“GOD of the Things or The Things of GOD”

Theme: “GOD of the Things or The Things of GOD”

Readings: Amos: 8.4-7; Psalms: 112. 1-2, 4-6, 7-8; Timothy: 2.1-8; St.

Luke: 16.1-13.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 

Introduction: Buddha said “Desire is the root cause of all evil. Jesus Said “Where your treasure is there your heart is…” Mt 6: 21. Dear friends in Jesus Christ, today the world has become attractive that everything we see, hear and talk about comes from our hearts. Therefore, as Jesus said “from the abundance of heart the mouth speaks.” Lk 6: 45. So we need to introspect and ask ourselves what do I Speak? What is my Treasure? And who is my Master? At this point I leave to your personal reflection and to answer to oneself to these three questions. 

Well the book of Genesis tells us that God created us in his own image and likeness and entrusted us with all that he created, and put at the service of humankind. God saw everything Good and gave us for our well being. Unfortunately our first parents committed sin and lost that deep communion with God. They were doomed to sin and death due to their greed, lust and desire to become like God. Dear Friends right from the first fall of eve and Adam, up to now we are in sin. We are in sin because our love for God is substituted by our love for material things and goods. God is sidelined, God is minimized and God is put in an appendix. I am sure you all agree with me to this. See the world today, we like as if God is dead. We live as if GOD is merely for the sick and the poor.

Anecdote: One day when Abraham Lincoln was interviewed after his long awaited victory in the American Presidential Poll. He was asked sir, do you believe in God and God’s existence. To which he said “I do not doubt the existence of God; but I do doubt whether we are with God or not.” This is very true even today. 

We forget GOD because we are blinded by power, possessions and prestige. We are so much attached to money, name and power. It was the same case with our first parents who desired to become like God and disobeyed Him. “In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor and enjoy their fruits. But the obsessive pursuit of material wealth to the total leaving out of all other values and priorities has brought about the eventual and terrible downfall of many. Politicians amass wealth for them, by using power and position? When people come to them for help, they would help, not because they are generous but for their own future benefit. As a Christian he was unable to choose what is right and wrong. But he followed unlawful ways to grasp money and wanted to protect his power and position.

Today we are called as Christians; we are specially chosen to follow Jesus and spread the values of the kingdom. Therefore, it is good to introspect and see what is our fundamental subjective norm of moral activity or conscience?

 In today’s gospel Jesus puts forward us the parable of the unjust steward. It gives us yet another parable which is about wasting and squandering the property, like the prodigal son.  Jesus highlights the urgency of choosing The GOD OF THE THINGS or the Things of God. We cannot choose both. In this story the steward had two peculiar characteristics, unfaithfulness and farsightedness. Being unfaithful to his master he wants to secure his future so he used his present position well.

Gospel teaches us that we should not follow unjust ways to reach our goals or fulfill our desires. Though the steward was unjust but we should admire at the farsightedness, which reminds us about our ultimate end. Gospel of today teaches that as Christians we should have the farsightedness not to this worldly pleasure, but we should give importance to God and get connected to him. 

The first reading describes how Amos excoriate the people who destroy the poor and at the same time practice unjust ways to make profit, sell the labors short, put in danger people’s lives and make people no more than indentured servants. Even at worship all they think about is how to make more money in unjust ways. God will never forget a single thing they have done to the poorest and the least. We are among the richest nations of the world, by far and the least generous in giving even when disaster strikes what does our God see us doing?

The second reading tells us the necessity of the biblical foundation for the prayer of the faithful at the mass; we are reminded of our duty in conscience to pray for all and for the poor and the needy. St. Paul says “the love of money is the root of all evil.” He does not say that money itself is the root of all evil, but rather the love of money; of course money is needed as a means of exchanging goods in every organised society. But a person can become its slave through excessive love of money. It can become a substitute for God in one’s life. Life is far more precious than the money. Possessions are only on loan to us, and in time we must leave them all behind. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,” “and naked shall I return; the lord gave, and the lord has taken away.” 

From the readings we have heard that how the children of this world may be wise, but their wisdom pertains only to this passing world and pleasures. Jesus gives us the examples from his life that, though he was God he humbled himself and he became man, not for his selfish desires but to do the will of the father. In our attitude to money and property we must keep in mind the words of Jesus, “blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the merciful, blessed are those who strive for justice.” Such people will find true self-fulfillment and the greatest reward of all, of possessing God himself for all eternity.

The human heart was made for love, but it cannot serve opposing masters. The steward learned he could serve either his greed or his desire to survive. The trouble of conflicting personal desires at times enlightens our consciousness and helps purify our hearts. Therefore, dear friends today’s readings invite us to use our talents and gifts for the good of the people. Then, on the judgment day, we may stand before the lord, not like the unjust steward in the today’s Gospel, but as faithful servants, whom the lord shall commend and say, “Well done! Good and faithful servant, you have been trustworthy in few things.... enter into the joy of your master.” Like Jesus, let us serve the Father and thus be faithful to GOD alone.

                                   

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”