Sermon on the Range with Fr. Bryce Lungren
(September 21st Sunday Homily)
Readings:
Reading 1 — Amos 8:4-7
Psalm — Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8
Reading 2 — 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Gospel — Luke 16:1-13
Transcript:
This has to be one of the more perplexing parables of our Lord. There’s a lot going on here and it’s often nicknamed the dishonest wealth parable. It’s almost as if our Lord is kind of commending the steward for being dishonest. There’s many ways you can look at it and there’s been a lot of ink spilled on what our Lord’s trying to say here.
Especially this first part, where there’s this dishonored steward and the master commends him for his shrewdness, almost. The way I see it, at least this go around, I remember this image comes to mind of this, it was a rodeo and a guy got bucked off and he hit the dirt. Horse goes away bucking and the guy takes his hat and tips it to the horse.
He’s like good on you, pal. You got me on that one. That’s the image that comes to my mind. If you’re to look at it maybe in a more business sense. There’s two guys that are in business in the same field competing for other people’s business. And one of the guys, I won’t say, not even necessarily dirty business, but he does something kind of sly or conniving, not necessarily dishonest.
But he gains the business of a bunch of the other guys clients. And the guy just kind of tips his hat, kind of like, hey man, good on you. You got me on that one. You got the business, just a little tip of the hat for somebody who does something that gets the business of another. It’s the image I have here. So this guy is commending the the steward for his slyness and promoting himself after he gets fired here.
The guy’s like, hey, yeah, you know, just clever. Good for you. Be gone. But good for you. That’s kind of how I see it. It is a perplexing Gospel to say that. You can read up on it, but that’s a little bit what I think our Lord is kind of getting at.
It does kind of lead into this second half where Jesus is saying, 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. That’s getting to the heart of the lesson here. What’s the takeaway here? What’s our Lord really trying to drive home? He’s highlighting how people can be creative and ingenuitive and driven for worldly means, but not necessarily for godly means. How much greater it would be if we used all that energy, creativeness, ingenuity for the kingdom of God. Wouldn’t that make more sense that we devote greater energy to greater things? That’s what he’s getting at. At least that’s what’s on my heart. I just dream of that.
What if all the professional people, all the actors, the athletes, the businessmen took that energy to make worldly wealth, took all that energy and used it for the kingdom of God, to build up the kingdom of God. That’d be a nice world, right? If people serve God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, that’d be good. And I guess we could do that too. That’s what our Lord is asking us to do. Maybe not directly in this parable, but in general, take all that you are and serve me. Then everything else falls into place because it’s properly ordered towards God and the kingdom of God.
That’s the takeaway here. What if I used all my energy that I use for work or sports or whatever and directed it to God? That energy, that creativity, that ingenuity. It would be a good world and be a better even heaven when it comes around.
That’s takeaway. That’s what our Lord is getting at when he says, no servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon. We serve God in him alone. Then the world makes more sense. If we stop short, put the world and worldly means ahead of God, we frustrate the whole plan. There’s a good call here for us to up our game, literally.
To aim higher towards heaven, to use all the energy we have to serve God. That’s where our Lord calls us to in general. Also today’s a good day. It’s the 21st of September. It’s the feast of St. Matthew. You know anything about St. Matthew? Tax collector, worldly means, gaining worldly wealth, all that stuff. Our Lord passes by and says, hey, you follow me. He left everything and followed the Lord.
You know, that’s what we’re called to. It’s all directed towards God and His Kingdom. Now, everything else makes sense. Everything else that’s given to me, worldly means, even worldly wealth, is properly ordered towards God. That’s the call in our Gospel today. It’s to call the Gospel in general to serve the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. To take all that ambition we have for worldly gain and use it for the building up of God’s Kingdom. That’d be a great world.
Let’s do it. Let’s shift that gear in our lives. Let’s aim high towards heaven and the heavenly kingdom and use all our creative energy and our ingenuity for the kingdom of God.
