25th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Dcn. Tony Porto Topic:
Christian Goals + + +
Gospel
Reading:
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 the
steward said, 'And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, 'One hundred
kors of
wheat.’ The steward 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
matter 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 both God and
mammon.' "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interesting
aspect about today's
gospel is
that the old translation used to refer to it as the parable of the
unjust
steward. Today we tend to think of it as the parable of the
clever
steward--someone who would do very well on Donald Trump's program, "The
Apprentice." Much like Mr. Trump would do, the owner gave his steward
credit for being enterprising. That seems to be rather normal in
business
circles today and possibly so in the conduct of business back
then. However,
at first it seems strange that Jesus would praise such an
individual. He
then adds to my confusion by stating that the worldly take more
initiative that
the other-worldly when it comes to dealing with their own kind.
What's
that all about?
It is true that the manager was irresponsible in his care of his
employer's
property. It almost reads like some recent news headlines that we
became
familiar with here in Los Alamos. The gospel says that he
dissipated the
rich man's possessions, which implies that he mishandled his affairs.
When he
received notice that he was going to be fired, he struck upon a plan to
win
favor with his employer's debtors. He called each one and reduced
their
debt. This action, which is the heart of the parable, did not
necessarily
constitute another act of dishonesty, as we may be led to
believe. The
debt owed usually included the manager's commission, and what he was
probably
doing was giving up that commission which belonged to him. If so, chalk
one up
for the steward.
Now to understand what Jesus meant by
the worldly taking more
initiative than
the other--worldly. He is saying that worldly people are more
willing to
sacrifice for worldly goals than Christians are for Christian
goals.
Nowhere is this better illustrated than in sports. This is true not
only of our
own times but also of biblical times. For example, St. Paul wrote
to the
Corinthians: "Every athlete exercises discipline in every way.
They
do it to win a perishable crown, but we need to do it to win an
imperishable
one." No one has a greater goal to work for and to sacrifice for
than we Christians.
What is that goal? It is to bring
peace to those who are
disturbed. It is
to bring happiness to those who are sad. It is to bring the light
of the
Gospel to those who walk in darkness. Basically, it is to spread
the good
news of Jesus Christ.
I am told that there is a sign outside
of a Chicago service station
that reads
as follows: "We crawl under your car oftener, we get our hands dirtier
and we work harder and longer than any of our competitors to make
your car run
better.
That kind of commitment to service is
the kind of commitment that we
Christians
are capable of making to Jesus and God's kingdom. That kind of
service is
well demonstrated in this past weekend's bulletin. The insert
listed the
names of our religious education teachers, aides and substitutes as
well as
those involved in our youth and adult formation. It is that kind
of
commitment that is within the capacity of each of us. The grace for
this
commitment was given to us in Baptism and in Confirmation. It is
renewed
in us each time we gather on the Lord's Day around the Lord's Table to
hear the
Lord's Word and to share the Lord's Supper.
If worldly people are capable of
making great sacrifices for worldly
goals, how
much more capable we must be of making even greater sacrifices for that
imperishable
goal.
This is the good news that Jesus
speaks of in today's liturgy. It
is the
good news that you and I have the power to do great things, if we but
choose to
do so.
Getting back to worldly people
striving for worldly goals. I
remember a
cartoon showing a patient talking to his doctor and saying, "I am not
here
for you to tell me about burning the candle at both ends.
I'm here
to obtain more wax."
In my twenty-five years at the
laboratory before retiring in '81, I can
reflect on a number of times when I could have easily been that
patient.
Fortunately, I have run out of wax since '81.
Let me close with the following prayer:
Lord,
open
our ears to your word, even when it challenges us more than we want to
be challenged. Open our minds to your word, even when it means changing
our lives more that we want to change.
Above all Lord, help us realize that
you want to achieve great things
through us and that we can achieve great things for you, if we but open
our hearts to you. Amen