Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16,1-13.
Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property.
He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’
The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.
I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’
He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’
Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’
And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?
If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?
No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Omission, Shrewdness, and Tricks
Peace to all my brothers and sisters listening in today
1) Omission- This odd parable is easily misinterpreted when taken literally and must be seen therefore as a spiritual allegory that challenges us to rethink and reconsider how we do business. It turns everything we think we know upside down in terms of looking at how we use our money, or goods, our riches, in fact all our resources. Jesus, far from condoning dishonesty and praising the steward for cheating is challenging us to be shrewd. The key to interpreting this parable is looking at it from a heavenly perspective and identifying the real sin of the unjust steward that the master was going to fire him for. The master was not condemning the steward for embezzlement or stealing but rather because he was wasting his goods, that is spending them thoughtlessly or carelessly. He was going to be fired not because of what he did but because of what he didn’t do -that is his sins of omission. The steward was being lazy and indifferent with the masters goods.
2) Shrewdness- God has given us many gifts and goods that can be used to help others. In fact, our wealth is not ours but is His and thus we are all merely stewards of God’s wealth and the sad the truth is we often waste these goods and wealth; What are they? The wealth of our health, the wealth of our time, the richness of love we have from our loved ones. These are the real treasures that we often take for granted and carelessly waste. We like the steward will someday have to give an account of how we used all that we have been given and so we must learn to make an effort to think out-of-the-box taking everything that life gives us and using it in the service of building up the kingdom of God. The master praises the shrewdness of the unjust steward for having been able to secure his future by acquiring friends and supporters using money that was not his.
3) Tricks-We are encouraged to be with the Italians call being “furbo” which loosely translated means being clever, shrewd and wise in the ways of the world. Jesus in affirming the ingenuity and enterprising creativity that the steward shows wants us to seize every opportunity to do good by using every means posible. If we were really to use all our goods in this way then we like the steward will insure our heavenly future well, a future in which we will spend the rest of eternity. A good example of this is Benjamin Franklin who is very clever in getting the most out of his money. He had a great system to do a lot of good with the little he had. In giving money to one of his friends he wrote the following: I send you here with a bill of $10. I do not pretend to give you such a some, I only lend it to you. When you should return to your country, with a good character, you cannot fail of getting into some good business that will in time enable you to pay all your debts. In that case when you meet with another honest man in similar distress you must pay me by a like operation, When he should be able and shall meet with such opportunity. I hope it will just go through many hands before it meets with the nave that will stop its progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money. I am not rich enough to afford much in good works and so I am obliged to be cunning and make the most of a little. This reminds us I’m sure of the movie-pay it forward
Let us today not be careless or thoughtless with our riches and resources but rather invest in our future with God by using our goods wisely so that we may build up the kingdom of God
May God bless you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit amen
Always remember heaven is goal.
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