By Deacon Richard Hay
“Integrity – Inside and Out – Aligned”
This gospel has always been a head scratcher each time I hear it and I am sure some of you are of the same mind. Why would Jesus through this parable, have the master commend the “dishonest” servant and say that he acted “prudently”?
These words just do not seem to line up with the servants actions both through squandering the masters property and then once the master finds out and confronts the steward about his behavior, how the servant then approaches his masters debtors to save himself from a life of hard work by endearing himself to his masters debtors by reducing their current debt in order to gain favor with them.
See in those days, stewards played a big role in a household. They carried great responsibility to take care of their master’s property and this position brought with it wealth and prestige for the steward. It was usually the most trusted male slave, and the position provided physical comfort despite being a slave. In fact, other freemen of the Roman Empire would sell themselves into slavery to get this role for a rich owner.
The steward who is the focus of the gospel’s parable realizes that he is not suited for any other type of work after many years of living in this comfortable situation and he is terrified of losing that way of life – so he goes to his masters’ debtors so they “owe him one”.
The reality of what has happened is that the steward has squandered his opportunity for a continued comfortable life. He uses people, “his masters debtors”, to save himself. He uses people to gain things, and this is the exact opposite of what Jesus calls us to do – and that is to use our time, talent, and treasure to bring people into a relationship with the God of the Universe. Jesus used his miracles and sermons during his ministry to bring people to his Father, and we are called to emulate that through our own testimony in this world.
Yes – we are called to be prudent – just like the dishonest servant was described as prudent in how he worked to protect himself in an earthly way but then fell short in his actions because they were solely focused on saving himself.
Then we hear Jesus say in the gospel, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.”
In other words – our soul – our eternal life – is reflected in our smallest actions. Does our interior match our exterior? They should indeed be aligned.
There is no such thing as a private existence and a public existence. To truly reflect our entire being, they must be aligned with each other. If we live one way in private and another way publicly – that is a conflict of integrity which must be resolved and sooner rather than later.
Our integrity must be rooted in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. We cannot live one part of our lives with that integrity and then indulge in behaviors that do not align with that same integrity.
The dishonest steward feared losing his comfortable life and therefore chose to act without integrity with the material worth of his master. For him the comfort of his position was more important than anything else and he was willing to give up his integrity to keep it.
Our material worth on earth is a testing ground. If we are faithful in sharing of the time, talent, and treasure that God gives us in our lives – that will result in favor with God and gains for us spiritual blessings.
That is the exact opposite of what the dishonest servant accomplished. If we are self-indulgent then it damages our spiritual growth and injures the Body of Christ of which we are all members. We must always look at our decisions and actions as we use our gifts.
Jesus was not praising the dishonesty of the steward in our gospel. The reality is that the steward has not changed at all. He misused his master’s property and possessions for personal gain and then continues to do so making these deals with his master’s debtors.
However, Jesus is praising two aspects:
- For being clever on a worldly level because this type of cleverness, when done for the Kingdom of God and not for personal gain, can bring glory to God and build His kingdom.
- Similarly, using our time, talent, and treasure for a higher purpose – bringing others into a relationship with God so we can live together in his truth and not just our own.
For clarity, Jesus sees the potential for the stewards’ actions to be used for the glory of God, however, the steward falls short and uses these actions for his own good and not for the kingdom of God, – he then falls short of that potential.
We can all choose to take the right steps to help build the Kingdom of God using the time, talent, and treasure he graces us with in this life. However, the line between doing for God and doing for ourselves is very thin. If our lives of integrity are not aligned both internally and externally, then hitting that mark can be very tenuous.
So, what is the answer we are looking for in aligning our integrity?
First – as it is written at the end of Luke’s gospel today, “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Mammon is defined as any wealth or things regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion. We must worship God and Him alone.
Second – we must use things and love people – not love things and use people. We must use things cleverly and responsibly to a more important end – glorifying and building the Kingdom of God.
Third – the moment we start to have a second God in our lives – the mammon that has been mentioned, in any shape or form – then we are trying to split our integrity in half and that never ends well.
When we worship those things outside of God – either privately or publicly – we need to be aware that is not what He wants of us because as it is written in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy – “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
However, he is a consuming fire and a jealous God because he wants each one of us – our entire being – for himself – for His kingdom. That is why he gives us gifts and graces in this life that make up our time, talent, and treasure – so that we can glorify His kingdom and not our own. We do that through the way we use those things in this earthly life – in this earthly testing ground.
The saints of our church understood this all in approach and our two newest saints – St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati – embraced it in many ways.
A couple of weeks ago as many of you know, I was blessed to be in Rome at the Vatican for their canonization and the words of Pope Leo’s homily at that mass ring so true about this idea of emptying ourselves and aligning our integrity in our entire relationship with Christ –Pope Leo closed his homily with this thought:
“Dear friends, Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces. They encourage us with their words: “Not I, but God,” as Carlo used to say. And Pier Giorgio: “If you have God at the center of all your actions, then you will reach the end.” This is the simple but winning formula of their holiness. It is also the type of witness we are called to follow, in order to enjoy life to the full and meet the Lord in the feast of heaven.” – End Quote.
As we continue with this liturgy today, let’s remember that we are each called to holiness – to saintly holiness – and the saints give us a model of living completely aligned – both interiorly and externally – to serve God and God alone in all that we do in this life.
It is time for us to make our case for sainthood.
- Similarly, using our time, talent, and treasure for a higher purpose – bringing others into a relationship with God so we can live together in his truth and not just our own.
