Green Acres is the place to be, farm living is the life for me. Land spreading out so far and wide; keep Manhattan and give me that countryside.
The theme song from an old TV show titled Green Acres was about a successful New York lawyer who sought the simpler life. Unfortunately his wife disagreed and still sought the high life in the big city amidst the stores and bright lights. Of course things were always comically complicated because the new life on the farm was not always the quiet simple life the lawyer imagined.
Today many people long for the simpler life because our financial situations are challenging. We face recession, high unemployment, financial bailouts, huge corporate and personal debt, health care costs and more. Many have tried to save for retirement by taking advantage of 401K plans, IRA’s and other investments. Some times these plans grow quite nicely but if we are not careful they can loose value too. So we spend plenty of time planning and researching these financial decisions we face throughout our life.
As people of faith, do we spend plenty of time and effort in attaining goodness and holiness as we do in all our worldly endeavors? Are we as concerned about our souls as we are about what’s next in our lives? Do we place business, travel, hobbies, and likes ahead of our faith life?
St. Luke gives us Jesus teaching a parable known as the parable of the dishonest steward. The parable just heard is more complicated than just a dishonest steward. The steward is in charge of his master’s estate and is being fired for mismanagement. Being quite the schemer he plans to give a full accounting by lying and embezzling. His plan includes the debtors too as they would realize immediate financial gain from his scheme. They knew what their debt was. Their debt was never in money as you and I understand it; it was in the crops they produced. When the debtors were given the opportunity to pay far less than they rightly owed, they agreed. The steward was both trying to curry favor with the debtors and have something over them if his scheme fell apart. And what about the master? For his part, discovering the steward’s scheme he commends his shrewdness and praises him. The master is not angry or upset at all. What’s up with this?
The answer comes in this line in the Gospel: “for the children of this world are more prudent with their own generation than are the children of light.” Jesus is not condoning dishonesty; absolutely not. He is commending the clever and shrewd actions of the steward attempting to achieve security for his future. Jesus wants us to have a secure future; not the same future the steward was after; but our secure future with Him forever. And he is challenging us in our discipleship to be as shrewd as the steward, but to be shrewd in a faithful and trustworthy manner. This involves choices for us; honesty over dishonesty, the needs of others over personal gain, caring for the most vulnerable in our community and society over personal needs, eternal happiness over the happiness of this world, a secure future in the next life over financial security in this life.
What does this mean for us today? How does this apply to our lives? Jesus gives us the answer: “the person trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”. He challenges us to be trustworthy with true wealth and with that which belongs to another.
How do we use our material possessions; our wealth? Are we generous? Do we share our material wealth with the poor and the needy? Do we share our material wealth with our church community? Have we considered our true wealth as not that which we have saved or invested but that which we have given away? Are we generous with our time? Do we respond to the needs of our fellow man or the needs of our church family? On this Sunday when we recognize our school of religion and those who teach our youth, have we volunteered to help in this mission that is our responsibility too?
Are we considered trustworthy? In our everyday lives, in the classroom or the board room, in time spent with our loved ones, in every social setting, while shopping or running around town doing errands, are we trustworthy? Are we honest in our dealings with each other? Are the deeds we do in darkness, when no one is looking, could that stand up to the scrutiny of the light? For no one may be looking except He who sees and knows everything. In the week ahead as we ponder our generosity and trustworthiness can we pray the words from our opening prayer:
“May we love one another and come to perfection in the eternal life prepared for us.”
Green acres may be the place to be with its land spreading out far and wide. Sounds beautiful! But we seek a more beautiful destination; those heavenly acres spent in all eternity with God. Serve Him and Him alone; the Master who is truly generous.
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