25th Sunday OT, Year C
Fr. Albert
St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia
“You cannot serve both God and Mammon.” It’s true, you know. There is no clever homily, no subtle interpretation that lets us get around that fact. Yet, there’s also no getting around the fact that it’s pretty near impossible to survive in this world without making a little money. Anyone who wants to feed their kids, keep them clothed, and possibly even send them to Catholic school knows full well that making money is a necessary part of life. So what can Christ possibly mean with such a statement?
The key word here is the verb, serve. You cannot serve money, but you still need it, so what’s the answer? Stewardship. You must serve God and only God above all else, but what if you can serve God with your money? Better yet, the whole point is that even the money you make is never fully yours. Everything that exists, everything that you are came from somewhere else. God created this world, God keeps this world in existence, and God gave you the gifts and talents you have. God is the owner of the whole universe, but it’s not that simple. Consider the very first thing he does when he finishes creating earth, sky, sea, land, plants and animals. He hires a manager: Adam. He gives his manager a place to stay, payment in the form of food, and he even offers a benefits package for his wife and kids. Like a powerful businessman, God owns a whole lot, but he very much prefers to have talented managers keeping things running.
Now, we like to call them managers, but in Christ’s day, owners called them “stewards.” This is what Jesus is talking about in his parable. The rich man hired a steward and gave him a place to live in order to keep his affairs in order. But, this steward, this manager, was kind of wasteful and inefficient. So, the rich man calls up his manager and says “I’ve heard you’re not doing well with my money, get the books ready so I can take a look at what you’ve been doing.” This manager, since he knows that the audit will end poorly for him, and because his job is also his place to live, starts to worry about his future.
Imagine that this business is a supply store. The manager in this case decides to make friends with the regular customers in order to secure his future. He takes a look at the invoices and picks a few guys who owe a lot of money to the store. Some of the money they owe is actually his commission. Still, he calls them in, tears up the old invoice for them and gives them one that is much lower. Obviously this makes them happy. So, later on, when the steward asks them for a place to stay, they’ll be much more likely to help him out. On top of that, they don’t know that he is about to be fired, so they assume that this reduced invoice is actually generosity on the part of the owner, which makes the owner look good.
Thus, when the owner finally does get a look at the books, it’s too late to stop the reduced invoices. Not only that, he can’t really call these customers up and demand they pay the old price – it would make him look pretty bad. Checkmate. The owner realizes he’s been outmaneuvered and is actually impressed by how clever the whole plan was, so he commends the steward on this cleverness.
So, what is Christ getting at by praising this? It is still a dishonest thing to do and is basically a form of stealing. Surely Christ is not telling us to rip people off, right? Right. Jesus assumes his audience knows that what the steward did was wrong, but he is using this example to make point. By talking about something so obviously dishonest, he is trying to make his listeners think more carefully. He wants to tease their minds to search for a deeper meaning. And the deeper meaning is this: be clever about what is given to you! You have been given an immense gift, the gift of grace and of salvation. Do not squander it like the steward in the parable!
Christ also says to “make friends for yourself with dishonest wealth.” What does he mean? He means that wealth, money, and material riches are dishonest because they do not satisfy. Our hearts and minds often tell us that more money, more stuff, more vacations will make us happy, but that is a lie! Instead of chasing after money, use that money to make friends for yourself. In other words, almsgiving! It is an ancient Jewish and Catholic belief that giving money to the poor atones for sins. Our psalm tells us that “from the dunghill [God] lifts up the poor to seat them with princes, with the princes of his own people.” These princes, the poor that God loves, can be your advocate before him. If you use your money and other resources to help those in need, they will thank God for you and pray for you. That prayer can help you get to heaven. That’s what Jesus means when he says to make friends with your money so that “you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
And just to make sure that we learn the right lesson, Christ follows up this strange parable with a clear teaching that we should be trustworthy in small matters, like earthly money. We also have the first reading, which clearly condemns greed and shady business practices.
So no, you cannot serve God and mammon; you will hate one and love the other. Choose, then, to Love God. That means remembering that you do not live for money or anything on this earth. That means remembering that everything, everything you have ultimately belongs to God. You are but a steward. Be wise with what God has entrusted to you. Be clever with it – do not waste it and use it as effectively as possible to win friends for yourself. Win over the people who are friends with God – the poor, those he has sent to proclaim the gospel, the Church – so that they can be your advocate before Him.
And finally, even more importantly, remember that you are a child of the light. You are a citizen of heaven, a pilgrim on this earth, you are a Catholic. Not only are you a steward over your possessions and businesses, but you are also a steward over your own soul. God has given you an immense gift in your baptism and in your faith. Do you realize how precious this treasure is? Are you, like the steward in the parable, wasting God’s property?
We have so many ways to invest this gift and to enrich it. Almsgiving is a great way. But there are also the Sacraments; there are hundreds of devotions and ways to foster a personal relationship with Christ. The Church has an immense body of teachings and a rich history – a great resource to grow in wisdom and understanding. Christ became poor so that you might become rich. I urge you, do not squander it. Even if you have squandered it so far, do not give into despair. Invest the same time and energy you would to save a failing business or to avoid losing your home. Be clever, take advantage of what we offer: annulments, confession, the year of mercy, indulgences. God wants all men to be saved and, believe me, we want to do whatever we can to welcome you to “eternal dwellings.”