You cannot serve God and mammon

 

 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money also heard all these things, and they derided Him.  And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.  The law and the prophets were until John.  Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.  Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."

 

- Luke 16:10-18 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus gave a fourth parable, which followed that of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, and also of the Lost Son or Prodigal Son.  Those parables were directed to the scribes and Pharisees who criticized that Christ received and ate with tax collectors and sinners.  But yesterday's paralbe was directed to His disciples.  He said:  "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.  So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you?  Given an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'  Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do?  For my master is taking the stewardship away from me.  I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.  I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'   So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'  And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'  So he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'  Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?'  So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.'  And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'  So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.  For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.  And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home."

 

 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."  My study Bible comments that the test as to whether God will bestow heavenly blessings (true riches) on a person is directly related to how that person spends money.  The money which we consider our own is actually another man's -- that is, it belongs to God, or at least to the poor.  My study Bible adds that in patristic teaching, a person's failure to give money to God's work is universally seen as stealing.  Theophylact calls it "nothing less than embezzlement of money belonging to someone else."

 

 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money also heard all these things, and they derided Him.  And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God."  My study Bible says that the things which are highly esteemed among men include money, power, position, and praise.

"The law and the prophets were until John.  Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail."  We recall that Christ has also said that He Himself did not come to destroy but to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17).  He Himself is the fulfillment of both in His being, words, and actions, and it is He who preaches the kingdom of God.  A tittle is the smallest stroke in certain Hebrew letters.  Therefore, my study Bible says, the whole of the Law is affirmed as the foundation of Christ's new teaching. 

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."  Jesus cites an example which was actually hotly contested in His time, a source of disputes among the Pharisees themselves.  So in this context, it is an example that is meaningful to them.  Divorce and remarriage at that time also could involve abuse of financial practices concerning a wife's dowry.  My study Bible comments that in contrast to the easy access to divorce under the Mosaic Law, and because of the misuse of divorce in that day, Jesus repeatedly condemns divorce (see also Matthew 5:31-32, 19:8-9) and emphasizes the eternal nature of marriage.  Like all sin, there are forms of abuse that destroy community and relationship, including marriage, but this does not take away from Christ's emphasis and teaching.

We might wonder what Jesus' statement about divorce is doing in the middle of this discussion about money and our use of money ("unrighteous mammon").   As mentioned above, we should note that one issue of divorce involved tricky financial aspects such as a woman's dowry, especially if she divorced and remarried and later return to her first husband.  As the Gospel text notes, money was an important issue for the Pharisees.  But in the context of the Law, it's unquestionable for them that adultery is a violation.  Dispute may center around divorce, and the recognized financial concerns that went with it in the context of that period of time, but about adultery there was no question.  Hence, Jesus makes a clear point here.  One can quibble about the meaning of one thing or another, but in the wider framework He notes the man's responsibility in the marriage and in the context of divorce, and thus adds a deeply serious note regarding the nature of marriage itself.  Looking at today's reading from a modern perspective, we might easily see that just as Jesus calls upon us for a charitable use of our financial resources -- especially within the context of community and fellowship -- so He is also calling upon us to take the context of all of our relationships deeply seriously and within the spirit of charity.  As we give to community, so we also understand marriage to be something worth giving for, and involving sacrifice on the part of both parties.  In this sense, the convenience of money and our use of it does not override deeper considerations of God's understanding of the importance of community and relationships, and the extent to which we make sacrifices in order to ensure a righteousness of right-relatedness, to support community and love.  Taking His words on divorce in context, we may understand from His teachings that there is no greater consideration in making our choices in life than community and right-relatedness.  God's kingdom of love and the drive to salvation becomes an overriding goal that hovers over all of our choices in life, including what we do with our resources and even how we treat our spouses.  We nurture in life the things we put our resources toward.  In terms of the care of the poor, we might consider something as simple as the beautification or building of a Church.  Who benefits?  In a secular world, a public good such as a museum or a place to take children and family might have a costly admission that is impossible for many people.  But in a church, there is no admission, and the poor belong and share in the beauty and blessedness of the Kingdom as well as any wealthy patron.  This is Christ's ideal, and He emphasizes over and over again the need for His good stewards to care for the "least" among them, that this is the job the disciples must learn, for they will be the stewards in His Church, the leaders of His flock.  In an ideal sense, this is the way we may see ourselves as believers and servants who follow.  As He has said elsewhere, Christ's emphasis is on seeking the kingdom of God first, and that all things follow that (Matthew 6:33, Luke 12:31).  This would include our resources of wealth, including our time and attention, and the nurturing of community and relationships, even the close relationship of a spouse.  For the kingdom of God is a blessed way of life, embracing all who truly desire it, and Christ asks us to build our communities and lives upon it.