TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C
Commentary of Fr. Fernando Armellini
A good Sunday to all.
Chapter 16 of Luke's gospel, which we will shortly hear, is entirely devoted to administrating this world's goods; money is a subject that immediately calls our attention. Perhaps someone will say this is an unspiritual argument, but for Jesus, goods must be administered directly with the spiritual life. When we say that a person is a monk in his spiritual life, we mean perhaps that he does a lot of prayer and meditation, spending time in contemplation... these are beautiful things. By spiritual life, we suggest a life moved by the Spirit, moved by the divine life that has been given to us, that impulse of love that animated the whole life of Jesus. This is spiritual life. On the opposite side, we have a life that Paul calls carnal, that is, moved by selfishness, that impulse that comes more naturally to us, like thinking about ourselves and doing what we like.
It's precisely in front of the goods that we have the manifestation of these two lives, two choices, one moved by the Spirit and the other by the flesh, by selfishness. The success or failure of life is at stake, both for the world and for Jesus. You decide the relationship with these goods. That is why Jesus gives much importance. When do we say that a person has been successful in life, that he is a successful person? To the world, a person who has lived has filled his life with good things and is rich when he dies. Rich in honorary titles, money, and many diplomas. He is a successful person because he has acquired a lot.
From the beginning of his public life, Jesus said what a successful life is; he does it with the term 'blessed,' that is, 'congratulations,' you have used life well. Jesus's first word is this: 'Blessed are you poor,' you who have decided to reach the end of your life with nothing because out of love, you have given up everything. And then he immediately adds, 'Woe to you who are rich.' who come to the end of life entirely of goods because you did not give them to your brothers who were in need; you have kept those goods that belong to God and kept them for yourselves? What the world calls successful people to Jesus is that they are failures. Here are the two lives.
Then Jesus comes back to the subject; we've heard it in the last few weeks, in Luke chapter 12: 'Beware, stay away from the πλεονεξία = 'pleonexia' in Greek, that is, from that craving to always have more and more, of accumulating for yourselves. It is the opposite of the spiritual life proposed by Jesus. The Spirit does not lead you to 'pleonexia,' to accumulate but to deliver these goods. In chapter 12:33, he says, "Sell your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves bags that do not break, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where thieves do not reach, nor moth gnaws them." Surrender everything. In 14:33, just before our passage, Jesus clearly said, "Whoever does not renounce his possessions cannot be my disciple."
Here is the proposal of life that he makes to us; then, in the following chapters, Jesus will return to this subject because it is very important; the choice decides the success or failure of a life that is made of the administration of the goods. When the administrator arrives, you will tell him that you have kept all the commandments, and Jesus will tell you that you still lack one thing: sell all you have and distribute it to the poor. Chapter 16 begins, precisely, with the parable of today's gospel. Let us listen to it:
"Jesus also 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 parable we have heard is not addressed to everyone but to the disciples. Jesus does not expect everyone to understand and accept his proposal about administering this world's goods. He knows that the pagans will continue to buy and sell according to the laws of the market. He addresses the disciples so they understand they will succeed if they adhere to his proposal. Here is the fortune of the disciple to have known Christ.
In the parable, two characters immediately enter the scene: the landowner and his steward. In Israel, in Jesus' time, large landowners were very common. In Israel, there are three great plains: the Sharon plain, along the Mediterranean, irrigated and very fertile plain; then there is the plain of Esdraelon, which runs from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, and then the plain of Megiddo (or Armageddon), northwest of Nazareth. These plains did not belong to the poor peasants; they belonged to the landowners who did not live in Israel but in the big cities of the empire, Alexandria, Ephesus, and Antioch, and those who administered these properties were the stewards.
To understand the parable, we must remember the relationship between the landowner and his steward. The steward agreed with the landowner a certain amount of what he got. What he got in excess remained in his hands; it was his commission. Indeed, these arrangements lent themselves to deception, frauds, and forgeries that were the order of the day, as historians such as Flavius Josephus Flavius attest.
These administrators were, in fact, unscrupulous people who had the sole interest of making as much money as possible. Let's clarify immediately who they represent. Who is the boss? It is God. This is the first truth to consider because if one falls into the deception of believing something is not God's but ours, all the problems will appear. If we feel that we are the owners of something, we have the right to manage it according to our criteria; they are the ones that take us to withdraw on ourselves, to sell, to buy, to enrich ourselves, to accumulate, because they are goods that we can negotiate. But if they are of God, they have recipients to whom they must be delivered.
This is the first truth to keep in mind. The pattern is God, as Psalm 24 says in the first verse: "The earth is the Lord’s, and all it holds, the world and those who dwell in it.” In the book of Exodus, when Moses stands before Pharaoh because there are evils that will not end, Moses says to Pharaoh, 'When I lift my hand the hail will cease because you must understand that you are not the master of the land; the land is not yours, the land is the Lord's.' And in Exodus chapter 19, God speaks to his people: “I have chosen you because the land is mine.” This is the truth that the disciple must assimilate because it is from this truth that the correct behavior in administering the goods arises.
In chapter 4 of the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses community members who are proud of their ability and says, "What do you possess that you have not received? And if you have received it, why do you hold it as your own?” In the first letter to Timothy, in chapter 6, it says, “We have brought nothing into the world; we have found everything is prepared for us because the heavenly Father has willed that his children should have what is necessary for a worthy life of sons and daughters of God. And from this world, we can take nothing.” Then he continues his reasoning with much wisdom, “When we have enough to eat and cover ourselves, let us be content because if we start getting anxious to accumulate, we will get into no end of trouble.”
The second character is the administrator, who must assimilate that he can't manage those assets. According to his criteria, he must consider the destiny of these goods according to the master's will. He must consider that at some time, he will have to give an account of this administration because we are pilgrims, strangers, and wayfarers, but not a wanderer; we have a goal to reach in our journey, the land that belongs to us is the one we are treading on; when we take a step forward, that land already belongs to another.
So, how do we administer these goods? The first letter of Peter, chapter 4, talks about the man as a steward, and he speaks to the disciples who have already understood, and therefore, he says, 'as good stewards, let each one put the gifts he has received at the service of the needy brethren.' Also, in chapter 4 of the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul introduces himself not as a master but as a steward of God's treasures. We must have this consciousness: we are not masters but stewards. What happens now in the parable? The master calls the steward because he must give an account. And what Jesus now makes us understand is that at a particular moment, this stewardship ends, and to top it, the administration brings up a fraud that the administrator has carried out.
'What is it that I've heard from you? You can't administer anymore.' I already commented that fraud and forgery to deceive were the order of the day, and in this case, the facts are clear; the accusations are incontestable. The administrator is expelled. We are not interested in the underlying reason why he was expelled. Jesus wants to tell us: 'Be careful; you're an administrator, but at a certain point, you'll be called to report, and the administration ends. You enter in a new condition, and in this new life, in this new reality, you can no longer count on the goods you had before as they have passed on to others; they will no longer be yours; you must think about your future, about your new life.'
This is the only thing that Jesus wants us to keep in mind. If we don't remember that the administration ends, the temptation to entrust our lives to accumulating goods will be irresistible. This steward now understands that the stewardship has been taken away from him. The disciple has understood and must think about his future life. He knows that he will have nothing left when he leaves the office. How do you get ahead in the future? Let's listen to what the manager in the parable plans to do:
“The steward thought: ‘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.’”
In the second part of the parable, we listen to the monologue of this steward who has understood that he can no longer manage and must think about his future, his new life, and he asks himself, what shall I do? This is the question that every Christian must ask himself to become aware of the transitoriness of life, that is to say, that the administration at a certain point is taken away from you, and then ask yourself, What am I going to do if I must prepare a new life if I think about my future? You certainly don't act wisely if you don't think about your future. Because you do not consider an undeniable truth, life has a beginning and an end. Ask yourself this question: what will I do with my abilities, my social position, and what will I do with my professional skills? If I think about my future, about preparing for my new life, what will I do with my degrees? Because all these things expire, even my titles at some point will no longer count for anything, so what will I do?
The farmer evaluates all possible solutions. The first one, digging, he excludes immediately because he knows the work of his laborers; he has seen them work, exploited them without scruples, and says to himself that 'no matter how much he works, I cannot support myself.' Therefore, it is useless. Another possibility is begging, but he says, 'I am a person who has always had great dignity; everybody bowed before me; I can't be seen begging.' He keeps turning his head; he thinks about the commission he still has; the boss doesn't know the exorbitant commission he demands from the farmers. The landowner is already happy that the fields are now under his control, but he doesn't know that this manager can collect the commission.
And he thinks, 'I can collect the commission, but the money can be devalued; it can be stolen from me; I have the oil and the grain... the grain I can put in my barns, but if I don't sell it immediately, the rainy season may come, it may get moldy, and nobody will buy it from me. These goods are not to be trusted.’ He keeps thinking, and at a certain point, he has a stroke of genius; the light bulb goes on in his mind. 'I have understood what I have to do.' The Greek verb is very nice: ἔγνων - égnon, is an aorist and indicates punctually that there was kindled in his mind, the light that made him understand what he must do. It's that stroke of genius that we must have if we think about how to manage these assets and think about the future.
What is the stroke of genius? 'I will lean on friends. The grain may rot, money can be stolen, but not friends.' That was his stroke of genius: 'I'll bet on making friends.' Let's hear how he immediately puts into action his decision:
“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 he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’”
The third scene of the parable takes place in the house of the steward who has summoned all his employees who were to deliver the agreed amount. This includes the part that belongs to the employer, and the steward cannot touch this part because the administration has been taken away, but another part is waiting for him, his commission. The farmers must give it to him; what does he do? He gives up his share to make friends. He understands that life awaits him because those goods will not count, but friends will.
The first one that appears is an olive grower who, according to the calculation, must have cultivated about 150 trees; he asks him how much he owes my employer. He answers 100 measures of olive oil, about 3,000 liters of oil he must deliver. The manager tells him, 'Take the receipt, sit down at once'—I've got news for you that if you don't sit down, you're going to faint—'tear up the receipt, write a new one, not 100 but 50.' One thousand five hundred liters of oil are left for this olive grower. In second place comes another one that must present 40 tons of wheat and 40,000 kilos of grain to the employer. The administrator tells him to write 32; 20 percent was forgiven. Therefore, he must deliver 42,000 kilos of wheat to the employer. Now he has 8,000 kilos left for himself.
As I said, the manager has lost out but has made friends. He has made the right decision; he has been smart and wise. Now, Luke narrates the judgment of Jesus, the Lord, about the decision taken by this steward. Let us listen:
"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.”
The Lord praised that steward of unrighteousness. Who is this steward? It is not the master; here it is the Lord Jesus praising the choice made by this wise steward, says Jesus; he did not focus on the wealth but on making friends. And it does not say that he is a dishonest steward, as some translations claim, but that he is a steward of unrighteousness: οἰκονόμον τῆς ἀδικίας - oikonomos tes adikias. What is this injustice? It is the harsh judgment Jesus gives about wealth.
When we administer the goods of this world, we are within unrighteousness. Later, we will hear Jesus say μαμωνᾶ τῆς ἀδικίας - mamoná tes adikias = the money of unrighteousness, wealth full of injustice. When buying a banana, we pay a few cents; 10% of this price goes to the farmer who grew the banana; 90% is lost in trade. Also, in the banana I buy, there is injustice.
The Christian must keep in mind that he inevitably handles money and goods that are entangled in unrighteousness. He should not be frightened; it is a fact, but he can recover all mismanaged goods before justice. The administrator acted wisely, not cunningly - φρονίμως-fronimos. He did not rob the employer; he has lost his own. Jesus says it's a good choice, 'what a wise choice you've made, you've bet on friends; you have understood that in the future life, it is not riches that count but friends.'
And now comes a brief reflection of Jesus that interrupts the story. Jesus says—I believe with certain humor—'the children of this world, the pagans, those who administer the goods according to the criteria of worldliness, buy and sell according to the laws of the market. Jesus says that these are more skillful than the sons of light. What does he mean? 'Watch these people of the world, when they handle money, when they have enterprises admit it, they are skillful; they use all their abilities and direct them to their goal, for their end is to accumulate wealth, and they do it very well; they try their best.'
Jesus says that the children of light must also do their utmost, but compared to the children of this world, they are much more fragile. The others do their utmost, while the latter are often indecisive in following the gospel and constructing a new humanity in which the goods are managed according to the criterion of the Lord. ‘It seems to me—Jesus says with certain humor—that the children of this world are more interested in accumulating wealth than you are in accumulating riches in heaven.'
And now comes the application of the parable that Jesus gives to the disciples and, therefore, to us today. Let us listen to what it suggests:
"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 God and mammon.”
We have heard four suggestions that the Lord gives us today. The first one is the most important because it synthesizes the message he wanted to give with his parable. He has said: 'Make friends with the wealth of unrighteousness.' This is how to use this world's goods and make friends. He calls it the wealth of unrighteousness; it is not unjust in itself, but it becomes unjust as soon as it begins to be managed as our property, and then we do what we want with it and accumulate it. This is a mistake. 'Distribute them to make friends.'
Jesus does not condemn the goods of this world because it is through this world's goods that we create love, but in the accumulated money, there is always some way of embezzlement, exploitation, or misappropriation. Jesus teaches you to purify unjust wealth. When you distribute it to create love, it becomes good, even if there has been injustice. Then, there are two other suggestions for us to reflect on; it contrasts two realities: the goods of this world and the goods of the world to come.
Be careful, says Jesus, for the goods of this world do not last forever, and you are tempted to consider them an absolute and, therefore, to idolize them; it is a danger. ‘Think of the goods of the future world.’ In this contraposition, he calls the goods of this world 'things that count for little.' They are important, but they are unimportant to the future world. It is the invitation not to idolize them, to consider them an absolute.
St. Ambrose expresses it very well: 'We must not consider as wealth what we cannot take with us because what we must leave here in this world does not belong to us; it belongs to others.’ This is why Jesus calls them trivial things; they do not last forever. And then he says, 'dishonest wealth.' I have already explained in what sense he calls it dishonest because there is always some kind of injustice. He calls, instead, true wealth that of the future world.
And then he calls the goods of this world 'other people's wealth'; this is beautiful because everything is God's, and he has placed these goods, this wealth, in our hands. They have recipients; they belong to others. If one gives me a package to deliver to an addressee and I keep it for myself, I am a thief. Jesus calls it 'other people's wealth' because you must deliver it. That which is yours is that of the future world; the wealth you have surrendered becomes yours, and we can take it to the future world.
Last suggestion from the Lord: Be careful; one employee cannot be in the service of two masters: “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 God and mammon (μαμωνᾶ - mamonah = wealth, goods)." We would like to worship these two gods and bring them into an agreement. It is not possible because they give opposite orders.
Money says to you: 'I am your god; you must think of me, and I will give you everything you ask me; you ask God to do miracles, but he doesn't do them; instead, I do miracles, whatever you want to ask me, I give it to you.' This is the deception that leads you to idolize the realities of this world. Jesus tells you to employ it wisely; money is good, but it is a servant when it is helpful to you to create friends and love. The two gods cannot coexist because money tells you to accumulate, exploit, and deceive, even if necessary. After all, then you will always have more goods.
God tells you the opposite: 'Distribute, share, make friends, for you have given them life with the goods God put in your hands.'
I wish you all this wisdom, a good Sunday, and a good week.
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