Sunday Scripture Readings

Submitted on May 24, 2007

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sunday scripture

Fr. Francis X. Cleary, SJ

twenty-fifth sunday in ordinary time, september 23 Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 131; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 OUR GOOD NEWS: Yes, we can take it with us - proper use of possessions is necessary for our own salvation and as effective witness to unbelievers. "Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!" This message of Amos, our earliest writing prophet, sounds uncomfortably modern. In today's first reading he put words into the mouths of aggressive businessmen, nominally God-fearing and diligent in worship. "'When will the new moon be over,' you ask, 'that we may sell our grain?'" Their grumbling about blue laws prohibiting sales on Sabbaths and religious holidays ("new moon") suggests that they lived only to make money and found no joy or meaning in pious practices. '"We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating!'" They delight in dishonest deals, cheating customers by altering the bulk unit used for measuring grain and the weights for weighing silver. "Buying the poor for money" or "for a pair of sandals" refers to traffic in human beings, men and whole families sold in slavery for nonpayment of trivial debts. Why, they even charged for worthless chaff and dirt mixed with the grain! Such outspoken condemnation doubtless infuriated Amos' audience, who would have insisted that everyone does it, that they're only meeting the competition. Why suddenly get upset? But God does not forget. Such sins by which middle and upper classes exploit the poor were bringing sure and inevitable punishment upon the whole country. In fact, within a generation God completely destroyed Israel, the northern kingdom, through Assyrian invasion. Today's Gospel parable shocks and scandalizes. The dishonest manager created good will for himself through a show of considerable generosity toward his master's debtors, but at the expense of his master. Still, the owner only lost what he was forbidden to collect in the first place - exorbitant interest, common in those days. Jesus mustn't be misunderstood. He wasn't just lecturing on business ethics, but challenging us: Are we equally willing to muster all our prudence and strength to act decisively and inherit the Kingdom? Worldly people seek worldly rewards with a single-minded dedication that shames us lackadaisical Christians. In the final section of today's Gospel proverbial sayings address the issue of faithful stewardship. God entrusts us with money, as well as talents and other opportunities, in part to determine whether or not we use them responsibly. These gifts are only a pale reflection of what will be given in the Kingdom, for even there we can expect selfless, total service of one another as our eternal vocation.

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