Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Archives - Page 3 of 3

Scoundrels. We’re not supposed to like them. They’re not role models for moral living. They’re not heroes. But every once in a while, there’s a story that makes the edges of your mouth curl into a bit of a grin—not because what the rascal did was right, but from the cleverness of it all.

The 2002 film Catch Me if You Can does that for me. It is based on a true story. Young Frank Abagnale, Jr. is a con man, a forger, and a trickster. Before he turns eighteen, he’s been a bank robber, a doctor, a lawyer, and a co-pilot for a big airline. He shouldn’t have done what he did. But it sure makes me smile at the cleverness of it all.

Did the corners of Jesus’ mouth curl into a grin as he retold today’s story? Rascal number one: the absentee landlord who charges outrageous interest (observant Jews loathed that kind of villain). Rascal number two: the steward who gives that wealthy villain his come-uppance: Re-write nine hundred gallons of olive oil owed as four hundred fifty? Yes, sir! Six hundred bushels of wheat? Write down three hundred? Ha! Surely! Thanks! You can come over to the house for bread and wine any time!

In Jesus’ day, taxes weighed heavily. Interest rates could be as high as fifty percent. Under the Romans, Jewish farmers were reduced to poverty, enslaved and sold or thrown into prison for non-payment. To forgive a debt was life-changing. This steward knew how to become a friend forever. He was prudent. Smart. Cunning. Still a scoundrel.

We are not called to become scoundrels. But could we use our ingenuity to build the kingdom of God? Faithfully, in little things? How could we wisely use our wits and our wherewithal to improve this world? Could we make Jesus grin too at the cleverness of it all?

Consider/Discuss

A third of Jesus’ parables talk about money. He had likely been a small businessman in a carpenter shop in Galilee; he didn’t disdain money or disparage making an honest living. Money was needed to feed one’s family. But he did challenge his followers to keep money in its proper place: God is God, money is money. We cannot serve both. We can ask ourselves, where does my allegiance lie? What most tempts me to trust in possessions for my security rather than putting my faith in God’s providence?
When times are hard, people get scrappier. When things are flush, there is not so much cleverness needed. People relax and don’t think or work so hard. Throughout history, great effort has gone into conniving and cheating. Jesus knows human nature. He is not surprised by this. But today he urges us, his followers, toward greater scrappiness: Come on! Be clever! Be wise! How can you and I better use our God-given smarts and shrewdness to build the Kingdom?

Living and Praying the Word

Lord Jesus, you know that navigating a faithful Christian life is tricky. You know the tugs and pulls that throw us off track. We need money. You know we do. We need to eat. We need to put shoes on our children. We need a roof over our heads. You know we do. These things are gifts that you have given to us. Help us not to place the gifts before you who are the Giver. Help us to cling only to you. Keep us on your straight path and never let us stray. In this world of temptations, Holy Spirit, keep us focused, keep us pure, keep us sharp. For you.

The prophet Amos is known in particular for his sustained attack on economic injustices. Here he focuses on merchants who impatiently wait for the end of festivals—during which no trade was to occur—before getting back to their business of making money. Not only do they disdain time ordained by God to put aside such things, but when they return to them, their practices are marked by deceit and fraud. By diminishing the ephah, a dry measure, and adding to the shekel, a measure of weight, they defrauded customers by giving them less than they paid for. There were loan sharks even then, who would be willing even to take a poor person’s sandal as collateral on a desperately needed loan. God sees this, Amos says, and takes note.

It may have been that Timothy’s community felt it appropriate to pray only for fellow Christians, so that Paul feels called to emphasize that they should pray for everyone. This admonition is not only pragmatic—a small, vulnerable, and suspect religious group wants to maintain good relations with the authorities—but more importantly it is theologically motivated. There is only one God and one Mediator, desiring that all people be saved and embrace the truth that Christ came into the world to save sinners. Since all people fall within the saving will of God, whether they know it or not, Christians should gladly pray for everyone so that all may come to know this truth and be saved. This should always be done with great goodwill, and not with “anger or argument.”

The parable of the dishonest (or “unrighteous”) steward presents some difficulties of interpretation. The main question is whether the reduction the steward makes in the debts is a reduction in what was truly owed to the master (in which case the steward is once again cheating his master for his own benefit) or whether the amount removed from the debt was the extra part the steward had added for his own “take.” Both are possible, but Jesus’ comment at the end of the reading suggests it is the latter option. The steward, seeing that “the end was near,” abandoned his greedy “take” in order to ensure a good reception later on. The master commends him for this, and so does Jesus, who sees in his “prudence” a lesson about holding on to wealth. Just as the steward gave up his “dishonest mammon” to ensure a brighter future, so also should the “children of light” give up their clinging to mammon to ensure that they receive a good reception from God, to whom alone they should cling. In this way, they are “trustworthy with dishonest mammon” (by not holding on to it), and so will be considered worthy by God to receive “true wealth” in the Kingdom.

Saintly Scoundrels?

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