The Use of Wealth
If one were to read our first reading for Sunday (Amos 8:4-7), and then our Gospel reading (Luke 16:1-13), one might think there is some disconnect between the two, when there’s supposed to be some connection.
In our reading from the book of Amos, the prophet pulls no punches when speaking for God: “Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!…The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done.” What God decried through Amos was the greed of some people who looked for any opportunity to cheat and make more and more money, especially on the backs of the poor.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable of a “dishonest steward,” accused by his master of squandering the master’s property. I have found different interpretations of what the steward does next. One interpretation is that he goes to the debtors of his master, and decreases the amount they owe to his master, he is foregoing his own profit-taking. Another interpretation is that he is getting even with his master who has unjustly accused him, by decreasing the profit of his master. In the end of the parable, the master commends the steward for “acting prudently.” And then Jesus says,
“For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
Is Jesus advocating acting dishonestly, even as we hear Amos denouncing greed in our first reading? No. As I mentioned before, there are some different interpretations of this parable, but they come to the same conclusion. Jesus is advocating the use of money, not the worship of it. The steward in the parable knew how to use the manipulation of money to make sure he ingratiated himself with his master’s debtors when he was kicked out of his master’s home. Jesus is calling us to be just as intelligent (not dishonest) with money in helping those in need (“make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth…”). Here, “dishonest wealth” does not necessarily mean wealth obtained by dishonest means, but that wealth can easily delude us into believing it is the most important thing in our lives. It is not! It is merely a tool for us to have the necessities of life, and to help others obtain those same necessities.
At the end of our reading, Jesus makes it clear:
You cannot serve both God and mammon.
May we be as enterprising in finding ways in fulfilling our mission and helping others as those who seek to simply amass wealth.
I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for your time.
In Christ,
Phil, CP
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