This is the 2nd week of the month of July. On this 8th Sunday after Pentecost, the first epistle from the book of St. Paul to the Romans is what we need to hear. We all want to belong to Christ and to be part of His faithful disciples. We want to be with a community where everyone knows everyone and are accepted, respected and happy to see each other every Sunday and where we all consider this community a home, a home where every person is willing to take you in. This is our deep desire and when it isn’t met, the consequences can be devastating. We all need to have that yearning of fellowships and friendships.
We are all children of God who live not according to the flesh or else we die, but rather we live in the Spirit of God, thus we live. For we don’t receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but we are adopted children of God, calling Him “Abba! Father”! We too are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with him. (vv.12-17) St. Paul offers two choices we can make: first, the sinful world of the flesh which ends in death. This term ‘flesh” encompasses everything associated with mortality, susceptible to decay, to illness, to sin which leads to death as its finality or expiration date. Second, we can be led by the Spirit. St. Paul says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Thus, we are given the choice between life and death. Don’t we want to choose life?
We need to understand that St. Paul is speaking to the many followers of Christ in Rome. That is the reason he addressed them as “my brothers and sisters,” which means he is talking to the Church, believers who struggle constantly to live abundantly in Spirit. We are one with God and others which is the kind of genuine belongingness, not just members of an organization or club, but living in oneness of mind, heart and spirit with God as His children deeply loved, called chosen, and brought into His family, the Church.
In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks to his disciples and to us, this parable of the shrewd and cunning steward. It is true that sometimes it is hard to understand. This steward was accused by his master of unsound and illicit business practices to the extent that he could not be trusted with small matters. As a result, he was faced with the loss of his job which also affected his social standing and even his future livelihood. However, he was quick to take some actions that would sustain his future. His response was a wise, but shrewd, move. He made friends with those who owed his master. Not actually cheating, he afforded them the steward’s legitimate share by slashing an amount others owed to the master. Thinking that by giving them favors, he would gain friends who would welcome him into their homes or possibly get easy employment from those he had forgiven debts that saved them and at the same time benefiting him also by saving face from a ruined reputation and humiliation.
This parable teaches us to discern well how we deal with difficult conflicts either personal, community or society. We need to pay attention to what is demanded by God in accordance with His will. Following God’s will, our behavior must exhibit the goodness and kindness being “Children of Light.” I believe that as followers of the Lord, it is necessary to do the right thing in life, recognizing by our actions, words and thoughts, the goodness of God in each person. The parable also exhorts the hearers to be as shrewd in gaining favor with God as the unjust steward was in gaining favor with the master’s debtors. The master, upon finding out about this, commends the trickiness of the servant which he says is prudent. Of course, we are not measured according to how much we have and possess materially here on earth but by the quality of our love, preoccupied by the Spirit of God in our hearts. Maybe we would ask; did the steward cheat his master by this reduction, or did he reduce their debt by the exact amount his master was owing the steward? Whatever it was, Jesus wants us to be smart and always prepare for our future with God. .
The reading concludes simply: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Since Jesus equates service of neighbor with service to God, perhaps we can hear Jesus exhorting hearers to serve God in our neighbor rather simply serving mammon. The word “mammon” refers to selfishness and obsessive material enslavement.
In conclusion, Jesus is not endorsing any form of financial cheating, but rather the taking advantage of life’s opportunities to choose real and everlasting life. In Luke’s theology, taking care of the poor and needy is the best opportunity for preparing ourselves for serving God.
God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa
