25th Sunday in Ordinary time
No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second …. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money. Luke 16: 13
Intro: Today's Gospel reminds us that God needs and expects an urgent response to His call; a call which reaches out into our everyday lives, even in the most unlikely and unexpected cicumstances.
Readings: Amos the prophet calls his people to follow the way of God's goodness in their everyday dealings with money and possessions.
Writing to Timothy, Paul says that, just as Christ sacrificed Himself for everyone, we too are called to pray for everyone, especially those in positions of authority and power.
Amos 8: 4-7;
1 Timothy 2: 1-8;
Luke 16: 1-13;
We tend to forget that Jesus spent most of His time, not among nice, deserving, people, a bit like ourselves, but rather among the outcasts of society, the slightly dodgy, Arthur Daly-type characters.
We tend to forget that Jesus spent most of His time, not among nice, deserving, people, a bit like ourselves, but rather among the outcasts of society, the slightly dodgy, Arthur Daly-type characters.
St. Luke's Gospel was written for a world of intensely money-conscious city-dwellers. It's amazing how often Jesus spoke about finance, and today's Gospel is just one instance. He relates a parable which is a tale of the sharp dealing and dodgy practice of someone who is out to improve his lot, without being too concerned about how he does it. It's a story which is intensely engaging to His hearers, because it was the stuff of their daily lives; it was about how to keep their heads above water amidst the dangerous currents of life in the city. The steward, through his laziness, had failed to perform his duty to his master; he seizes the initiative in order to guarantee himself a secure future when he is dismissed from office.
And so he re-writes the loans of two merchants who owed his master, reducing the interest on their loans, thus establishing a new order where the debtors are more indebted to him than his master. With barefaced effrontery, he swindles his master and steals his clients. Being dodgy characters themselves, that's probably just what many of Jesus' listeners would have done! Or had done to them!
The passage isn't about moral advice, but tells us how to live now in the hope of eternity. Just like the poor people of His time, trying to survive by means of somewhat sharp practices, Jesus tells us that the Gospel demands a similarly sharp response: He reminds us that we are all desperate people, urgently in need of grace, and we are being asked to bring to our faith all the cunning and graft which we would normally use for our urgent earthly needs. We need to realise that the Gospel is a life or death decision, the most important we'll ever have to make, and we have to be just as passionate about it as we would be about the things we love and desire most in our daily lives.
Of course we need sufficient income for our well-being. But how many of us are captive to material pursuits and luxuries? How far do they dictate our lives? How much do we give authority and respect to bankers, wealthy entrepreneurs, celebrities and others just because they have huge incomes? A craving for money can distract us from spending time with our families, doing some voluntary work or simply enjoying all the free gifts of nature which God has given us.
Jesus warns us against materialism becoming our god, because materialism and our faith, as Pope Benedict once said, don't sit well together. We've got to choose between God and money, but at the same time, to be astute in the matters of the Gospel, as the steward was in his commercial dealings. He calls us instead to put our trust in Him.
True riches will be found in family, friends, sufficient goods to meet our needs. Perhaps today we might reflect on whether we have more than enough to meet our needs or whether we might be able to share even a liittle with those in need.
Intercessions
Today we're reminded of the need to pray for everyone, whatever they're like. And so:
1. For ourselves, God's holy people. By the witness of our words and actions, may we draw others to find You in their lives - Lord, hear us.
2. For those involved in the world of business and high finance, who have huge control over the lives of others. May they recognise that with that power comes the necessity for responsibility and honesty - Lord, hear us.
3. For those who are poor, those without proper homes, those without enough to eat. May our society recognise their needs, and respond with generosity - Lord, hear us.
4. For ourselves and our parish. May we use all the talents which You have given us in the best possible way for ourselves and those around us - Lord, hear us.
5. Trusting in Your promises, we place before You those who have died: Her Majesty, the Queen, Agnes Summers. James Green, Elizabeth Burke, Georgina Sterritt, together with those whose anniversaries we now call to mind: George Dougherty, Robert Christie, senior & junior, Jack & Margaret Ferry. May they rise to the everlasting light of Your glorious presence - Lord, hear us.
God, our ever-loving Father, grant these prayers, so that we may become more effective witnesses of Your all-embracing love to those around us.