That gospel story is filled with references to job security, wealth, accounting practices, debts and discounts, promissory notes, buyouts, financial networking, and retirement planning.
Sounds more like an article from the Wall Street Journal than from the scriptures!
And if you find this gospel a little bit confusing, well, at least that means you're paying close attention. St. Luke here is offering a number of Jesus' sayings about wealth and money. They all come at the end: he attaches, Luke attaches those, to the parable of this shrewd steward.
But we might be left scratching our heads, wondering, well, what's the difference between honest wealth and dishonest wealth? Who is the trustworthy steward and who's not to be trusted? Are we supposed to hate money - or make friends with it?
We need to keep in mind here that Jesus' words are drenched in the customs and the economy of an ancient Mediterranean culture. But at the same time, although he spoke in the context of his own times, he spoke a word that's intended for all times and all cultures - including our own.
So what are we gonna make of all of this? Well, in one way, you can boil the whole thing down to this. The message is: Money. Isn't. Everything. Most of us won't disagree with that in theory, but the proof comes not in the theory, but in our practice. It's possible we might say we believe that money isn't everything, but our lifestyle, the choices and decisions we make, our investments, our work habits, our goals - might tell a different story.
To bring all that into sharper focus, let me tell you a story - a true story - about a man named Glen James.
Glenn James found a backpack outside the T.J. Maxx store in Dorchester and in the backpack was $2,400 in cash and nearly $40,000 in Traveler's Checks. Mr. James took the backpack to the police who found its owner (a student who was visiting here from China) and they returned the backpack and the money to him.
Now, Glenn James is - unemployed. He doesn't have a job. And he suffers from Meniere’s disease – an inner ear disorder that causes prolonged spells of vertigo.
He's not only unemployed - he's homeless. He lives in a shelter. He survives on food stamps, and whatever money he panhandles, standing outside the TJ Maxx store in Dorchester.
When a reporter asked him if he had thought about keeping all that money for himself, he answered, "You know, even if I were desperate for money, I wouldn't have kept even a penny of what I found." And he added, "God has always very well looked after me.”
He also told the reporter that the homeless shelter where he lived was a good living situation for him, because for someone with Meniere’s disease, - it's good to have all those people around that help you when you have vertigo.
Remember:
“God has always very well looked after Glen James.”
And remember:
“No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and money.”
So there's the sharper focus I promised you. Could it be any clearer to us whom Glen James has chosen to serve?
But it's not easy, is it? It's not easy for us to understand how an unemployed, homeless man could say, “Even if I were desperate, I wouldn't take the money." He's unemployed! He's homeless! He's panhandling outside TJ Maxx!
It’s certainly not easy to understand how a man in those circumstances could say, "God has always very well looked after me." In fact - in fact it might cross our minds that perhaps Glenn James is suffering from more than Meniere’s disease… Maybe he's lost more than his job… Maybe he's a little crazy…
I'm tempted to think that way myself. But I'm also smart enough to see that diagnosing Glenn James as mentally unstable is a neat way for me to dispense myself from coming face to face with this man's faith in God - and his deep trust that God is always providing for him.
Part of me doesn't want to know about Glenn James.
Does this mean I have to be a little bit crazy to take Jesus seriously when he tells me you have to choose between him and how much money I have. Well, Jesus is not trying here to do an audit of our finances. He is much less interested in how much money I have - and more interested in how the money I have functions in my life.
He's asking, "Whom do I choose to serve? Do I choose to serve him first - - - and above all? Or is it my finances that direct my decisions and shape my choices and how I live? Who… what… is the master I serve?
You know what? I don't think Glen James is crazy at all. It's just that in circumstances you and I would deem severe and dire, he continues to choose Jesus as the master of his life. And it's just possible that in that choice, he finds more peace and contentment in his poverty than you and I do in our abundance.
So even if from our perspective, Glenn James does look a little “crazy,” the real question is, how does Glenn James look from God's perspective? Jesus is counseling us here - not to be crazy - but to be as crafty as that dishonest steward - but in another venue.
He's calling us, Jesus is calling us to be crafty in preparing - not for a retirement condo at the shore - but to be crafty in planning for the place Jesus has prepared for us in a life that's yet to come.
He's reminding us that we can't serve two masters - that we can't serve both God and wealth. He's asking us to take a long, hard look at the time and attention, the energy and the worry we give to the complexities of financial planning - and to compare them with how we prepare and plan for our spiritual health and future.
If I were to approach my financial responsibilities the way I approach my prayer life, what kind of shape would my finances be in? In what “futures market” am I more fully and carefully invested? Do I gauge my security by the Dow Jones average - or by the bottom line reported on the balance sheet in my heart?
Jesus says I have to choose. That’s not to suggest that I abandon my financial responsibilities. In fact, the parable here highlights good stewardship of our resources - it applauds it. But the Lord says I have to make a choice between God and money, that one - and only one - be the Master, the one by which I live and make choices and life decisions.
You might be familiar with multi billionaire Warren Buffett's Two Rules for Investing. He says:
Rule Number One
- don't lose the money.
Rule Number Two
- don't forget Rule Number One.
Jesus has similar advice for us, for our spiritual investments:
Rule Number One
- don't lose your soul.
Rule Number Two
- don't forget Rule Number One.
To help us with all of this, Jesus, who, on the cross, fully invested himself in our lives - Jesus invites us every week to his table: to form us in his Word and to give us, in the Eucharist, a taste and a sip of that peace of mind and heart that depends - not at all on the stock market's variables - but only on the grace of God.
Our greatest wealth is the merciful love God has for us. And God's love cannot be bought or sold or traded. It can only be treasured, served, and shared.
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