Lectionary: 490“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?
Yesterday, we heard the parable about the shrewd servant who, unable to dig and unwilling to beg, invited kickbacks from his master's debtors by arbitrarily reducing their debts. Jesus commended the swindler's "prudence" and urged his disciples to practice a similar prudence as they live in this world.
Today's gospel follows in the same vein. We live in a multivalent world; values that we learn as Christians and suppose that everyone should embrace are not universally honored, accepted, or recognized.
American soldiers, fighting in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been appalled by the enemy's use of children bombers. Where we idolize our children, regarding them as innocent and protecting them as defenseless, some people have seen them as disposable and replaceable.
The strategem worked. When our warriors slew their children in self-defense, they were severely demoralized and often rendered ineffectual. For the rest of their lives, whenever our Veterans see a child, especially their own children, they will remember the innocents who died in the war zone.
Different people have different values.
Jesus recognized that when he taught, "The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones." Not everyone values honesty; some people esteem winning, power, and money more than integrity. They govern, vote, and act in a manner quite different from ours. They do not hesitate to cheat, lie, and defraud for short- and long-term gain.
As he stood before Pontius Pilate, the Lord declared himself and his deepest belief:
For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
To that Pilate snorted, "What is truth?"
Different people, different values. But we who stand with Jesus must prove ourselves trustworthy in small matters so that we might be trusted with true wealth. Our true wealth includes personal integrity; meaning, I am what I represent. My word is my bond.
I often think of Saint Thomas More's words to his daughter, as he was portrayed by Robert Bolt in his play, A Man for All Seasons. The saint was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and facing the possibility of execution. His daughter Margaret desperately urged him to sign the document agreeing that King Henry VIII might divorce his wife and marry another. He should simply "say the words of the oath and think otherwise." The prisoner replied,
"When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. (He cups his hands.) And if he opens his fingers then -- he needn't hope to find himself again. Some men aren't capable of this, but I'd be loathe to think your father one of them."
He went on,
"...if we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust, and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice, and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all... why then perhaps we must stand fast a little -- even at the risk of being heroes."
Many people believe that, to be saved we need only stay out of trouble. But the Gospel does not offer a Way that merely gets by and causes little apparent harm. In our world voters support their own interests, and politicians speak for their base despite their avowed beliefs. Divorce is common, drug addiction is encouraged, and suicide is admired. Jesus was familiar with this world, as was Saint Thomas More.
They teach us a still more excellent way.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.