Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 5, 2011 - Saturday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27 and Luke 16:9-15,]No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Despite Jesus' words, there are many folks who believe they can serve both God and "mammon," (a word which means wealth/possessions in Aramaic). After all, there is an entire industry of folks who offer services in "wealth management!" All a wealthy person has to do is to turn things over to them and thus they (the wealthy) will have more time for spiritual life - right? An appreciable number of them seem to think so. However, that ignores the core of the message that Jesus preaches in the Gospel of Luke! Jesus preaches that wealth is not a private possession but something "on loan" from God. Thus, a wealthy person is a steward and not an owner. It is the duty of the steward to use that wealth to help those who do not have an abundance of material goods. Hmmmm.....to the politically sensitive person, that would sound rather "socialistic," wouldn't it? Jesus would not have known our political philosophy in first century Palestine! His teaching is not that all wealth belongs to the "state" but rather to God! God "entrusts" wealth to humans who should use it wisely. Otherwise, why should they be entrusted with "eternal life!" In today's gospel scripture, there is an implication that wealth is often "ill-gotten gains!" However one comes by it, there is an obligation to use it to help others.
Implicit in all of this is the matter of "security." Our current economic situation has many people "on the ropes" trying to maintain homes and families. One economic theory after another parades across the sharply divided political landscape. The very wealthy become targets for greater taxation. The very poor become vulnerable to violence. The gospel offers a way out provided we can manage our appetites for more and more "security" and "comfort." In the end, God will not ask whether we were "capitalist" or "socialist," but whether or not we loved our neighbor in a very practical way: feeding, clothing...(cf. Matt. 25:31-45). In that light, Jesus' advice about making friends for ourselves with "dishonest wealth" seems very practical indeed! AMEN