Thursday, September 15, 2016

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 18, 2016: How much do you owe my master?

  How much do you owe my master?  
  How do you invest the gifts God has given you?  

   In the time of the prophet Amos, the merchants' concern is more about making money than anything else; their exclamation, we will fix our scales for cheating! is a statement of how far they have fallen from the relationship God set up for them.  The merchants have forgotten who they are; they neglect the fact that relationship is not about money but about all the love they have received, love they should then, in turn, invest in those around them. But their so-called justice is far from the life-giving justice of God, who loves all he has created, and in whose eyes human distinctions count for nothing, as Psalm 113 proclaims:  He raises up the lowly from the dust… to seat them with princes.  Such is the life-giving justice of God.

   One might imagine that the dishonest steward in Luke’s Gospel should be classified with the merchants in the Book of Amos, but the steward’s methods are in fact internally logical.  The steward has earned commissions on his work, but, when threatened with the loss of his livelihood, he must turn around and invest instead in relationships, using the means he has to connect to those in need (even if they are, in fact, not exactly honest).  In his First Letter to Timothy, Paul speaks of prayer in similar terms, as a way to connect with others, urging the community to pray for everyone as a way to invest in the good of all. 

   We are stewards of all that God has created; we must be sure to invest all that we are given with an eye to the eternal.  Ultimately, God gives each of us gifts; we are all the beneficiaries of God’s generosity.  Our lives are therefore gift, and we, in turn, must be gift for other; we must ourselves invest in love so that God’s gifts grow into life-giving justice for all.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture Class.
Image source:  Wordle

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