Walking with Jesus: Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, September 18, 2022

Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

Today’s readings ask us to examine ourselves while looking at the people who have influenced our lives. What qualities stand out that are of major importance in our living each day as followers of Jesus and as His disciples to those in need? Wikipedia cites the following qualities as being upmost:

Humor, honesty, empathy, loyalty, trust, respect, relationship intimacy, affection, independence, kindness, maturity, integrity, openness, curiosity, commitment, health emotional intelligence, trustworthiness, faithfulness, forgiveness, open-mindedness, similarity, reliability, and friendship.

The ones I admire and look for are:

• Respecting others
• Realizing I'm not the most important person in my world
• Being able to listen and respond with kindness, empathy and compassion
• Being willing to help and care for those in need
• Possessing a love that encompasses the love Jesus exemplified.

Today’s readings direct our attention to what it means to be a trustworthy follower of Jesus in small and big matters, and providing practical examples on how we grow in these. Many of these are included in the lists above. Cynthia Bazin is a 2015 SUCCESS BlogStars winner, nominated and voted one of the most influential self-development writers and bloggers on the web. She says trustworthy people are consistent, compassionate, kind, humble, available and authentic. Another way to put it or ASK the real questions is: What does it mean for me to be a Christian today? What should I be working on? What eludes me? Where do I feel God is calling me? Do I rely on my own efforts or do I go to God for my needs? Today’s readings give us support and help.

Amos is directing his attention to his contemporaries who are putting their own agendas ahead of God’s agenda. Does this resonate in my life? The people, as well as the kings and nobles, make a display of ritual devotion while at the same time failing to pursue justice and care for those in need. He tells us what really matters to God. He is telling the people that their spiritual conceit and complacency is blinding them to the needs of the poor and the ordinary and lowly people around them. They sing the glorious psalms of David while their actions are empty and meaningless. He tells them they are inattentive to the spiritual ruin around them. How often am I walking this path? What change is needed? Do I ask God for help?

Paul is telling Timothy to remain faithful to the Lord’s commandment of Love. Paul believes that Timothy’s community feels it is only necessary to pray for fellow Christians. Paul says we must pray for everyone. Do I? As I celebrate the Liturgy, I pray for “those whom I love and those who love me, and I pray for those I have a hard time loving and those who have a hard time loving me.” This has always been a reminder to me to “get off my high horse” and be aware of all people in my life. There is only one God who came into the world to save ALL sinners. I need to pray for all.

The gospel is not that easy to interpret. The steward is similar to what we would call a “business manager.” The man in the gospel is working for an absentee landlord and has significant power. A landowner’s worst nightmare would be a person squandering, cheating on his master. It happens today. So the manager devises a plan that will put him back in the landowner's good graces. Instead of being angry, the landlord praises him for acting so prudently. The message: What am I clinging to and not using as a gift to help others, rather than just advancing my own interests?

So I reflect on a passage from Living the Word:

“In Jesus’ day, taxes weighed heavily. Interest rates could be as high as fifty percent. Under the Romans, Jewish farmers were reduced to poverty, enslaved and sold or thrown into prison for non-payment. To forgive a debt was life-changing. This steward knew how to become a friend forever. He was prudent. Smart. Cunning. Still a scoundrel.

“We are not called to become scoundrels. But could we use our ingenuity to build the kingdom of God? Faithfully, in little things? How could we wisely use our wits and our wherewithal to improve this world? Could we make Jesus grin too at the cleverness of it all?”  

Sacred Space 2022 states:

“The point of this passage is in the commendation of the dishonest steward, not for the moral quality of his behavior, but for his worldly prudence in using the things of this life to ensure his future in this life. Believers should behave with prudence to ensure their eternal future. You might reflect on how diligently people work for the goods that pass while neglecting the goods that are eternal. Then reflect on yourself.”