SECURING OUR FUTURE
Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13
A friend of mine survived Hurricane Katrina. A few days later, a neighbour asked him: “What claims are you putting in?” My friend had not suffered any major damage; he answered: “None.” His neighbour couldn’t believe it. He said: “Are you nuts! Here’s your opportunity to collect a few bucks. The insurance companies are writing cheques on the spot. How can you pass up putting in a claim for $5,000 for… whatever? You’ve been paying premiums all these years. Get a little back. Secure your future.”
The neighbour’s ethics is questionable and it’s easy to criticise him for falsifying a claim. But securing one’s future is something most of us do. Think of the time spent working out which bank gives the best interest, which mutual funds give the best returns, which courses to do to improve our market-value. We are trying to ensure a secure future.
That’s what the steward in today’s parable does. When he gets the pink slip, he does everything, even cooks the books, just to secure his future.
The parable has nothing to do with the steward’s dishonesty. Jesus challenges us to be as resourceful and committed to secure our future with God as the dishonest steward was to secure his future in this world.
Jesus gives us some sound investment advice: “Make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon.” The Aramaic “mammon” is related to “emet” the word for faithful; it stands for something upon which one depends. We tend to think that our security lies in material possessions; that putting money in a safe place is the best way to assure our future. Jesus tells us to exchange it for bonds of mutual appreciation and to use our resources to build relationships because people, as the steward discovered, are more important than money. The most important relationship is the one with God!
Jesus asks his disciples to imitate “the children of this world” who are totally committed to a single cause and serve only one master.
Today’s liturgy challenges us to secure our future with God.
What am I going to do to secure my future? In whom and what am I go to invest my time and my resources?
Will I use the resources that God has given me and serve him with all the shrewdness, effort, and resources that I put into other areas in my life?
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