Sunday Meditation: The Parable of the Unjust Stewart

After that brief interlude last Sunday with the Exaltation of the Cross, today on the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year C we return to Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem.  Today we get one of the most misunderstood parable in the entire New Testament.  Today, Jesus offers us the Parable of the Unjust Stewart or sometimes called the Dishonest Stewart.  No, He is not giving us permission to steal.  Three years ago I posted on this very Gospel passage with an embedded video from Dr. Brant Pitre explaining the cultural context and the nuanced theme of the passage.  In summary, the gist is that “you are to pay off spiritual debts—sins—with the Lord’s money, so that those you whose debts you pay off will welcome you into eternal happiness.”  It’s rather complex and I urge you to go back and read that post and listen to Dr. Pitre.

 

Here is the Gospel passage.

 

Jesus said to his disciples,

"A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property.

He summoned him and said,

'What is this I hear about you?

Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.'

The steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?

I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.

I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.'

He called in his master's debtors one by one.

To the first he said,

'How much do you owe my master?'

He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.'

He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note.

Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.'

Then to another the steward said, 'And you, how much do you owe?'

He replied, 'One hundred kors of wheat.'

The steward said to him, 'Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.'

And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.

 

"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.

The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?

No servant can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other,

or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and mammon."

~Lk 16:1-13

 

Dr. Pitre explained it one way.  Fr. Tim Peters does a magnificent job of explaining it another way.  I think this is the fullest, most complete explanation.

The moral is actually to use your shrewdness, all of your gifts to help those in need.  Those gifts don’t belong to you.  They are the Lord’s lent out to you, the unrighteous mammon.  Using your wisdom and prudence, you solve matters for those in debt, and then you will be part of the children of the light.

I was so happy to find that one of my favorite homilists, Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchin Franciscans, recorded a homily on this passage.  This is incredibly entertaining.

So who is your master?  If all homilies were like that, we would all be waiting in line to listen to Fr. Joseph. 

 

Sunday Meditation: “"For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”

 

Fr. Tim’s exhortation to serve somebody recalled Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody.”  I have posted that heart convicting song before, so instead I am going to post a rendition by the Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir, featuring Suzannah Espie.  This is wonderful.

 

I don’t know Suzannah Espie but man can she sing.  Kudos to the entire choir.  They are wonderful.

Sunday Meditation: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Whenever September 14^th falls on a Sunday, it becomes the feast day of the Exultation of the Cross while still keeping count of the ordinal number counting.  It is still the 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time but superseded by the feast day.  If you were not aware “Ordinary Time” does not mean it’s ordinary but that it is counted by ordinal numbers.  A proper definition of “exalt” is in order.  From Meriam-Websters:

 

Exalt

(transitive verb)

1: to raise in rank, power, or character

2: to elevate by praise or in estimation : glorify

3: obsolete : elate

4: to raise high : elevate

5: to enhance the activity of : intensify

 

I think we mean all five of those definitions by exalt, but perhaps “glorify” says it all.

 

With the Feast Day, we take a break from Gospel of Luke and turn to a well-known passage in John.

 

 

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

"No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

~Jn 3:13-17

 

Fr. Geoffrey Plant gives a detailed explanation of why the holiday and how it was established.

What was a symbol of terror was transformed into a symbol of love.

The pastoral homily is by someone I have not posted before, Fr. Mark Mary of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.  

We exalt the cross because it is the instrument of Jesus’s victory over death.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

 

For the hymn, let’s go with Dan Schutte’s “Glory of the Cross.”

 

 

Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ,

our salvation and our hope.

Let us bow in homage to the Lord of Life,

who was broken to make us whole.

There is no greater love, as blessed as this:

to lay down one’s life for a friend.

Let us ever glory in the cross of Christ

and the triumph of God’s great love.

 

 

We adore You oh Christ and we praise You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Cost of Discipleship

So last week the gist of Jesus’s message was a disciple’s need to have humility.  Perhaps that wasn’t very shocking.  Today, on the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus, in His sermon on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, stuns the journeying crowd: you must hate mother, father, family, and everything to follow Him.  We know this is hyperbole, but I suspect it’s because the great crowds following and probably pressing up against Him that causes Him to reach for a sensational metaphor. 

 

 

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?

Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say,

‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?  But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.

In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” 

~Lk 14:25-33

 

I hadn’t found a homily from Fr. Terrance Chartier of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in quite a while.  He’s one of my favorite homilists.  He doesn’t disappoint.

I love the way Fr. Terrance links Jesus’s hyperbole to Old Testament examples, showing the continuity between Old and New.  But of even more importance I think is Fr. Terrance’s pointing out that you can’t really love your family as you should until you have prioritized love for God first.  Jesus is the source.  One flows to the other.  Praise be Jesus, and don’t forget our Blessed Mother’s birthday tomorrow.

Jeff Cavins provides a solid pastoral homily on this difficult passage.

No, don’t hate mom and dad.  But you need to count the cost of discipleship.  That is why Jesus provides the builder and war general illustrations.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

 

I absolutely love this Christian hymn, “All for Jesus.”  I don’t know who sings it, but it’s lovely.

 

Let my hands perform His bidding,

Let my feet run in His ways;

Let my eyes see Jesus only,

Let my lips speak forth His praise.