Practice is something very essential to a good musician. Likely, many of you who play instruments or even use your voice for any sort of music know this very well. It’s something that you largely have to take stock of yourself- unless your parents took care of it for you. However, there was usually, at least in my experience, a moment of reckoning that would often come up: when it was time to go to my organ teacher for lessons. This was a moment that was often dreaded, because they would be able to detect, often very quickly, whether you had taken practice seriously for that week or not. Often this would be motivation to practice quite a lot on that day before, because you wanted to make up for lost time- and perhaps not always utilizing the time that had been given you very well!
Life is often made out to be a very complicated thing. We often want to accomplish a great many things, do several things, perhaps conquer a significant amount of our bucket list, amongst many, many other things. However, we can paint it out in very broad strokes in this very simple way: we are entrusted with something valuable and something truly great. We can look at the time that is ours for as long as we live on this earth. We may be given a family, a job, perhaps a few material possessions along the way. We are given a lot of things to be responsible for or to take care of. It’s almost mind-boggling how much we might have to take care of! Even the Gospel today gives us a story of a steward entrusted with something. Yet, with all of this time, with all of these relationships, and with all of the stuff that we have- do we truly appreciate what we have been given? Are we using this time to become better people and better disciples?
The first reading is taken from the book of the prophet Amos this weekend, and it gives a seemingly odd exhortation. Yet, if we take the context into consideration, it becomes much more clear in what he is doing. Amos comes along in a time of social and moral decline in the history of the community. This goes in all sorts of directions, but we get one very prominent one here, and it highlights a particular group of people- namely, those who extort others. He goes right into the thick of it and says “Here this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!” He is not mincing words, and it becomes a powerful inditement as he tracks along. These points give us an insight that the Israelites were okay at following some of the laws, but perhaps not others. They wouldn’t necessarily sell things when they couldn’t, be it on the new moon or during the sabbath. So, they would follow that. However, they started to compromise in other ways, and even transgress the prior laws in their hearts. They begin to fix their scales and look for the opportunity to buy even the poor and the destitute at a reasonable discount. We are told that even the refuse of the wheat is sold by them- something that would not have ever been done if they followed the Lord’s commands.
What is the end promise by Amos? “The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done! Essentially, what is meant by this statement is that their punishment is coming for the evil that they have enacted upon those around them! So, Amos is taking up a hard position here in working to curb the issues that are going on, especially in the extortion of the poor in the midst of the Israelites at the time.
For the second reading, we continue on with Saint Paul and his Letter to Timothy. As in so many of his letters, there is a simple petition: this one is to offer supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings for everyone- including kings. He develops the idea of why this is such a necessity because these are the basic foundations for a quiet and tranquil life that lives in devotion and dignity. Yet, it goes further, because it is also what is good and pleasing to God- and further, Jesus Christ Himself did these things. We take up his example, not simply because God said so, but also because it leads us to a happiness and holiness of life. That tranquility and quietness leads us not simply to a place devoid of external noise, but also to a place where we find that Christ is interacting with our hearts, and because of that, we are in peace and we are in a place of comfort, as God would give it to us!
Finally, we arrive at the Gospel of Luke, where there is another moment of teaching coming up on the heels of the last teaching we heard last week about the Prodigal Son and the lost objects. This one starts with a parable right at the outset, and builds on the ideas found within it at the end. So, we are told a story concerning a dishonest steward. At the beginning, we hear how the master receives the report of a steward squandering his property. Essentially, the one put in charge of the property of the master was wasting it away, and so the master was rightly upset! He tells the steward that he can no longer fill the position that he was taken to fill, and so he was to prepare an account for what had happened.
What happens next is very confusing. The steward speaks to himself, and decides that, to garner the favor of his master’s debtors, he does something dishonest. He brings through all of these different debtors, and has them write out new promissory notes, owing a far lesser amount than had been the case previously. When he brings them in, he essentially dismisses part of what they were owing his master. Shockingly, what happens next is that the master commends that particular steward for acting prudently. To make matters worse, it seems that Jesus speaks of how that steward acted prudently. This isn’t a blind endorsement, actually, though, because Jesus still notes how that man is prudent in the things of this world, and not necessarily the things of heaven. This steward still acted dishonestly, in fact!
Yet, let’s stop and take a look at this fact a little more closely. At the outset, it is noted that this steward is dishonest. He is squandering his master’s property, and yet, he continues to do so, even after his position is taken away. Why does he do this? In short, he does it in a desperate attempt to get after a new position. He is trying to garner favor to see if, after doing this, there will be someone who will pity his poor state. This actually is prudence- at least in a sense!
All of this goes to a deeper question though, and it is one that Jesus leaves quite open for us to consider. What could that dishonest steward have done differently? The fact of how the steward acted is not lost in the middle of this, but he did find the courage to act prudently in the moment that he was desperate- and looked for a way that he could save himself. Yet, what if he didn’t need to do that at all? What if he had acted uprightly the entire time?
That, my brothers and sisters, is the first thing that God wants us to consider: who do we serve at the end of the day? We should be able to trace this out at least in a preliminary way- because we know perfectly well that God is there! Yet, consider what happens when we lose sight of that one fact. We might find ourselves in a particular way that looks exactly like the prophet Amos was speaking against. We can enter this religious legalism, and we simply try to fulfill some parts of what the Church teaches is necessary- perhaps the parts that seem the most convenient. Yet, we know that God doesn’t demand just a part, but the whole of a person- and their utter dedication.
Next, if we consider the Gospel- it gives us a very real look at what it is to live a just life- how we are to live life differently because we are closer to God in our every moment and our every step. This means that we are to act in justice- that we give to God what He is due and give to others their due as well! It isn’t enough to simply be considered “a good person” when we die, but we should truly be a religious person- one who is willing to give to God everything He is due as well.
Finally, it is up to us, brothers and sisters, to live this out well. To pray. To give up supplication. To practice praying for one another and to give thanksgiving for everyone. Saint Paul reminds us of this reality.
Brothers and sisters, we are entrusted to a sacred time here on this earth- and it is a gift that we are freely given by God. May we truly be good stewards and give a good return back on what we have been given by our God. May he truly find us to be good stewards- prudent in every way.
