Year C

Jan 06 2025

The Bottom Line

The word “mammon” is Aramaic and means property, not only money, but also any possession. More than twenty-five years ago, Fr. John Haughey, S.J. wrote a thoughtful book entitled The Holy Use of Money: Personal Finances in the Light of the Christian Faith. He described the condition of “mammon sickness” as having three interrelated aspects: running after things, a numbness in our relationships, and a divided consciousness regarding God.

Today’s readings invite us to take our spiritual temperatures to see if we are suffering from a low-grade, or even a more severe, case of “mammon sickness.” The prophet Amos rails not simply against dishonest business practices in buying and selling, but more importantly how pursuing wealth can diminish honoring God on the Sabbath and lead to “trampling upon the needy and destroying the poor of the land.” The prophetic voice shouts out to proclaim God’s love and care for the poor; wealth can exclude such love and care from our daily lives.

The parable Jesus tells and the sayings that follow call for more consideration than space allows, but note that the master’s seeming admiration is for his steward’s “prudence” or “shrewdness” in using money to make friends. Jesus then contrasts how the children of this world deal with their own kind more astutely than the children of the light. Succinctly put, use mammon to help others. There can be a holy use of money, to care for those most in need, thereby giving glory to God.

Consider/Discuss

Do you see mammon/money as seducer or sacrament?
God or mammon—whom do you serve? How do you know?

Responding to the Word

God of justice, you are our true wealth and you have entrusted us with the goods of all creation. May we use them wisely and work to see that all have a just share in them. Form us into just and generous stewards, modeled after the image of your Son.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

Amos denounces the unscrupulous merchants for their false piety, their avarice, their dishonest business practices, and their exploitation of the poor and defenseless. The judgment of God is passed on these unrighteous individuals in the form of an irrevocable oath. Amos prophesied to the northern kingdom, referred to here as Jacob. As this oracle shows, the people of privilege frequently took advantage of the vulnerable poor. God swears an oath against such pride, showing that the evil perpetrated by it will not be forgotten; it will be avenged. This is truly an oracle of judgment.

The major point of Paul’s instruction to Timothy seems to be the all-inclusive scope of Christian prayer. Twice Paul states that prayers should be offered for all people. Special attention is given to civic leaders. Thus, Christianity was not fundamentally inimical toward those who wielded worldly power. Besides, if all power comes from God, as Christians believed, then rightful leaders govern by God’s authority, and this authority should be respected. Paul is urging prayer for the conversion of these leaders. If they are converted, they will recognize and accept the teachings of the gospel, and all will be able to live tranquil lives.

Jesus tells a story of a manager who rewrote the debts of his employer in order to ensure a financial future for himself as he faced dismissal. The story has raised many questions, because Jesus seems to commend unscrupulous behavior. Actually, Jesus uses this particular incident to make a religious point. He states that the children of this age (children of the world) have more practical wisdom than do children of light. The real point of the story is found in the last verse. Though shrewd in the ways of the world, the steward chose to serve his own financial needs rather than the economic interests of his employer. Rather than choose to serve the master of the household (God), he chose his own personal interests (mammon).

Jan 06 2025

God Is Always ISO (In Search Of)

The interaction today between Moses and God serves more as a contrast than a parallel with today’s Gospel. When God informs Moses of plans to start over again with Moses alone, and to let his wrath “blaze up against” the people for worshiping a golden calf, Moses has to remind God of the covenant’s promises. God does relent. In contrast, Jesus embodies the mercy of God, who sent Jesus for our salvation.

Jesus was sent to search out the one sheep who wandered off, to turn the house upside down to recover the misplaced coin, and to welcome back that deliberately lost son, allowing him the time to “come to his senses” and the freedom to choose to return home. Jesus is not the placating voice, tamping down God’s fiery anger, but the Father’s obedient Son, doing the Father’s will by reaching out with mercy and compassion. As Paul writes, Christ came into the world to save sinners. We put our trust in this.

We can see ourselves in any of these roles: one who wanders off, or becomes accidentally lost, or deliberately goes away—all of which leads to our being in a place we don’t belong, sometimes in a condition we are ashamed of. We can even be the one who doesn’t go off physically but whose heart is far from the Father, living our lives in bitterness, anger, resentment, or a refusal to forgive. Christ tells us his Father can’t wait for us to end up back where we belong—in our Father’s embrace.

Consider/Discuss

Do you need to be reminded of the Father’s great love for us all?
Does God need you to seek out someone who has wandered off, or even gotten deliberately lost?

Responding to the Word

Forgiving God, we join St. Paul in saying thank you for giving us Christ as a source of strength. May the words of Christ continue to move our hearts into knowing and trusting your love more deeply. Thank you for giving us a place at your table. To you be honor and glory.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

After the people make themselves a molten calf and worship it, God accuses them of being stiff-necked. It is probably here more than anywhere else that the greatness of Moses is seen. He pleads for the preservation of the people of whom he is a member. He first insists that the Israelites are God’s very own special people, delivered from Egypt. It would be a shame to destroy them now. He then appeals to the promises that God made to the ancestors. How could God possibly renege on them? God listens to the entreaty of Moses; God does relent; God does give the people another chance.

Paul’s words open with an expression of gratitude for God’s goodness toward him. He admits that previously he had hunted down and stood in judgment over the followers of Jesus. For this reason, he is a perfect example of one who deserves punishment at the hands of God. He stresses his sinfulness so that he can emphasize God’s mercy. He insists that the greater his own failure, the more remarkable is God’s success in him. In fact, according to Paul, that is the very reason that God took the passionate persecutor and transformed him into an apostle. Paul’s own change of heart reveals the breadth of Christ’s patience.

The Pharisees and scribes had criticized Jesus for keeping company with tax collectors and sinners, people who were considered social outcasts. They maintained that Jesus’ association with them contaminated him as well. In contrast, Jesus saw this association as an opportunity for opening the reign of God to all. Using parables, Jesus drew lines of contrast between the religious leaders and those the leaders have marginalized. The stories depict the extravagant solicitude of the shepherd and the woman to demonstrate the extent to which God will go to rescue even one lost individual. The parable of the prodigal son contrasts God’s openness to repentant sinners and the closed-mindedness of those who consider themselves faithful.

Jan 06 2025

The Cost of a Re-Newed World

Does Jesus really mean this? Hate my parents? My siblings? My spouse and children? Hate myself and spend my life carrying “my cross”? “Give up all possessions”? Is this another example of Jesus’ hyperbole, like when he said, “If your hand offends, you, cut it off. If your eye leads you to sin, pluck it out”? What are we getting ourselves into, if we follow Jesus?

We are getting into the most radical commitment of our lives—to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are committing to him and his mission to bring new life to the world, and to bring all our relationships into our life in him. We commit to work at having that mind in us that was in Christ Jesus.

We are getting ourselves into bringing about a re-newed world, where a new sense of family moves us beyond blood ties, a new sense of self takes us beyond personal fulfillment, a new sense of relationship to possessions carries us beyond “shop, shop, shop.”

Paul was inviting Philemon to enter into this new world. Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, his “property,” had run away, a capital offense, punishable even by death. Paul asks the slave owner to take back the slave as a brother in Christ. One wonders what a different world we might have if this short letter (only twenty-five verses) had been read, preached, and heard yearly over the centuries.

So count the cost, know what’s at stake, and commit this day to Christ the Lord.

Consider/Discuss

What tower are you building? What battle are you willing to engage in for the sake of the kingdom of God?
Do you love and trust Jesus enough to follow him daily?

Responding to the Word

All-wise and all-knowing God, give us a share in your wisdom and the courage to commit to building up your kingdom in our world. Give us the strength to fight against all that is evil and destructive of your creation. Send your Spirit that we might live more fully in Christ.