
- First, have you ever felt unworthy of God’s mercy?
- Second, reflecting on your relationships, can you forgive especially when the other person doesn’t deserve mercy?
I think our homework today will help us live the mercy and love of Jesus Christ in our lives. Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! May almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! +Amen!