At the end of today’s gospel, Jesus says : No servant can serve two masters. We cannot serve God and money at the same time. In all the New Testament, Jesus reminds us this message. The story Jesus tells us about the dishonest steward brings a lot of questions ; why does the master praise this dishonest steward ? Does Jesus asks us to be dishonest ? Why does Jesus tell us this story ? What does He mean when He says : make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. What is the message ? Are you using the blessings God has given to you ? Are you using your talents, time and treasures to serve others ? Are you using them to feed the hungry ? Lift up the poor ? ….. getting closer to God ? … to become more generous ? …..more forgiving ? More sensitive ? or Are you using them for for yourselves building friendship in this world ?
To respond these questions, we have to read the book of Genesis. It tells us that God creates the world. And all God created are good. And God entrusted the world to us. He gives us the power to manage the world. At this point, we have to remember that we are not the owners, we are just the intendants, the servants, the stewards. Sooner or later we shall all be called upon to render an account of how we have invested and managed these resources. Because everything we have is a gift. Everything we have is a gift: our life, our time, our relationships, our health, our money. Everything we have is a gift. And we have the freedom to use them in one way or another. We have the freedom to use them for others or for ourselves. We have the freedom to invest them sharing with others. Or to secure our own future.
In today’s gospel , the dishonest steward chose to invest unto his friends ( so that when his master take way his job, he friends can give him take care of him. That is why his master praise him for being prudent thinking in his future. He plans to do something more lasting : He uses the wealth to build something more lasting – friendship. Jesus challenges us all to be smart managers. Yes, we are all called to be managers. God has entrusted the whole of His creation into our hands as His managers. Jesus Christ, in addition, entrusts the kingdom of God – the kingdom of love, justice and peace – into our hands as his managers. Sooner or later we shall all be called upon to render an account of how we have invested and managed these resources. So, being smart managers means to serve Him by using what He has entrusted to us, time, talent and treasure, to give alms and to lift the lowly using your time to serve in homeless shelter, using your time to clean the Church, to sing. Use you treasure to support the church, Diocese and the needy people. Using your talents to lead a group, to sing…..from the dust and dunghills of this world as the Psalmist puts it. By doing so, we will gain what is ours and be welcomed into eternal dwellings, the many mansions of the Father’s house.
Remember what Jesus says in the parable of the end of the world : I was hungry, you give me to eat , I was thirsty , you give to drink… Jesus tells us we need to be just as clever in planning for a secure future for ourselves, and it is not just for few years we spend on this earth that we have to provide, but also for our time in eternity. Jesus is constantly reminding us that material things can make us feel so secure in this life that we forget about what is important, our eternal life. That was the point of today’s first reading from Amos. Our life in this world is temporary. Eternity is forever . Jesus is telling us today to use the blessings God has given us to help us get closer to God and not let our possessions become a god in themselves.
