Category: homilies

The Gospel for today’s Mass (Monday of the 19^th Week) is likely confusing to anyone who hears it proclaimed in the U.S., because the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) (which is used for our lectionary) makes a strange, and I would argue inaccurate, translation of the Greek. Here is the passage in question (the crucial section is presented in bold italics):

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” ²⁶ When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. ²⁷ But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you” (Matthew 17:24-27).

The NABRE translation makes little or no sense; kings do in fact collect taxes from their “subjects.” Their subjects are not exempt from taxes, tolls, or censuses.

In contrast, the Greek text is clear and does make sense. It speaks not of subjects and foreigners, but of sons and strangers. The Greek text is straightforward:

• ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῶν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων
• apo ton huion auton e apo ton allotrion
• from the sons of them or from the strangers?

The Greek word huion means sons or descendants by birth (or possibly by adoption); it refers to people sharing the same nature as their father. The Greek text is referring to people who are of the family or household of a king.

These sons (or members of the king’s family) are distinguished from allotrion, which are those who belong to another person, to the family of another. By extension, they are foreigners or strangers.

So, I find the NABRE’s translation of huion as “subjects” to be strange. I consulted 25 other English translations of this passage and not one of them renders the word as “subjects.” They all render it as either “sons” or “children.”

Whatever textual critics may wish to advance by way of textual variants, “sons” is needed in English to render the text intelligible.

With the translation of “sons,” the meaning of the passage becomes clear. Jesus is pointing out to Peter that kings do not tax their own children. Therefore, Jesus is exempt from the temple tax because God is His Father; Jesus, as Son, is exempt from the temple tax. However, to giving scandal or stirring up a big debate, He instructs Peter to pay the tax (and tells him how to obtain the money to pay it.)

The tax in question is the didrachma, a two-drachma silver coin; it was the annual tax levied to pay for the upkeep of the temple. The tax represented about half a day’s wages for a laborer and affected all male Jews aged twenty and over, both at home and abroad. However, certain Jewish officials, especially the higher ranking priests, were exempt due to their position.

It is a charming Gospel: Peter is told to pull out the first fish he sees, and in its mouth he will find the money necessary to pay the tax. What a wonderful story! It is a quiet miracle to affirm Peter’s faith in Jesus’ divinity and Sonship, without confronting others who were not ready to hear or believe this. The Father does exempt Jesus from the tax and supplies the money to pay it; the tax officials are spared a conflict because they are not yet ready to render an act of faith in Jesus’ divinity.

God is merciful and prepares us for belief. Having granted the gift of faith, He sends confirmations to strengthen our faith little by little. He draws us in gently and clearly.

In the Gospel for this weekend (Luke 12:32-40) the Lord Jesus presents a “recipe for readiness.” He gives it to us so that we can lay hold of His offer that we not be afraid. He is not simply saying, “Be not afraid.” He is explaining how we can battle fear by being ready.

Frequently, Christians today are uncertain about what is necessary in order to be ready to meet God. Many also make light of the Day of Judgment, considering it all but certain that most of humanity will be saved.

Jesus does not adopt this position. In fact, He teaches the opposite. He consistently warns of the need to be ready for our judgment. Jesus does not counsel a foolish fearlessness rooted in the deception that all or even most will be saved. Rather, He counsels a fearlessness based on solid preparation for the Day of Judgment. Jesus tells us to do at least five things in order to be ready and therefore not afraid.

If we do not make these sorts of preparations, Jesus warns that He will come when we least expect and take away all that we (wrongly) call our own. Jesus says elsewhere, But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap (Lk 21:34). The apostolic tradition says this of the unprepared: disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape (1 Thess 5:3).

Thus, while Jesus begins by saying that we ought not to fear (for the Father wants to grant us His Kingdom), He also warns that being free of fear is contingent upon embracing and following a plan that He (Jesus) sets forth for our life.

Let’s look at this plan and see how we can forsake fear by becoming and remaining ready. Jesus gives us five specific things to do that will help to ready us for the time when the Lord calls us. It is not an exhaustive list, for no single passage of Scripture is the whole of Scripture, but these are some very practical and specific things to reflect on and do.

I. Reassess your wealth. Jesus says, Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. In this passage, the Lord is giving us a triple teaching on wealth. He says that we ought to do these three things:

• Forgo Fear. In the end, it is fear that makes us greedy and worldly. We grab up the things of this world because we are terrified of not having enough for tomorrow. But what if we could receive the gift to trust God more and to know and experience that He will give us our daily bread? He has given us the Kingdom, why not everything else? He may not give us everything we want, but we can learn to trust that He will give us what we really need. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be given unto to you (Matt 6:21). If we can just allow God to diminish our fear, we will be surprised at how easy it is for us to be generous with what we have and not hoard it.
• Forward your Fortune. When we are generous to the needy and poor, we store up treasure for ourselves in Heaven. Treasure is not stored in Heaven by way of a rocket ship or hot-air balloon. It is stored there by generously distributing our wealth to others in wise and creative ways. I discussed this more fully in my homily last week (Instructions on Income). While it may not be appropriate for us to sell everything and go sleep on a park bench, the Lord is surely telling us to be less attached to and passionate about money and possessions, for they root us in this world. And where our treasure is, there also will our heart be.
• Fix your focus. Our focus is wrong and worldly because most of us have our treasure here in this world. But once we become less fearful and more generous, our obsession with worldly treasure subsides and our joy in heavenly treasure grows. This fixes our broken focus and puts our heart where our treasure really is and ought to be: in Heaven with God. So simplify; be less rooted in this world; come to experience that your greatest treasure is God and the things waiting for you in Heaven.

Reassess your wealth. What is it and where is it? That will tell you a lot about your heart, too.

II. Ready yourself to work. The Lord says “Gird your loins,” which is the ancient equivalent of “roll up your sleeves.” The Lord has work for us to do and wants us to get to it.

Surely the Lord has more than a worldly career in mind. He has in mind things like growing in holiness, pursuing justice, and raising children in godly fear. The Lord wants us to work in His Kingdom. We must commit to prayer, Sunday worship, the reception of the sacraments, obedience, and holiness.

The Lord has particular work for each of us based on our gifts. Some are good teachers; others work well with senior citizens; still others are good entrepreneurs and can provide employment for others at a just wage. Some are skilled at medicine and the care of the sick; others are called to priesthood and the religious life. Some are called to suffer and to offer that suffering for the salvation of souls. Some serve in strength, others do so in weakness; but all are called to serve, to work.

So work with what the Lord gave you to advance His Kingdom. Part of being ready means doing your work.

III. Read the Word. The Lord says, light your lamps.

On one level, the phrase “light your lamps” is simply a symbol for readiness (e.g., the Wise and Foolish Virgins in Matt. 25:1-13).

But in another sense, a lamp is also a symbol for Scripture. For example, You Word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path (Ps 119:105). Or again, We possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19).

So here we can also understand that the Lord is teaching us that an essential part of being ready is being rooted and immersed in the Scriptures and the Teachings of the Church. That makes sense, of course. There is just too much stinking thinking in this increasingly secular world, a world that is hostile to the faith. How can we think that our mind is going to be anything but sullied if we are not reading Scripture every day? How will our minds be sober and clear if we are inebriated by the world?

Clearly, being ready means reading Scripture each day and basing our life on it.

IV. Remain watchful. The Lord says, And be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. … Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

There are different ways to watch and wait. There is the passive watching and waiting that we may do when waiting for a bus: we just sit there and look down the street. But there is another kind of waiting that is more active. Consider the watchfulness of a waiter: He is actively waiting and watching. He observes what is needed now and notes what will be needed soon, moving to supply what is or will be necessary.

There is also an eager sort of waiting intended here much like that of a child on Christmas Eve. The child does not wait in dread for the coming of “Santa Claus” but in eager expectation.

And so it is that watchful and eager waiting are what the Lord has in mind here. It is like that active waiting we do when we have invited a guest to our home. We know that his arrival is imminent and so we joyfully prepare and place all in order.

To set our house in order is to sweep clean our soul of sin and all unrighteousness (by God’s grace) and to remove all the clutter of worldliness from our life. Regular confession, daily repentance, simplifying our lives, and freeing ourselves from worldly attachments declutters the house of our soul.

Have you prepared the home of your soul for the Lord’s arrival? If not, the Lord says that you may experience Him as you would a thief. Now the Lord is not really a thief, for everything belongs to Him. But if we have not renounced our worldliness and greed, if we have not rid ourselves of attachments to this world, then the Lord will come and take back what is His. He will seem like a thief because we (wrongly) think it is ours.

It’s never a good idea to call God, the Lord and owner of all, a thief. Bad move!

V. Reflect on your reward. The Lord says, Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

The Lord is clear that He has a reward for those who are found ready!

It is prefigured in the banquet of the Eucharist, in which the Lord prepares a meal and feeds us. The Lord says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Rev 3:20). And again, And I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom (Luke 22:30). Food is so quickly bought and scarfed down today, but in the ancient world one of the most pleasant things to anticipate was a long, hearty meal enjoyed in the company of good friends and family.

The Lord offers us the magnificent blessing of Heaven, where we will be with Him and those whom we love forever in unspeakable joy and peace.

Do you meditate often on Heaven and long for its rewards? One of the stranger aspects of the modern world is that, even among believers, there is so little talk of Heaven. And while it is not a place any of us have ever been (so it’s hard to fully understand what it will be like), we should reflect often on the joy that awaits us there.

Part of being ready to go home to the Lord is to long for that day to come. When we want to do something, we prepare for it eagerly; we are motivated and we make sacrifices. We will more naturally do whatever is necessary.

So here are five elements constituting a recipe for readiness. Better set your house in order ’cause He may be coming soon!

In today’s first reading (Monday of the 18^th Week) the Prophet Jeremiah denounces the false prophets of his day, who promise all sorts grand visions for Israel despite its sin. Jeremiah says to the people, By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke! (Jer 28:13) In other words, by failing to repent (breaking the wooden yoke) you shall know an iron yoke. (Think about the addiction to sin of many who do not show restraint earlier in life.) To the false prophets of his day Jeremiah said, The LORD has not sent you, and you have raised false confidence in this people (Jer 28:15). Confidence is a good thing, but false confidence is terrible in its deception.

False prophets deceive God’s people; their words are worse than silence. There are many false prophets today who tickle people’s ears, assuring them that what God calls sins is actually progressive and glamorous.

A great clarion call goes up quite often in Scripture: “Do not be deceived!” This call must go up as never before, because we live in times of great deception. So many have been deceived about marriage, sexuality, the existence of God, and what life is really all about. And while there is widespread deception in our current times, deceiving and being deceived are common human tendencies, especially given the fallen human condition. Scripture speaks often of this problem, and we do well to look to some of the texts and see what they have to teach us.

Perhaps it is good to look first to the Latin and Greek roots of the word deceive.

Latin: The Latin root of deceive is decipere, meaning to ensnare (de (of or up) + capere (to seize or take)). And thus the Latin emphasizes our tendency to be easily caught up or carried away, to be ensnared by error. It evokes the image of an animal being carried off as prey in the mouth of a lion. We are so easily carried away by the latest fashions, trends, and thinking of the world. And having been carried away, we are ensnared by error and to some degree cut off from the truth.

Greek: There are several words in the Greek New Testament that are translated as deceive in English. By far the most common is πλανάω (planao), meaning to go astray, to wander off course, to deviate from the correct path, to roam into error, to be misled. (Planao is the also the Greek root of the English word planet (literally, wandering body)). In the Greek New Testament, this term nearly always conveys the sin of roaming from the truth. And thus we see that the Greek emphasizes that we go astray or are led astray, that we wander off. Isaiah the prophet lamented, All we like sheep have gone astray; every one to his own way (Is 53:6). Yes, and if sheep are wayward animals, human beings are more so, for at least a sheep knows its master’s voice. Too many of us will listen to and follow anyone but the Lord.

We humans are involved in deception in three different ways.

I. We are sometimes the victim of deception. The Scriptures frequently warn, “Do not be deceived.” Jesus warned, At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many (Mat 24:11).

St. Paul also lamented false apostles and Judaizers who misled many. He warned, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30). He also spoke of some who will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Tim 4:1).

St. John warned of the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world (1 John 4:3).

Thus to some degree we are victims of deceivers. The Scriptures warn us to be on our guard: Do not be deceived! We are not to allow these deceivers to lead us astray, to make us wander about in error and sin. We are to resist them and see them for the deceivers they are.

II. We can be among those who deceive (though hopefully this is less frequent). This refers to something deeper than the more common human foible of lying. The deception here involves misleading people in matters of the true faith.

God warns deceivers, Why do you boast of evil, you wicked man? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor. You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue! Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin (Psalm 52:1-5).

God declares a curse on those shepherds who mislead His flock: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore, thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds” (Jer 23:1-3).

Jesus declares, If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea (Mat 18:6).

St. Paul speaks of the lot of deceivers: But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim 3:13).

III. We can connive in deception. This final category is perhaps the most troubling of all. It is a kind of a middle ground between being a victim of deception and a perpetrator of deception. We allow deceivers to speak to us, and not only do we not rebuke them for their deception, we actually perk up our ears and say, in effect, “Please go on; tell me more!”

We do this because to some degree we want to be deceived. We want to be affirmed in our sin, in our weakness. Many want the truth to be watered down and are delighted to listen to those who call into question the demands of righteousness. Yes, many of us connive; we enter into partnership with the deceivers.

Many of the warnings that we “not be deceived” are not simply alerting us to the presence of deceivers; they are cautioning us to be wary our own tendency to enter into agreement with those would deceive us. In this context, the warning, “Do not be deceived,” takes on more of this tone:

“Don’t kid yourself; don’t tell lies to yourself; don’t go on playing the fool. You know better. The voice of God echoing in your conscience bears witness to the fact that you’re lying to yourself and you’re letting others lie to you.”

Premier among the “conniving” texts is St. Paul’s warning to Timothy: For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear, and will turn away from the truth (2 Tim 4:3).

What are some of the common things people “want” to be deceived into believing? A brief survey of Scripture reveals this. (I have boldfaced the various forms of the word deceive to illustrate that God is teaching us about the various forms of this sinful connivance.)

A. That our actions will not have consequences: Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8).

B. That faith can be perfunctory, intellectual, or mere lip service; that good intentions are enough; that one can love the world: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves … If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:22-27).

Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe—safe to do all these detestable things?” Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord (Jeremiah 7:1-11).

C. That sexual sin is no big deal: Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10).

Be sure of this, no fornicator, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. For you were once darkness, but now you are light Therefore, do not be partners with them. in the Lord. Live as children of light … and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness (Eph 5:5-11).

When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren (James 1:16).

D. That regular consort with sinners will not affect us: Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame (1 Cor 15:33).

But encourage each other daily, while it is still today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception (Heb 3:13).

E. That we can wholly avoid deception and error apart from Scripture and the teaching of the Church: Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matt 22:29).

Wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the Truth and so be saved (1 Thess 2:10).

This, then, is a brief excursus on the lamentable human tendency to wander, to be carried off, to be deceived. And frankly, too many of us want to be deceived. Be alert to this deep drive rooted in sloth and pride; learn its moves and despise its lures.

The Gospel today is not merely a warning against greed; it is an instruction on income and wealth given by Jesus to help us root out greed. As the Gospel opens, the problem of greed is presented. Following that, a prescribed perspective on wealth is offered. Let’s take a look at both parts of this Gospel.

I. The Problem that is Portrayed – The text begins, Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Note that Jesus turns to the crowd (to avoid personally indicting the man for something of which all can be guilty) and warns without ambiguity that greed must be guarded against. Greed is the insatiable desire for more. It is to want possessions inordinately, beyond what is reasonable or necessary.

Greed is often downplayed today; accumulation and the ostentatious display of wealth are often celebrated.  Great rooms with cathedral ceilings, huge flat screen TVs (even private home theaters), and fancy cars are shamelessly flaunted.

Greed is at the root of a lot of evils and suffering. Scripture says,

For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs (1 Tim 6:7-10).

These are indeed very strong words. Greed causes us to be discontented and ungrateful, both of which are signs of unhappiness. It also leads us into temptations, into snares or traps that set loose harmful desires that seem to expand in ever increasing ways. And this desire for more too easily leads us to personal destruction, and to inflict great harm, insensitivity, and injustice upon others.

On account of greed we almost never say, “I have enough; I will give away the rest or use it for the benefit of others.” Many also wander away from the faith because wealth is generally tied to this world and its demands, and they feel they have “too much to lose.” Hence the faith is set aside in favor of the world; greed overrules God and the demands of the Gospel.

The Lord will develop more of this in the parable ahead. But for now, note that the Lord warns about the serious and destructive problem of greed. This is the problem that is portrayed.

II. The Perspective that is Prescribed – But the Lord does not simply condemn greed. He goes on to tell a parable that strives to provide a proper perspective on wealth. In itself, wealth is not evil. But without the proper perspective, we too easily fall into greed. Hence the Lord provides five teachings on wealth to help us to keep it in perspective and to avoid greed.

A. The INITIATION of wealth – The text says, There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 

Notice that it is the land, not the man, that yields the increased harvest. Whatever we have has come from God and what God has given. Scripture says,

1. But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).
2. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1).
3. Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17).
4. What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Cor 4:7)

As such, wealth is not bad or evil. But we must never forget that God is the true owner of all things while we are the stewards. An old song says, “God and God alone created all these things we call our own: From the mighty to the small the glory in them all is God’s and God’s alone.”

God provides the increase and is the initiator of every blessing, but God remains the owner. As stewards, we are expected to use what belongs to God in accord with what He, the true owner, wills. Too easily we forget this and usher in many woes.

What is the will of God regarding our wealth? The Catechism speaks of God’s will as the “Universal Destination of Goods.”

God gave all the goods of the earth for all the people of the earth. This means that the goods of creation are destined for the whole human race…In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself. The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family (Catechism 2402, 2404).

If we will remember that we are stewards of God’s gifts and that He ultimately intends all to be blessed, we can understand that greed is a form of theft, for it inordinately clings to what should be given to another out of justice. If I have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor.

Remembering that the initiation of my wealth is God. I can help to avoid greed by using my wealth for the purposes God intends. It is not just for me; it is for all the people of this world.

B. The INCONVENIENCE of wealth – The parable continues, He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?”

The man is burdened by his wealth because he does not consider generosity an option. “What shall I do?” he asks anxiously. To be honest, great wealth does bring comfort, but it is also a source of inconvenience. Consider just a few things that usually go along with wealth:  locks, alarms, storage facilities, insurance, worries, fears, repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. We live in an affluent age, but just think about the stress! Consider also the loss of other, more important values. We have bigger houses but smaller families; our “McMansions” are really more houses than homes.

Scripture says,

1. The rest of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep (Eccl 5:12).
2. Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it (Prov 15:16).
3. Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife (Prov 17:1).
4. Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless (Eccl 5:10).

So wealth certainly has its comforts, but it also brings with it many inconveniences that make our lives more stressful and complicated. Better to be free of excessive wealth in accordance with God’s will than to be burdened by it. This is another perspective that helps us to avoid greed.

C. The ILLUSION of wealth– The parable goes on to say, And [the man] said, “This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, ‘Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry.’”

Here we are taught that riches easily lead us to an illusion of self-sufficiency. We start to rely on self and on riches instead of on God. But as we shall see, the man’s wealth will utterly fail him before the night is out.

Riches can buy us out of temporary troubles, but it cannot help with the central problem we face. No amount of money can postpone our appointment with death and judgment. Riches can get us a first class cabin on the ship, but on the “Titanic” of this world we are in no better shape than the people in steerage. In fact, because of the illusion it creates wealth will more likely hinder us in our final passage. For it is only in trusting in God that we can make it to the other shore. Too much wealth and self-reliance can hinder our capacity to call on the Lord and trust Him. Yes, wealth tends to create an illusion that cripples us from reaching our goal. Scripture says,

1. But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings (Ps 49:12).
2. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Tim 6:17).
3. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall (Prov 11:28).
4. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits (James 1:11).
5. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God (Prov 30:8).

An old gospel song says, “Well the way may not be easy, but you never said it would be, ’cause when my way gets a little too easy you know I tend to stray from thee.”

The illusion of riches is well illustrated in the modern age. Our wealth has tended to make us less religious, less dependent on God. But really, can all our wealth, power, technology, and science ultimately save us? We know that it cannot.

Yet strangely we entertain the illusion of wealth anyway. Like the man in the parable, we think, “Now I’ve got it; now I’m all set.” This is an illusion, a set up. Coming to see it for the illusion that it is will help us to avoid greed.

D. The INSUFFICIENCY of wealth – But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”

And thus we see the illusion give way to the reality of insufficiency. Scripture says,

1. There are men who trust in their wealth and boast of the vastness of their riches. But no man can buy his own ransom, or pay a price to God for his life. The ransom of his soul is beyond him. He cannot buy life without end nor avoid coming to the grave. He knows that wise men and fools must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes for ever, their dwelling place from age to age though their names spread wide through the land. In his riches man lacks wisdom, he is like the beast that perish (Psalm 49:5).
2. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? (Mat 16:26)

Money, wealth, power, popularity, and prestige can never really get us what we need. We have sought so many saviors in this world, thinking they can somehow save us.

1. SCIENCE can’t you save me? No, I can’t save you. I can tell you how far it is from the Earth to the Sun. I can tell you how to fly in rocket ships into outer space, but I can’t tell you how to climb to Heaven. I can’t save you.
2. PHILOSOPHY can’t you save me? No, I can’t save you. I can tell you more and more about less and less until you know everything about very little. I can tell you about the thoughts and opinions of the greatest thinkers, but I can’t save you
3. EDUCATION can’t you save me? No, I can’t save you. I can make you smart, but I can’t make you wise. I can’t save you.
4. CULTURE can’t you save me? No, I can’t save you. I can make the world a more beautiful and entertaining place from which to go to Hell, but I can’t save you.
5. ECONOMICS, can’t you save me? No, I can’t save you. I can make you richer, but not rich enough to buy your salvation. I can’t save you.
6. POLITICS, can’t you save me? No, I can’t save you. I can give you access to worldly power, but the world as we know it is passing away. I can’t save you.

At the end of the day, this world and all of its riches cannot save us; only God can do this. This is another perspective on wealth that helps us to avoid greed.

E. The INSTRUCTION about wealth – The parable concludes, Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.

As we have already remarked, wealth is not intrinsically evil. It is our greed that is sinful and gets us into trouble. Greed clings to wealth unreasonably and excessively. With greed, we “store up treasure for ourselves and are not rich in what matters to God.”

So what matters to God? What matters is that we be rich in justice, mercy, love, holiness, and truth; that we be generous sharers of the bounty He bestows. And thus the Lord teaches us to share what we have generously, above what we do not need. Consider the following teachings:

1. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9).
2. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (Mat 6:19).
3. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Tim 6:17-19).

There is an old saying that “You can’t take it with you.” And this is true, but only partially. The Lord suggests that we can send our wealth on ahead, that we can store it up in Heaven, that we can invest it in eternity. How? Do we put our gold in a balloon and float it up into the sky? No, we send it up, we send it on ahead by bestowing it on the poor and the needy. This can include our family members, for charity begins at home, but it does not end there. Our generosity should extend beyond the family to many of the poor.

If we do this the Lord teaches that the poor we bless will welcome us to Heaven and speak on our behalf before the judgment seat. The Lord says that when we bless the poor our treasure will be great, and safe in Heaven. Further, our generosity and mercy will benefit us greatly on the day of judgment and help us, as St. Paul says above, to lay hold of the life that is truly life.

So you can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

This final teaching or perspective on wealth is that we should be rich in what matters to God by being generous, not greedy.

And thus we have five teachings on wealth meant to give us perspective, so as to avoid greed.

Trust God! Greed is rooted in fear, but generosity trusts that God will not be outdone in generosity! While our greatest rewards remain in Heaven, God sends “interest payments” to the generous even now. Scripture says,

1. One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. A generous man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered (Prov 11:24).
2. Cast your bread upon the waters: after many days it will come back to you (Eccl 11:1).
3. Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back (Luke 6:38).

Since you can’t take it with you, you might as well send it on ahead. Guard against greed by allowing these five teachings on wealth to give you a proper perspective on wealth.

One could easily reduce today’s Gospel to trite moralisms: Help people in trouble; Be kind to strangers; etc. While these are certainly good thoughts, I would argue that it is about far deeper things than human kindness or ethics. This is a Gospel about the transformative power of God’s love and our need to receive it. It is not a Gospel that can be understood as a demand of the flesh.

Let’s look at the Gospel in three stages.

I. The Radical Requirements of Love – As the Gospel opens, there is a discussion between Jesus and a scholar of the law as to a basic summation of the law. The text says, There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

The Shema, a summary of the law known to every Jew, is quoted by the scholar. Note how often the word “all” occurs. There is a radical nature to the call of love that cannot be avoided. When it comes to love, the requirement is not to give what is reasonable, to give a little, or perhaps to give a tithe. No, the call is to give God all our heart, mind, being, and strength, and to love our neighbor as though he were our very self.

As we shall see in a moment, our flesh recoils at this sort of open demand; immediately we want to qualify it and quantify it somehow. The flesh seeks refuge in law, asking, “What is the minimum I can do while still meeting the requirements?”

But love is by its very nature open-ended and generous. Love is extravagant; it wants to do more. Love wants to please the beloved. A young man in love does not say to himself, “What is the cheapest gift I can get her for her birthday?” No, he will see an opportunity to show his love; he may even spend too much. Love does not think, “What is the least I can do?” Love thinks, “What more can I do?” Love is expansive and extravagant.

And thus the great Shema speaks to the open-ended and extravagant quality of love.

But the flesh, that fallen and sin-soaked part of our nature, recoils at such expansive talk and brings out the lawyer in us, negotiating for lesser terms.

II. The Reductionism that Resists Love – After giving the beautiful answer about love, the lawyer (and there is a lawyer in all of us) now reverts to form and speaks out of his flesh. The text continues, But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In other words, he wants to say, “Look, if I have to love my neighbor, let’s make this category as small and manageable as possible.”

Note how quickly he has retreated into a kind of fearful reaction to the broad expanse of love. His fear is likely rooted in the fact that he has reduced the Shema into a moralism, as if he could pull the whole thing off out of his own power. And so he recoils and demands more favorable terms of surrender. Because he thinks he has to do it all, he needs to get its scope into the range of something he can manage on his own. Perhaps he is willing to consider the people on his block to be his neighbors, but those two or three blocks away? That’s just too much.

The fearful lawyer in him has started negotiating a kind of “debt relief.” He seeks to “define down” the category “neighbor.” But the Lord is not buying it; He will expand the concept even further than the Jewish notions of the day.

To be fair to the lawyer in this passage, there is a lawyer in all of us, negotiating for favorable terms. And while it is not wrong for us to ask for some guidance in specifying the law, we all know that the lawyer in us is really trying more to evade the demands than to fulfill them.

In a way we are all like the typical teenager. Every teenager is a natural lawyer. Give a teenager a rule and he will parse every nuance of it in order to evade its demands or to water it down.

Some years ago I was teaching 7th grade religion in our parish’s Catholic school. I told the kids, “Do your work … and no talking!” Within moments, a young lady started singing. Interestingly, her name was Carmen (which means song in Latin). When I rebuked her for breaking the rule she replied, “I wasn’t talking; I was singing … and you didn’t say anything about singing.”  Yes, she was a natural born lawyer.

I remember my thoughts when I was in high school: I couldn’t break the 6^th Commandment (forbidding adultery) because I wasn’t married and certainly wouldn’t be intimate with a married woman since they were all “old.” Yes, the lawyer was at work in me, but was answered by Jesus in Matthew 5:27-30.

This is how we are in our rebellious, fearful, and resentful flesh. Hearing a law, we go to work at once and seek to over-specify it, to parse every word, to seek every nuance so as to evade its intent in every way possible. If we are going to follow it at all, we’re going to try to find a way that involves the minimum effort on our part.

So often Catholics and other Christians talk more like lawyers than lovers: “Do I have to go to confession? How often? Do I have to pray? How long? Do I have to give to the poor? How much? Why can’t I do that? It’s not so bad; besides, everyone else is doing it.”

Sometimes, too, we seek to reduce holiness to perfunctory religious observance. Look, I go to Mass; I put something in the collection basket; I say my prayers. What more do you want? Perhaps we think that if we do certain ritual observances (which are good in themselves) we have bought God off and do not need to look at other matters in our life. Because I go to Mass and say a few prayers, I can put a check mark in the “God box” and don’t really need to look at my lack of forgiveness, my harsh tongue, or my lack of generosity.

This is reductionism. It is the lawyer in us at work, seeking to avoid the extravagance of love by hiding behind legal minimalism. It emerges from a kind of fear generated by the notion that I must be able to do everything on my own, by the power of my own flesh. But that’s not possible. You can’t pull it off on your own. But God can, and that is why He commands it of us.

Our fleshly notions have to die. Our spirit must come alive with the virtue of hope that relies trustingly on God’s grace to bring out a vigorous and loving response in us. Law and the flesh say, “What are the minimum requirements?” Love says, “What more can I do?” This is the gift of a loving heart that we must seek.

III. The Response that Reflects Love – The Lord then paints a picture of what his love and grace can do in someone: Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise, a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

There is a very important phrase that must not be missed, for it gives the key to the Samaritan man’s actions: “[he] was moved.” Note that the verb “was moved” is in the passive voice. That is to say it was not so much that he acted, but that he was acted upon.

More specifically, love and grace have moved within him and are moving him. The Greek verb here is ἐσπλαγχνίσθη (esplagchnisthe), a third person singular passive verb meaning “to be deeply moved” or “to be moved to compassion.” The verb is also in the aorist tense, signifying that something has happened but also that it has a kind of ongoing

Why is this phrase “was moved” so important? Because it indicates for us the power of the gift of grace. So many of our fears about what God asks and what love demands are rooted in the idea that we must accomplish them out of our own flesh. No, that is not the Gospel. In the New Covenant the keeping of the Law is received, not achieved. The keeping of the commandments is a work of God within us to which we yield. To keep the commandments and to fulfill the law is the result of love, not the cause of it.

We do not know the Samaritan’s history; the Lord does not supply it. And because this is only a story, the Samaritan is only a literary figure.

But for us the teaching must be clearly understood: Our receiving and experiencing of love is and must be the basis of our keeping of the law. Experiencing and receiving God’s love for us equips, empowers, and enables us to respond extravagantly as joyful lovers rather than as fearful lawyers.

Love lightens every load. When we love God and love other people, we want to do what love requires. Even if there are difficulties that must be overcome, love makes us eager to respond anyway.

When I was in the 7th grade, I found myself quite taken by a pretty girl named Shelly. I was quite “in love.” One day she was walking down the hall trying to carry a pile of books to the library; I saw my chance! I offered to carry those books at once. Now I was skinny as a rail with no muscles at all, and in those days the books were heavy. But I was glad to do it despite the effort. Love does that; it lightens every load and makes us eager to help, even at great cost.

Perhaps it’s just a silly story of an awkward teenager, but it demonstrates what love does. It “moves” us to be generous, kind, merciful, patient, and even extravagant. We don’t do what we do because we have to, but because we want to.

The Samaritan in this story, was “moved” with and by love to overcome race, nation, fear, and danger. He generously gave his time and money to save a brother and fellow traveler.

Let love lift you. Let it empower you, equip you, and enable you! Go to the Lord and pray for a deeper experience of His love. Open the door of your heart and let the love of God in. Go to the foot of the cross and remember what the Lord has done for you. Let what He has done be so present in your mind and heart that you are grateful and different. Let God’s love come alive in you.

As a witness, I promise you that love lightens every load and makes us eager to keep the commandments, to help others, to forgive, to show mercy, to be patient and kind, and to courageously speak the truth in love to others. Yes, I am a witness that love can and does change us. I’m not what I want to be, but I am not what I used to be. Love has lifted me and lightened every load of mine.

Again, today’s Gospel is not a mere moralism. The main point is that we must let the Lord’s love into our heart. If we do, we will do what love does and we will do it extravagantly—not because we have to, but because we want to.

The grace of love lightens every load and equips us for every good work.

This song says, “More of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died for me.”