POSSESSIONS AND THE GOSPEL

November 6, Saturday

THIRTIETH-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Paul concludes his letter to the Romans with various greetings and a hymn of praise to God.

After the Lord’s parable on the unjust steward, Luke adds several statements from various sources, some allegorical reflections of the early Christian communities, some his own comments, all rather remotely related to the parable. Behind these lies his attitude toward poverty and the use of the goods of this earth.

 

First Reading: Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27

Say hello to Priscilla and Aquila, who have worked hand in hand with me in serving Jesus. They once put their lives on the line for me. And I’m not the only one grateful to them. All the non-Jewish gatherings of believers also owe them plenty, to say nothing of the church that meets in their house.

Hello to my dear friend Epenetus. He was the very first follower of Jesus in the province of Asia.

Hello to Mary. What a worker she has turned out to be!

Hello to my cousins Andronicus and Junias. We once shared a jail cell. They were believers in Christ before I was. Both of them are outstanding leaders.

Hello to Ampliatus, my good friend in the family of God.

Hello to Urbanus, our companion in Christ’s work, and my good friend Stachys.           

Holy embraces all around! All the churches of Christ send their warmest greetings!

 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter at Paul’s dictation, send you my personal greetings.

 Gaius, who is host here to both me and the whole church, wants to be remembered to you.

Erastus, the city treasurer, and our good friend Quartus send their greetings.

All of our praise rises to the One who is strong enough to make you strong, exactly as preached in Jesus Christ, precisely as revealed in the mystery kept secret for so long but now an open book through the prophetic Scriptures. All the nations of the world can now know the truth and be brought into obedient belief, carrying out the orders of God, who got all this started, down to the very last letter.

All our praise is focused through Jesus on this incomparably wise God! Yes!

 

Gospel: Luke 16:9-15

“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour.”

Jesus went on to make these comments:

If you’re honest in small things,
    you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things,
    you’ll be a crook in big things.
If you’re not honest in small jobs,
    who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
    He’ll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
    You can’t serve both God and the Bank.

When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: “You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance.

What society sees and calls monumental,
    God sees through and calls monstrous.
God’s Law and the Prophets climaxed in John;
Now it’s all kingdom of God—the glad news
    and compelling invitation to every man and woman.
The sky will disintegrate and the earth dissolve
    before a single letter of God’s Law wears out.
Using the legalities of divorce
    as a cover for lust is adultery;
Using the legalities of marriage
    as a cover for lust is adultery.

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
you tell us today, through your Son,
that we cannot be at the same time
your friends and the friends of money.
Make us see more deeply,
that we are money’s friends,
when we are unjust to others
or tolerate injustice by our silence.
But make us also more deeply aware,
that we are your friends when we value simple living,
when we are not greedy for money or social status,
but when we invest in people
and use your gifts for serving them
and building up your kingdom.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Generosity is not for public display

Today’s passage is a continuation of what we have reflected on yesterday where Jesus was praising the choice of the unfaithful steward to give up his dirty wealth and profits to gain friends. The friends to whom Jesus was referring to in the parable were obviously the poor. They had owed debts to the master. And the poor have a special place in the Gospel according to Luke. The poor are friends of God.

On various occasions, Luke had indicated his distrust of wealth. He was convinced that Jesus considered wealth as an impediment to one’s journey in faith and therefore, he referred to wealth and riches as tainted.

The evangelist pays great attention to present the concern of Jesus for the poor, the abandoned and the deprived of the society. Jesus ascertains the responsibility of the rich and wealthy to care for the needy of the society. The destiny of those with riches would be determined by how they care for the poor.

Financial generosity to the poor can proceed from a variety of dishonest motives, and be expressed in a variety of different non-faithful ways. People have been generous in reaching out to the needy especially in these times of the pandemic, but often times, these acts of generosity were put on public display through social media platforms. We live in an honour-based culture and generosity for public display is not the genuine response required of disciples. Self-interest and self-importance are not giving glory to God, but only glorify oneself.

The Hebrew tradition believed that the land of Israel belonged to God and was given equally to all Israelites for their use. Although no practical ways were ever found to translate successfully into practice this sense of God’s ownership and of the people’s sharing in it, the general feeling remained, however, that wealth was to be shared. When solidarity with others was ignored or refused, people refused to share the plan of God.

There is a difference between serving and “using”. Jesus ruled out serving wealth. The difficulty remains that wealth has the tendency to become addictive. Jesus wanted his disciples to find freedom from addiction to wealth. The pharisees preferred to ridicule Jesus because they were convinced that it was wealth and not poverty that brought honour.

They pretended to be generous towards the poor in order to gain honour and applauds in the society. Their acts of almsgiving was a significant factor in their own self-esteem. Jesus condemned such hypocrisy and the challenge is on us today. How genuine and faithful are we with our riches and wealth?

 

Video available on Youtube: Generosity is not for public display