Deacon Tom Writes,
“I Will Never Forget”
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
We would be seriously mistaken to think that cheating the poor and stealing from the needy was a modern-day phenomenon. Sad to say that such behavior has been around for a long time. 750 years before Christ the Prophet Amos chastises those who tinkered with their scales in order to overcharge the poor and needy for their wheat and grain. The Lord has a few caustic words for them, “Never will I forget a thing they have done”!
Have you ever heard the expression, “keeping your thumb on the scale”? In whose favor does that work? In addition, those who engage in such a devious practice, as Amos writes, can’t wait for the Sabbath and the Festival of the New Moon to be over with so that they can take advantage of the poor of the land. Such behavior has gotten the Lord’s attention, says Amos, and the Lord, “will never forget a thing they have done”!
In the gospel, Jesus tells the story of a manager who has quite the way with numbers. Apparently, he was an unscrupulous steward whose deception was detected by his employer. What the steward lacked in integrity, however, he made up for with his imagination. Before he is fired, he cancels part of the debt that others owed his master. This way those whose debts he had forgiven would take care of him after he was discharged. What a fraud and so cleverly done. That’s why Jesus points him out. As deceitful as this act was, Jesus recognizes that the dishonest steward was very successful in taking very good care of himself.
Now, Jesus is not advocating deceitful means in our dealings with the world. Rather, he is suggesting that his disciples be as ingenious and imaginative in ways of building up the Kingdom of God as those who seek to acquire an inordinate share of the things of this world. If just a small token of our efforts were directed toward advancing the Kingdom of God in all our daily encounters. What if f we put into practice this same imaginative vision in doing God’s work in our families and offices, in our political activities or governmental structures or in our schools, where we shop or play, in the way we view the people whose ideologies, ethnicities, political views, socio-economic backgrounds differ from ours. If we put that same cleverness of the unscrupulous servant, do you not think that a more just and peaceful world would unfold before our very eyes. And if you believe that then I suspect two things would follow: one, we would realize that we are missing out on something special and two, we would be more energize to make our contribution wherever we can as best we are able.
Today’s readings prompt us to reflect on how much imagination and energy we put into bringing about God’s Kingdom as we go about our daily affairs. Do we see the poor being abused and cheated in any way today and point it out, refuse to participate, seek to put an end to unfair and unjust practices that oppress them? This is an important question for disciples of Jesus to ask themselves today and every day for much in wrong with our world today and silence seems to be the order of the day. As disciples of Christ, we cannot stand idly by and stick our heads in the sand. And why is that? It is because those words of the Prophet Amos also apply equally to us today as to those of his time for, as the Lord says, “Never will I forget a thing they have done.”
Enjoy the day,
Deacon Tom
Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in to hear some Catholic Deacons engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those on the threshold, those thinking of joining our Catholic Community or walking away from it.
OTHER RESOURCES
Recommended Reading: Against All Hope by Richard Rohr O.F.M Fr Richard introduces us to the transforming vision of Saint Francis in an age of anxiety. Written in 2001, Fr Richard’s work has much to say to us today when the virtue of hope is so desperately needed.
Recommended Podcast: Turning From Ego to Love – An Interview with Richard Rohr, O.F.M
In this episode, Bishop Curry talks with Richard Rohr, OFM, about what it takes to turn and follow a Christ as big as the universe, choosing the Way of Love instead of the ways of our egos. The two discuss the spiritualities of addition and subtraction and the consequences for our country and ourselves when we spend more time placing Jesus on a pedestal than we do actively following him. The good news in all of this is that, like Fr. Rohr and Bishop Curry, we are all called by Jesus to follow the Way of Love. With God’s help, we can turn from the powers of sin, hatred, fear, injustice, and oppression toward the way of truth, love, hope, justice, and freedom. It is this reorienting of our whole selves - body, mind, and soul - on the love and life of Jesus that leads us away from cynicism and into freedom.
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