Amos 8:4-7 1^st Timothy 2:1-8 Luke 16:1-13

In the USA in recent years, while enduring what has been called the worst economic situation since the Great Depression, people find themselves caught between two great psychological pressures. On the one hand, we have been increasingly disappointed in political and financial leadership who by default bear the blame for any societal problems of national magnitude. On the other hand, we have come to feel an intense sense of powerlessness which we often express in anger projected towards others, even sometimes groups of persons who are different from or strange to us. This “us vs them” dynamic is natural enough, but it is also generally destructive. And, yes, God’s word and the Gospel speak to this challenge. This Sunday’s texts demand that we pay attention, engage thoughtfully and responsibly, and even critique ourselves.

Amos was the earliest of those we might call the Book Prophets, i.e., his prophetic message found its way into writing in the book by his name. He ministered over the course of a decade from about 760 to 750 BC, in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam. Since he was neither a temple prophet nor a royal prophet, he had a vested interest in no group. Neither was he indebted to those who paid his salary (for he probably didn’t get one), so his message was not an ideological one; he could speak for God in truth and in the cause of justice regardless of consequences. When he observed that the wealthier citizens of Israel treated the poor and the needy abusively, disrespectfully and arrogantly, then he aimed at them the harshest of criticism. Speaking for God’s sense of justice, he promised that deeds of uncharitableness and injustice would not be forgotten. This is an early (but not the earliest!) social justice message. It was and remains a succinct critique of the “haves” revealing a divine bias in favor of the “have nots.” Some commentators refer to these prophetic lines as a critique of “pious hypocrisy.” Social justice is a ubiquitous obligation to cultivate a social reality and personal consciences of justice, peace and security. All Jewish and Christian believers have, therefore, an obligation to care for all in society, from the greatest to the least. Of course, the poor, the needy, the sick, the homeless, the orphaned and the widowed, the stranger and the alien (foreigner), and all those disenfranchised from privilege were then and are still today the greater consumers of the charitable effort. The poor, called the Anawim of God, were then and still are today precious to the God the All Merciful. When God’s people fail to demonstrate active and effective concern for the poor, then God’s people are rejecting God! In ancient Israel and Judah, the wealthy and the successful were considered directly blessed by God. Receiving God’s blessing included accepting the responsibility to share those blessings with others in need. The motive of sharing such blessing has always been gratitude to God for those blessings in the first place. In other words, God has blessed out of love and kindness. Those blessed imitate and in turn bless others with significant portions the gifts God gave them. It’s a “pass it on” or “hand it along” philosophy. But, to fail to “pass on” or to “hand along” the gift, means to break the Tradition. The very word “tradition” literally means “to hand along” or “to hand over” something of substance or significance. Holy people cannot be stingy or selfish people. Holiness is necessarily attached to generosity. While some might be generous without being holy, none can be holy without being generous. We’ve recently heard some political ideologues (some “pious hypocrites”) condemn social justice. By doing so, they place themselves over against God’s command to care for the needy. This includes needy people of whatever political, legal or illegal situation. Indeed, our political territorial borders do need to be secure, and it is a crime to enter the country illegally. Security is urgently important. But, the Gospel message commands that the obligation to charity exists because each and every human person has a dignity which comes directly from being created in God’s image and likeness, not from one’s legal status. One’s human dignity is not diminished or removed by one’s illegal status. To abuse or berate the illegal person is to abuse and berate God’s daughter or son. Bigotry, greed and selfishness diminish one’s own dignity. Those who oppose social justice are themselves proponents of injustice and are themselves very likely ignorant, ungrateful, uncharitable and insecure even in their own aggressive anger. Amos would have the harshest of words for them regardless of their self-importance or political self-righteousness! Llikewise, we who embrace the Gospel of Christ should challenge all those who diminish or deny social justice to any! Justice is not a Gospel option; it is a Gospel obligation!

Today’s Gospel parable about stewardship reveals the wide breadth of trust which God has bestowed upon each of us by trusting us with life and free will. In the parable “the master commended the dishonest servant for acting prudently.” Prudent behavior was more important than even the selfish servant’s dishonesty. The servant had been entrusted by the master with great power and evidently had been caught abusing that power. But, in one final attempt to secure some future security, he technically abused power still further. Might the image of that unjust steward be an image of us in ordinary life. Indeed, we are likely not criminals, but we probably are not so responsible with our lives as we ought to be. One day, at life’s conclusion, we imagine that God as Judge will expect us to give an account of how we have lived our lives. What do you imagine that shall we say then? How have we used all those resources, opportunities, challenges and circumstances to show God that we appreciated the very gifts entrusted to our care? Indeed, we each have the ability to forgive, to feed, to encourage and to assist others with the grace of God. God has put power into our lives to be used for constructive good and purpose. God trusts us to use the power generously, sometimes by taking risks, and at other times by pardoning or raising up others who lack power. In other words, it is not merely by means of following the rules or keeping the law that one is virtuous. Doing good things (random acts of kindness?) to and for others, even contrary to normal cultural and societal expectations, can be very constructive. Imagine how the world would be if we trusted each other enough to prudently presume the best about them. Prudence is, in both ancient Hebrew and ancient Greek thought, the chief among the virtues. In this Gospel parable, the dishonest steward is label prudent by the master who’s wealth he was giving away. Indeed, it was not his property, but as steward it was indeed under his control, so he could give it away. Might this imply that even moral behavior as commonly accepted could be even more generous than previously imagined? Might such largess be an important component of imagining God’s goodness? Might God be entertained by and affectionate towards even those whom we consider rather sinful? You and I are stewards of God’s gifts. In what ways have we been generous for better motives than those of the unjust steward? This parable ought to destabilize any self-righteous presumptions about how good people must behave. Goodness, virtue and nobility are much messier concepts that we ordinarily like to imagine!

Today’s second reading is profoundly clear in its statement that God’s salvation is for everyone! All through Christian history the threat of exclusion from salvation by some Christians towards others (either Christians of a different tradition or non-Christians) has been used recklessly, cruelly, unkindly – and wrongly. Only God can judge. No one is by definition excluded from God’s salvation. Paul even directed Timothy to pray for the cruel and hateful pagan imperial leaders, even for the emperor who would eventually have him killed. Indeed, praying for leaders was and still is a sign of good citizenship. But, Paul writes clearly of “God our savior who wills that everyone be saved and come to knowledge of the truth” and “of the man Christ who gave himself as a ransom for all.” Indeed, salvation here means more than what is commonly called “eternal salvation” with God in heaven. It means to arrive at a healthy and full appreciation of the goodness and largeness of the God who is savior. Salvation is as much an earthly mystical experience as it is an ultimate heavenly existence. In other words, Paul is not praying for “blind faith,” but for an intelligent faith with insight! He wants everyone to be touched by God in such ways as to appreciate God’s very gift of life. He hopes that each will respond to that gift with gratitude, love, forgiveness, charity, humor, reconciliation, justice and peace. To know God is to be saved. But, to know God well we must do it in God’s terms, not merely our own. The pagan Roman leaders tried to relate to their gods on their own terms (although, even the pagan emperors Augustus, Tiberias, Caligula, Claudius and Nero had at some stage sent money to Jerusalem to pay to have sacrifices offered for them at the Jerusalem temple!!! Eternal Life Insurance just in case!?!?!?). Paul had come to believe God to be bigger than all the evils that could work against knowing the God of salvation. And, “the man Christ” who gave his life as a “ransom for all,” while he was working in terms of Jewish temple-cult religious practice, was also working for the salvation of the whole, entire world. Any believers who have asserted, hoped, preached or taught that others different from themselves will be excluded from salvation are themselves deluded at best. They try to limit God’s saving Grace! They ought to be ashamed of themselves. But, without further attention to them, let us take great consolation and comfort in the promise and belief that God saves everyone! Parents of adult children who are troubled or even have left the faith of their childhood ..., spouses and friends who worry about spouse or friend who has not the gift of faith ..., and everyone else ... we must change our minds from anxiety about condemnation to hope in salvation by God the All-Merciful and Compassionate! We must allow God to be God the infinitely loving, prudent, wise and forgiving! We must not usurp God’s prerogative of forgiving, welcoming, reconciling, and receiving everyone into the heavenly kingdom! What hope! What Good News! What a Gospel message!!