25th Sunday
Robert VerEecke, S.J.
I imagine you have all heard the story about the homeless man, Glen James,
who found a bag filled with money and travelers cheques and gave it
immediately to the police. He said later in an interview that he never for a
moment thought of keeping it for himself. He also said that God had always
taken care of him. And God would take care of him now. If you know the
rest of the story, you know that his reward for honesty is much greater than
the contents of the bag he found.
What a contrast between this honest homeless man and the dishonest
steward of today’s Gospel! The steward squanders the goods of his master.
He cheats those indebted to the master by charging them more than they
should have to pay. Like the merchants in the first reading from the prophet
Amos, this steward “fixes the scales” in such a way that the debtors have to
pay more. He is cheating them and the master. In the Gospel, we don’t hear
how he squandered the master’s property but just how he tried to make
himself look good to the debtors by restoring the debts to what they should
have been in the first place. The steward gets a pat on the back for his
making things right, if even for the wrong reasons. And then, of course, he’s
fired.
In both of these cases, the honest homeless man and the dishonest steward,
the bottom line is keeping things in right relationship. The man who did not
keep the found money for himself knew his relationship with God and with
his neighbor. The dishonest steward distorts that relationship through this
self-seeking greed and cheating. To use the image of the scales in the
reading from Amos, in the first case the scales are in balance, in the second
they are fixed, rigged, so that there can be no just balance.
You may not have noticed but there are two dramatic words that we heard
today in the scriptures that we also heard last week: “squander” and
“trustworthy”.
Both have to do with keeping things in right relationship, in balance. The
prodigal last week squanders not only his inheritance but squanders his
relationship with his father. His actions should destroy the bond of trust
between father and son. But the Father’s mercy is so great that he continues
to find his son trustworthy despite his actions. The steward shows himself as
untrustworthy as he squanders his master’s goods. I have to admit that I’ve
always thought of the property that he squanders as the rich man’s
possessions. As I hear the parable today, however, I see that the steward is
really squandering the relationship between the rich man and those who owe
him some debt. They should not owe more than is right and just. But the
steward charges them more, making the master look like he is greedy. He
puts an unnecessary burden on those who are indebted to him.
I would imagine that by now you’ve heard about or read the interview that
Pope Francis has given to the Jesuit journal, La Civilta Cattolica. His theme
is relatively simple and I think relates to the parable we hear today. His
honest appraisal is that the Church has lost the appropriate balance between
the dogmatic and the pastoral.
The questions that arise from this interview in light of today’s gospel might
be: Have church authorities put such heavy burdens on people that they do
not want to belong? Have some of the practices of the church alienated many
rather than embraced and shown them mercy? Has the Eucharist, for
example, been seen more as a reward for good behavior than an inestimable
gift that none of us deserves? Have we—the priests, the bishops, the middle
managers—imposed more of a debt on our brothers and sisters than is really
warranted?
These are questions that we can ask ourselves as we try to find that balance
between justice and mercy, discipline and freedom. What is of the utmost
importance is that preach the very good news of Jesus Christ and the
salvation that he brings to each and every one of us, unconditionally. Like
the father in the story of the Prodigal Son.
So the question for all of us today is this: Are there relationships we have
squandered in our families, with our neighbors, in our businesses, in our
church community? If so, how can we restore the balance of trust that is a
hallmark of right relationship?
Today, despite the rain, we are celebrating our parish with the theme: called
to love and serve. This is who we are as disciples and friends in the Lord.
Like Glen James, the homeless man who did not for a moment think of
keeping for himself what was not his, we are called to love and serve in
ways that recognize that all we have and all that we are comes from the
Richness of our God.