Reflection for Sunday 21st September, 2025

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The proper use of money (Luke 16: 1-13)

Today’s Gospel asks us to reflect on how we use money.

It begins with the parable of the unjust steward. He was suspected of fiddling with the master’s finances and it looked certain that he would lose his job. So, he used his cuteness by writing off some huge debts to ensure that he would have friends to look after him when he would be sacked. The master praised him for his astuteness.

Jesus certainly was not justifying dishonest dealings but the point he made was the challenge to the children of light to be as enthusiastic and energetic about their work as the moneymaker was about his.

“No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and money.”

Three comments about money

In the follow up to the parable Jesus makes three comments about money: how to use it; it is tainted; it can make one a slave. Money has the potential for good work, but it becomes a tyrannical master if it takes over life.
Jesus never showed any desire to be a possessor. Having left behind the home security of Nazareth, he often had nowhere to lay his head. He depended on the generosity of others who would minister the Father’s providence to him. He did not condemn people for being rich. Among his disciples were some rich people. He accepted invitations from people who were wealthy enough to host a banquet. He defended the very costly ointment used by Mary of Bethany while Judas grumbled about it.
He encouraged people to use money with a conscience. One per cent of the world’s population own fifty per cent of the world’s wealth. Every night the news shows harrowing pictures of starving children. “Alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now. Alas for you have plenty now: you shall go hungry” (Luke 6: 24-25). Even one of today’s billionaires could solve the famine in many lands.
The unjust steward used money to win friends who would look after him following his dismissal. Jesus spoke about a different sort of friend, one who would welcome you, not into an earthly home, but into heaven itself. Forget all your stories about St. Peter at the gate of heaven. It’s the poor who operate the ticket turnstiles. They are the ambassadors of God’s welcome, the friends who will welcome you in Christ’s name. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me” (Matt 25:40).

Money is tainted

While wealth is a gift with great potential, Jesus twice warned that it is tainted. It is toxic, a carrier of temptation. Saint Paul wrote, “The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it have wandered away from the faith and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds” (1Tim 6:10). Even the treasurer of the apostles, Judas, fell prey to the temptation to help himself to the common fund. Eventually he betrayed the Lord for thirty silver pieces, a paltry sum, the going price for an injured slave.
We have very expensive tribunals attempting to uncover tax evasion. Graft is the misappropriation of public money. Many small shops have closed because creditors did not pay up. As far as many people are concerned, Insurance Companies are there to be ripped off.

Slavery

The third word that Jesus associated with money is slave. “No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and money.”
One becomes a slave to money when it preoccupies the mind, sets values, directs behaviour, and deadens one’s conscience. The slave is one who has lost freedom. Profit, productivity and pay displace family, friends and fun. There is pressure to have the latest model, or to purchase items that may never be used, and Sunday ceases to be a sacred day of rest.
Financial success is a wonderful gift offering the opportunity to do great good. The rights of ownership are carefully protected by law but the responsibility of sharing God’s gift with others is blandly ignored. Sharing with our brothers and sisters who are famished and homeless is not just a matter of charity but one of justice. Wasting food is robbing the poor.
The gap between rich and poor continues to grow wider. The early Christian community understood that people who share in the breaking of bread in the Eucharist were obliged to share their possessions with those in need. Every gift of the Creator comes with the responsibility of using it and sharing with the poor.
A donation to a charitable organization is more than a gesture of charity: it is a matter of justice.

Prayer

O God, the Creator of all and the giver of every good gift,
Open our hands to receive your gifts with gratitude;
Open our eyes to see the needs of others;
And open our hearts to be generous in giving.