Stewardship

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Stewardship

Prudent     Wise

Utilizing     Managing     Reciprocating

Cannot Serve God and Mammon

Trustworthy

(photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Luke 16:1 to 8; 10a; 13a; 13c

Jesus shared this story with His followers:

"A wealthy man had a steward and he heard that this person was mismanaging his property. 

He called him in and told him, 'What about the report I heard about you? I need a full accounting of your stewardship because you are no longer fit to be my steward.'

The steward was thinking about this and thought, 'What will happen to me now? My master wants to remove me from my position.

I am not up to doing manual labor and I am embarrassed to beg. I will come up with a plan where people will accept me after I am removed from my position as a steward.'

He went to those who owed a debt to his master. 

To the first one he asked, 'How much do you owe my master?' He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.' The steward said to him, 'This is your agreement. Write a new one for half that amount.'

To another the steward asked, 'What amount do you owe?' He said, 'One hundred kors of wheat.' The steward said, 'This is your agreement. Write a new one for eighty.'

The master was very happy with that dishonest steward because he devised such a clever plan.

The person who is trustworthy in insignificant affairs can also be trustworthy in important ones.

You cannot serve two masters.

You cannot serve both God and mammon."

Reflection

What makes a person a good steward?

This is a question that we all discuss a lot today. We are concerned with the stewardship of our environment. We are worried that the effects of climate change will get worse if we do not intervene and make sure that our air, water, and soil are clean.

Jesus shows us a path in this parable. The steward had been reported for mismanagement and the master is going to terminate him. We don't know exactly what he did wrong; but we do know that the master is very upset with him because of his dishonesty.

The steward reacts by coming up with a clever plan that will, he hopes, both please his master and ingratiate him with those who have accumulated a debt to the master. He takes action.

His ingenuity pleases the master. He has, perhaps, regained the trust of his master by taking action.

Jesus points out that we cannot serve two masters. When we do that, we will run into trust issues. One or maybe both of the masters will be disappointed.

This is very akin to the situation we face today with our stewardship of God's gift to us---our environment. Pope Francis refers to this as taking care of our "common home".

Will it be business as usual or will we undergo an "ecological conversion" and change the way we do things to protect our home?

We are called to serve God and to be good stewards of our environment. This is a difficult challenge for us today but one that we take up with hope and confidence that God will guide us and help us to be prudent and wise stewards. 

As we contemplate the Peace Pole in Kathy's photo, we can feel the call to bring peace to our earth by respecting the beauty that surrounds us and working to renew the face of the earth.

1. Do you feel that you are a good steward?

2. What is needed today to protect our environment?

3. What do you feel as you contemplate Kathy's photo?

(scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John J. McNamara)