Sunday Homily, September 22, 2013, 25th Ordinary Time C
Readings:
Amos 8, 4-7, Never will I forget a thing they have done!
Psalm 113, Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.
1 Timothy 2, 1-8, I ask that supplications be offered for everyone.
Luke 16, 1-13, A rich man had a steward who was reported for squandering his property.
Amos observations :
What :
One of the 12 minor prophets, only 9 chapters.
Who: the book
presents the thoughts and observations of Amos, who was a sheep herder and a
fig farmer. He was born in the southern
kingdom of Judah in a little town south of Jerusalem, but he is condemning the
people, especially the rich, of the northern kingdom, Israel.
Time: Amos was
active around 755 before Christ, but his words and message were revised and
edited down through the years, especially during the Babylonian Captivity,
around 555 before Christ. He lives just
before the Syrians destroy the northern kingdom of Israel, around 700 before Christ.
Message: prayer and
sacrifice don’t make up for social injustice and oppression of the poor by the
rich.
Today: God will
punish you rich and prosperous for your abuse of the poor. Amos may have seen the threat coming from the
Syrians.
Sources: Good News Bible, New Interpreter’s Study Bible,
Wikipedia
The Wiley
Steward
Anybody get any rain Thursday night? We got 3 whole inches, an amazing gift. We also got a surprise.
It was just time for the sun to come up Friday morning. I wanted to take my first cup of coffee on
the back porch where I could watch that special rain. I go out and sit down with Aviana beside me.
I look toward the street and I see a huge tree branch lying half way
across the street, Camellia, and half in our parkway. I immediately look at the front yard of my
neighbor, hoping to see where it came from his red oak. Nope.
It did not come from there. Oh,
Lord, it must be from one of our trees.
And in fact it is a pecan branch.
We have three large pecan trees on that side of our yard. It is our branch.
What to do? It is still raining seriously. I decide that I will wait until the rain
stops, even though cars are having to negotiate around the branch.
I must then have gone in for a minute.
When I come out I see a boy from St. Mark’s School a block away out
in the rain, trying to lift the trunk of the branch out of the street and pull
it into our parkway. I am embarrassed
that I am still on the porch while he is working in the rain.
He can only barely move the trunk to the edge of the street, although
many branches are still lying in the street.
At one point he looks over at me and I thank him, saying I am planning
to tackle the branch when the rain stops.
He finishes up what he can do, looks back, I thank him again, and I tell
him he did great work. He says, “Sure,
it is really heavy, have a nice day,” and takes off for St. Mark’s. I could not see whether he was on foot or got
back in a car. He had no rain gear
on. So I sent a note to St. Mark’s,
complimenting the boy and them for helping to train a kid like that.
Moral of the story: we got lots of good kids out there, and good people,
too.
I tell this story as a bit of a contrast to our parable today, the
parable of the wiley steward. It is
quite coincidental, but this parable is also explained by Francis Vanderwall in
one of his books.
The steward was in charge of collecting promissory notes from the owner
of the farm. Here is where the customs
and culture of the times open it all up.
The steward made his living by adding a little sur-charge, a commission
on each transaction. The charge went to
the steward. Francis points out that all
the steward did was call the debtors in and cancel his commission. Granted, he was also cheating a bit, and
cheating the farmer.
There are some other crazy statements at the end of the story, but I
will leave them to Francis to explain.
Watch out for that either/or stuff at the end, either God or mammon,
hate one master/love the other. Life is
not either/or, it is both.
The moral of the two stories? Not
either/ or, but sometimes you got to use your wits like the wiley steward, and
other times you just pitch in and help some poor guy (like me!).
When did you last pitch in and help?
Source: The Liberating Stories of Jesus, Francis
Vanderwall