Crisis, Choice, and the Call to Christian Stewardship

09-21-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Albert

In the Parable this Sunday, the steward or manager of property of a wealthy man, faces destitution because of his imminent dismissal. In this crisis the manager acts with foresight and resolution, ensuring a secure future. He responds with cleverness to his circumstances and so in a sense is a '' prudent'' man, by worldly standards. His prudent and decisive action is the key idea of today's parable.

The characters Jesus describes in this Sunday's parable are not proposed as models whose precise behavior we should imitate. Other parable of Jesus, though, do hold up exemplary behavior. Dishonest steward becomes a model, for by his clever actions in time of crisis, while not noble, nonetheless show a decisiveness that is in sharp contrast to many '' sons and daughters of light,'' who are complacent, negligent and lukewarm in their spiritual journeys. So in a sense Jesus points out a ''bad example'' as in fact an example of a way of acting, using insight, persistence and total dedication.

Jesus commends such''worldly prudence'' we might call it, of the dishonest manager who was faced with a crisis. Keep in mind the origin of that word, crisis, which means a decisive moment or turning point, when a choice must be made. Jesus is saying, in other words, that the way of acting of people of this world, in this case a dishonest steward, becomes a sort of model of the virtue of foresight, for those who are striving to cling to God's ways each and every day.

Another lesson from the Gospel this Sunday is this; followers of Christ are never to turn worldly things, such as money, into a god, but use them for doing good and for survival, but not embracing opulence. The reminder that '' you can't take it with you'' must be borne in mind and never lost sight of. Living simply and uprightly is the way of the Lord's disciples. In fact the monastic movement in the early church was one such application of the Christian ideal to the reality of the times, namely, the drifting away from earlier ardent adherence to Christ.

In this Sunday's parable, using the image of wealth and stewardship, Jesus calls upon us to reflect on ''wealth'' of an entirely different nature than a monetary one. We are to focus on a type of stewardship with which we have been entrusted in this life, which is to care for the gifts given to us by God. upon our trustworthiness with '' that which is another's, namely God's, depends on whether God will entrust to our care heavenly riches and especially our '' final inheritance'' or as Jesus calls it, ''that which is your own.''

No one can gain heavenly riches for us, other than Christ and so we must work for it by doing God's will in conjunction with the rest of humanity and within our faith community. At the same time, it is all a free gift from God, a gift we are capable of accepting or rejecting. ''Be among those who willingly and eagerly accept God's gifts, Jesus is telling us. The call to a radical decision for God and a Christian use of material possessions, should remain living words for us, shaping our lives and informing our decisions.