HOMILY OF FRIDAY OF THE 31ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A
Phil 3:17-4:1, Luke 16:1-8.
Our skills are not meant for tricks. It is better to live good life than to use our God-given intelligence as cover-up for evil acts. For those who do not want to change from their evil deeds, lies will beget lies. Cruel people are always listless.
Today’s gospel narrates the parable of the dishonest steward. When he realized that his master had discovered how he has been mismanaging his estate, he talked his master’s debtors into quoting figure below what they owed him [master]. Since he was expecting possible sack from the job, he had to rope his master’s debtors into this shrewd act, so as to create a good ground for blackmail. The steward did not want to suffer the consequence of his actions alone.
However, it will take honesty on the part of the debtors to reject this seeming kindness of the fraudulent steward. They consented to the act because they also had modicum of deceit in themselves or else they would not accept to falsify the figure. If one is not sincere, one can easily be roped into useless ways of life. It takes only simple enticement. Greedy people do not know how many times they perform fraudulent acts in a day. Whatever is juicy would always make sense.
However, the Lord points it out clear that, “the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light.” As Christians, if we can exact the same energy or employ the same intelligence with which we go about our worldly matters into winning souls, we would populate the kingdom of God with multitudes. God wants us to use our gifts for his greater glory.
The master of the steward also praised him for his prudence. This also depicts a system that rewards bad actions and gives free reign to brute mentality. In such kind of society, dirty deals may be praised as long as it keeps people going in life. In such society, one needs to listen to the voice of one’s individual conscience.
May we recognize the grace of God in us that we may channel it into perfecting his will in our lives and the lives of others. Amen.
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