Sunday:       Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Date:         September 18, 2016.
Year:         C
The readings: [Amos 8:4-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-7; Lk. 16:1-13]
The message:  No slave can serve two masters.
Prepared by:  Catholic Doors Ministry
Total words:  2228

"No slave can serve two masters." [Lk. 16:13] My brothers and sisters in Christ, today's readings sets an atmosphere that calls us to choose who we will serve during our lives. It reminds us that we cannot be slaves to the world and to God. As Christians, as slaves of God, we are forever indebted to our Lord for our salvation.

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul nicely summarizes our obligation to be slaves of righteousness. He says,

"Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Rom. 6:15-23] (C.C.C. 1294-6)

Today's First Reading from the Book of Amos [Amos 8:4-7] speaks against greed. The Israelites were waiting impatiently for the end of the holy days and Sabbaths so that they could proceed with their dishonest practices. In this specific case, the feast of the new moon was taking place.

In the Book of Numbers, we read that God commanded to Moses,

"At the beginnings of your months you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord; two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; also three-tenths of an ephah of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; and two-tenth of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; and one-tenth of choice flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for every lamb - a burn offering of pleasing odour, an offering by fire to the Lord. Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burn offering of every month throughout the months of the year. And there shall be one male goat for a sin offering to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering." [Num. 28:11-5]

This celebration of the first day of the new moon, like the Sabbath, were days of rest. [Is. 1:13, 66:23; Hos. 2:13] During these celebrations, without exception, no business was to be transacted.

The celebration of the first day of the new moon came to an end around the first century. We find a record of its celebration in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians where it states, "Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths." [Col. 2:16]

There were a couple of things that the Israelites were doing that was drawing the condemnation of the Lord God. First of all, during their trading, the merchants used a dishonest ephah measure to cheat and oppress the poor. An ephah is a dry measure that is slightly greater than a bushel. The law forbade them to use dishonest means of measures. [Lev. 19:36; Deut. 25:14-15] The dishonest Israelites were guilty of selling what should have been thrown away, such as the sweeping of the wheat, or they were mixing good and bad grain.

The second transgression of the Israelites was that they were "selling the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals." [Amos 2:6, 8:6] The Lord has sworn that because of their transgressions, He would not revoke the punishment that awaited them. [Amos. 2:6, 8:7] In this reading, the dishonest Israelites chose to serve the master of wealth, ignoring the righteousness of God.

In today's Second Reading from the First Letter of Paul to Timothy, [1 Tim. 2:1-7] we are reminded of our spiritual obligations in accordance with the universal salvation that the Heavenly Father planned for mankind.

When St. Paul wrote, "I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone...", [1 Tim. 2:1] his emphasis was on the Christian's obligation to pray for all men without exception. This was not a command to pray four different ways.

During our daily moments of prayers, we should always be grateful to God for all that He has provided us. In his writings, St. Paul showed his gratitude to God [1 Tim. 1:12] and urged others. "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [Phil. 4:6]

In this Letter, St. Paul exhorts us to pray for those in high positions. In Romans 13:1-7, he exhorts us to be obedient to the civil authorities, reminding us that God has established all authorities. When consideration is given to praying for someone in authority, rather that refusing to do so because of one's dislike for an authority figure or a politician, a different attitude should be embraced. It is by the power of prayer that the heart of a disliked person is changed. If everyone was to pray for those in authority, consequently there would be better persons in power and a better service to the public. This command to pray for those in authority is similar to Jesus's command to love and pray for your enemies. [Mt. 5:44]

St. Paul said, "This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." [1 Tim. 2:3-4]

It is the Divine Will of God that all Christian pray for all men so that all men may be saved. God takes no pleasure in the eternal loss of a soul. In biblical terms, the words "to come to the knowledge of the truth" are synonym of salvation. In 2 Tim. 2:25, I read, "God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth."

The basic requirement for someone to be saved, he must have a knowledge of Christian truth. Over and above the necessity of Christian conduct and good works, St. Paul stresses this basic requirement in some of his writings. [Col. 1:7, 2:2, 7; Eph. 1:9, 3:13, etc...]

Paul continues his letter to Timothy by saying, "For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human..." [1 Tim. 2:5] Here he emphasizes that God is One [Rom. 3:29-30; Eph. 4:6] and that the Divine Plan of salvation is universal. God desires that all men be saved.

Between God and men, there is one Mediator, Jesus Christ. He is able to represent us because He shared in our human nature through the incarnation. [Heb. 2:14; Gal. 3:19-20]

Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all. [1 Tim. 2:6] Again, I say, God wishes that all men be saved. God's Divine Plan is universal. In the hope that all men may share in our eternal glory, we are called to pray for all men, our enemies, those in authority, the politicians, etc... Such is in accordance with the Divine Will of God.

Today's reading from the Gospel of Luke [Lk. 16:1-13] draws our attention to the parable of the dishonest manager. To many, this is one of the most difficult parables of the Holy Bible. It appears as if Jesus is suggesting that He approves of those who gain dishonest wealth. First of all, let us start from the beginning.

The parable concerns a rich man and a manager. In those days, as a general rule, the manager was a slave who had been born in the household. The rich man gave the slave great liberty and full responsibility regarding the management of his personal property. Like the tax collector who had certain liberties, the manager, while required to show a profit for his master, had the opportunity to do some deals on the side. He could gain personal benefits by skilfully making loans that demanded outrageous interest.

The parable tells us that the rich man had discovered that his manager was wasting his goods. The reference to "wasting his goods" is not necessarily one that the rich man was losing money. Rather, it could imply that the slave was charging such high rates of interest that whatever interest payments were being received towards the loan, the slave was keeping them. As such, the rich man was not recovering the original cost of the loan and whatever reasonable interest he expected from the business deals. So the rich man had all this money, but it was tied down as one would say.

As we heard earlier, the moment came when the rich man questioned the slave regarding the management of his wealth. The slave was asked to provide a complete account of the rich man's wealth. In other words, provide me with a detailed financial statement of my investments and expected revenues.

This put the slave in a very bad position. What could he do so that the rich man would not find out about the outrageous interest rates that were being charged? No problem! I'll give everybody a credit so that they will only owe the original loan plus a small reasonable interest rate. The one who owes a hundred jugs of olive oil will only owe fifty. By the way, a hundred jars of oil represents 900 gallons, this being the production of about 146 olives trees.

Then the one who owed a hundred containers of wheat will only owe eighty. Now with such goods deals, the slave was bound to make good friends who will be indebted to him for his generosity.

When the rich man learned of what the manager had done, he commended him for acting shrewdly. The rich man did not praise the manager for being dishonest. He praised him for having taken the proper steps at a time of crisis to cancel the excessive interest that he was demanding for his personal profit. He praised the slave for "fixing things" so that he would find favour in the eyes of his master and those who had borrowed from him.

Upon completing the parable, Jesus said, "For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light." [Lk. 16:8] The children of the light, the baptized Christians who fall short of enjoying spiritual growth, are less concerned with "fixing things" than the children of the world. Those who seek personal gain are more shrewd than those who seek spiritual gain.

Now here comes that difficult passage. Jesus said, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes." [Lk. 16:9] Through these words, Jesus was saying something like, "Use wisely the wealth with which you have been entrusted in order to keep your holiness and secure your salvation in the eternal Kingdom of God. Remember that it will be hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven." [Mt. 19:23]

The words of Jesus could be reworded as follows, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes." "Dishonest wealth" is substituted for "worldly wealth" because dishonest wealth can only come from worldly wealth. Honest wealth would consist of spiritual wealth, the treasures that are accumulated in Heaven through acts of charity.

To make friends by means of worldly wealth requires one to perform acts of charity by helping the needy with physical items such as food, clothing and furniture. Those who have been helped will remember their donors and welcome them into their eternal homes.

In verse 11, Jesus said, "If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" [Lk. 16:11] In other words, "If you have not been faithful with worldly riches, who will entrust you with spiritual riches?" If you cannot be trusted here on earth with what God has made available to you, can you be trusted in Heaven with the riches that are found in the Kingdom of God?

"No slave can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and wealth" [Lk. 16:13] My brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue with the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us pray for all men, asking God to shine His infinite grace on all mankind so that all may have the right disposition to inherit the eternal Kingdom.

* * * * * * * * * *

The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

* * * * * * * * * *

First Reading...

"Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, 'When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will measure out less and charge more,
and tamper with the scales,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds." [Amos 8:4-7]

* * * * * * * * * *

Second Reading...

"Beloved, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all; this was attested at the right time.

For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I am telling the truth, I am not lying." [1 Tim. 2:1-7]

* * * * * * * * * *

Gospel Reading...

"Jesus said to the disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that the manager was squandering his property. So the rich man summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.'"

"Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.'"

"So summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat!' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty."

"And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light."

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes."

"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?"

"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'" [Lk. 16:1-13]