8th Sunday after Pentecost, August 7, 2011

8th Sunday after Pentecost – August 7, 2011

(Epistle Romans 8: 12-17)

(Gospel Luke 16: 1-9)

The main idea in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is that we are unable to produce perfect justice and absolute good without the grace of God. Nowadays many people have a self-centered and pompous idea that the human mind is independent, but we Christians believe what our Mother Church teaches us, that men can only be fully moral and honest in life by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God, that it makes unholy people into holy people and enriches those souls that search for perfect justice.

            The Jews were proud of the Law of Moses, and rightly so, because the Law gave them greater grace and understanding than the Gentiles had. However, they made their whole virtue consist in the possession of the Law of Moses and thus rejected the Messiah, Who was the final purpose of the Law. St. Paul asks in Romans 9: 30-33 how it is possible that Israel, following the Law of justice, did not reach Perfect Justice, the Lord, Jesus Christ, but the Gentiles, not following the Law of justice did reach Him. He answers his own question: Because they did not seek Justice by faith and they tripped on the stumbling-stone that Isaiah prophesied at Isaiah 8: 14 and 28: 16, “Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and a rock of scandal; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded.”

           

It’s the mark of a good teacher to place before his listeners, examples that will help them understand the lesson being taught and to apply it to their own lives. This is what Jesus does today in the Parable of the Unjust Steward, to encourage his disciples, and all of us who follow Him, to the practice of giving alms.

The giving of alms is a reminder that nothing we have in this life is truly ours. Rather, we are entrusted as stewards of the goods of our Lord – either to use these goods with thanks to God according to our needs, or to give them to our fellow servants according to their need. It is sinful to indiscriminately use the goods that have been given to us by extravagant spending.

As St. John Chrysostom put it: “We are not placed in this life as lords of our own houses, but as guests . . .” We are brought into life whether we wanted to come or not and at a time not of our own choosing. He who is rich in this moment of time is a beggar in eternity. “Therefore, whoever you may be, know that you are but an administrator of things” that belong to God and that we have only “the right of their brief and passing use.”

When we do not administer our wealth in accord with the will of our Master, but abuse it for our own pleasure, we are unjust stewards. In the end we all render an account of our stewardship to the Lord.

Riches possessed by a just man are simply a sum of money.   But riches possessed by an unjust person are a sinful burden of avarice – subject to the risk of loss or theft, a constant source of worry, corrupting their owner with enticements to sin. These are riches that are full of poverty.

St. Gaudentius, who was bishop of Brescia, Italy, from about 387 to around 410, gives the opinion that the Unjust Steward in this parable stands for the devil. In Genesis, the devil is well depicted as a snake, who is “more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth.” (Genesis. 3:1) In the Latin it is: serpens prudentissimus erat, where prudence is not spoken of as a virtue but as craftiness and cunning.

In the parable of the Unjust Steward, the steward cheats his Master in order to ingratiate himself with others who might later hire him as a steward when he is let go. The Lord praises him – but not for his goodness. Rather, He praises him for his cunning, his craftiness, because he prepared his fraud with such subtle evil.  By the very phrase “unjust steward” the Lord condemns his wicked prudence.

Christ praises him in order to prepare His followers to be prudent, but not venomous; wise, but not evil,” to use our own cunning and prudence against the Unjust Steward, the devil.

The mammon of iniquity is usually thought of as ill-gotten gains, but there is another interpretation by St. Augustine, that it comprises all the riches of the world however they are obtained.  Consider blessed Job, that undefeated champion of God. Job’s courage was unshakable and he bested every assault of the devil as he came against him with the force of a tidal wave. The more each attempt of Satan appeared irresistible, the higher Job’s patience rose superior to every temptation. When Job finally lost everything and stood naked on the Earth, he was truly rich because his heart was full towards God.  Life and wealth are passing things, but we are called to eternal life with our Creator. Eternal life with God is the kind of wealth that brings lasting security.

At the end of this parable Christ tells us to make “friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting blessings.” So is Christ really telling us to make friends of ill-gotten wealth? Will we be received “into everlasting blessings” if we steal a million dollars and give 10% of it to the Church? Well, Christ is our Judge, and we can’t corrupt Him! So obviously that’s not what He means.

Who can receive us “into everlasting blessings”? Only the Lord.  Understand this parable then that we are to make friends of the poor with our wealth, so that when we die the poor will pray for us and Christ will receive us into everlasting blessings. Why make friends of the poor? Because the Lord is poor. Christ tells us in Matthew 25 that, “You gave me to eat, to drink, you clothed me, you visited me when I was sick and in prison – that as long as you did this to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” That’s how Christ is poor. And to be just stewards, we must give to the poor, who are our fellow stewards in need.

The parable of the Unjust Steward doesn’t stand alone in the Scriptures as unproven, because in Luke 19, we see an example of it in Christ’s life. When Jesus was walking through Jericho, Zacheus, who was chief of the publicans and a wealthy man, climbed a tree to see the Lord. When Jesus spotted him, he said, “Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide in thy house.” Standing before Him then, Zacheus said, “‘Behold, Lord, ‘the half of my goods I give to feed the poor.’”  We see Zacheus making friends of the poor by means of his mammon of iniquity.  And lest he should be held wicked on other grounds Zacheus adds: “’And if I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold.’” And Jesus said to him, “This day is salvation come to this house.” +++

We Celebrate the Tridentine Latin Mass