You Can’t Serve the Money-God, too

The Good News for the Day, September 18, 2022

The 25^th  Sunday in Ordinary Time (123)

The Gospel

Jesus says to people He inspires:

The Story

“The rich head of a large company had this employee reported to be wasting the company’s money.

The head of the company said to this executive manager ‘What is this I hear about you? Produce a full audit of what you have done with company money—because you can’t work here anymore.’

The Manager Plans

This manager thought ‘What am I going to do? My boss is firing me. I am not strong enough to become a laborer. I’m too embarrassed to beg. I know what I will do so that, when I am gone from my job, people may welcome me into their places.’

Calling in the boss’s borrowers, the manager did this:

• To the first ‘How much do you owe my boss?’ The reply: ‘A 100 loads of olive oil.’ The reply, ‘Here is your original deal. Sit down and quickly write a new one for 50.’
• Two another the manager said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ The reply: ‘A 100 loads of wheat.’ The reply, ‘Here is your original deal. Write a new one for 80.’

The Boss Appreciates Intelligence

The boss praised that crooked employee for acting so shrewdly.

Luke Adds Some Thoughts for the Mouth of Jesus

• “The children of this world are smarter in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
• I’m telling you, get better acquainted with how rich people cheat. When things go wrong, a person can still use intelligence to find welcome in a permanent position.
• Somebody trustworthy in small things is going to be trustworthy in big ones. Somebody dishonest in little things is going to be dishonest in big ones.

TrusT and Money As Suggestions for the Kingdom

So, if people can’t trust you in shady financing, who would trust you with real money?

If you’re untrustworthy with someone else’s goods, who will give you something of your own?

Conclusion

An employee can’t serve two bosses. A person will distain one and love the other, or be devoted to the other, and careless about the first. You can’t serve both God and a Money-God.” (Luke 16)

Reflections of the Word of Jesus

Many people will apply this parable to rich preachers, who have TV shows that make money, or write books and become rich. It is not about them. It is about you.

It’s about You

Jesus is reminding you of two intertwined truths and offering you advice.

Be Intelligent in the Spiritual World

First, Jesus is advising you: Be smart about spiritual things! Think about what you are considering doing. Reflect, pray, and combine them into bravely deepening your faith – moving your soul into surprising, unexplored territory. Don’t just accept every eloquent religious leader or devotional book. Let your own heart and soul figure things.

The Balance of Spirit and Cash

Secondly, Jesus is reminding you of two impulses we all have.

On the one hand, it is natural to want money. We need to pay bills, to ensure old age and security, and to prosper justly by work we contribute to society.

The other impulse is God. Difficult as it is to accept, God is the only value that means anything in the end. Many of us becomes so busy, greedy, and desperate, we abandon God and don’t realize it. (You are born naked, and “you can’t take it with you.”)

Everything in your lifetime involves balancing these two impulses – your practical involvement with this world and your spiritual commitment to heaven’s Ways.

The Importance Here

Jesus is teaching that our world of the flesh and “this generation” is the flipside of the world of the spirit and the eternity of heaven. Use your brain for both, He says. Keep using this world is an image – only an image – of the timeless one. Your eternity is now, and what you do in your body right now is registering and timelessness and eternity. Every second, every breath, every thought, and every impulse counts.

Sunday, September 18, 2022

The 25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Two Worlds

The world where we live reveals and hides

The wordless one – where thoughtfulness links you

To fresh Life— where lies peace reflection takes

You to – the Way intense with God’s own view –

That what you see is sign & faith – to find,

Beyond Time’s this-and-now, Eternity,

The Way to Life of emptying your mind

To fill it with the wealth beyond your “me” –

The vastness of God’s universe—that glow—

That path so Hidden in your Inner Space—

It gave you life from billion years ago.

Faith is your hundredfold response to Grace—

To live and love as one who serves the Seed,

Explores what’s True, and dares with Word and Deed.