Readings
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13
It would be easy for us to get bogged down trying to unpack and figure out exactly what Jesus is doing in today’s parable about the dishonest manager and how it relates to the latter half of this Gospel teaching. But rather than do that, rather than spend far more time and energy than any of us would want, let’s just get to the heart of the matter.
Jesus says “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Because of that last sentence, “you cannot serve God and wealth,” it would be easy to think that Jesus is talking about money. It would be easy to assume that he is simply speaking out of the same tradition that informs the first letter of Timothy which states “the love of money is the root of all evil.” But to do so would be, at the very least a bit too narrow and, at the most, might even be a misunderstanding of Jesus’ teaching.
You see, the word which the NRSV translates as “wealth” is the Greek word “mammon.” And while that’s a perfectly reasonable translation it does not simply mean money. Mammon is a more expansive word than that and is better understood as “possessions.” Or as I like to put, stuff. Mammon is the stuff of life. It is what we accumulate and hold onto. But even more than that, mammon can be understood not simply as what we accumulate, but what we value. It is the stuff we place emotional attachment to. It is the objects of our desire and devotion.
As an example, who here does not have beloved possessions from one’s life. It may be photographs, or mementos. It may be your collection of hallmark ornaments, or your mother’s china set. But it also can be those things we put our trust in for our security and well-being. It may be our home, or our investments.
All of that is mammon. All of that is wealth.
Much like a couple of weeks ago, Jesus is calling us to come to grips with the reality of a life in and with God. Jesus again is calling us to the practice of non-attachment.
Remember that non-attachment is the recognition that everything in this life, no matter how permanent it may seem, is transient. It is the acknowledgment that nothing lasts forever. When we practice non-attachment, we stop treating the people and the things in our lives as suitable substitutes for God and instead recognize them for what they are: temporary manifestations of God’s grace in this world.
Today he makes that point abundantly clear when he says that we cannot serve two masters.
You see, the fundamental problem with being attached to the stuff of life, even when it is simply an emotional attachment is that we begin to assume that those things will give us the abiding sense of peace, love, and joy we so deeply desire. We assume that in taking comfort in the stuff we’ve surrounded ourselves with we will have a sense of permanence and well-being. And, to be honest, on some level it works. That is, until there is loss or pain that transcends the ability of any object to comfort.
But the trap of attachment to the stuff of life is even more insidious. You see it sets us up to be in conflict with our authentic selves. It undermines our ability to move through life with an open hand rather than a tightly gripped fist. It blocks out our ability to be open to the deeper meaning of existence and to the radical presence of the Divine.
How many of us have heard Jesus’ teaching about giving up our possessions only to find ourselves uncomfortable or discomforted? How many of us have struggled to choose between our love of God and our love of the stuff of our lives?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that what we have is bad in and of itself. No, this is more a question of what place it holds in our hearts and minds. It is a question of whether we are driven by our love of God or are driven by our love the stuff of life and what we believe it can give us.
No, Jesus words today do not say you cannot have the stuff of life and God. It specifically says you cannot “serve” God and the stuff of life. This is a call to non-attachment. It is a recognition that when we trust in our stuff rather than in God we are missing the opportunity to having a living experience of God in our lives.
Matter is not the enemy, materialism is.
How might we embrace the teaching we find today? How might we move from being attached to the stuff of life and instead put our relationship with God at the forefront?
It won’t be easy if we have been attached for a long time. We will have to figure out how to let go of the inherent value we place on something and recognize it for what it is: a thing, nothing more and nothing less. We will need to be willing to give some things up and put others in their place. In the end we will need to shift our attachment to God. Not simply our image of God, but the truth of who God is: the source of all things and the ground of our being.
Imagine what our lives might be like if we could do such a radical thing. Imagine the impact it would have on our relationships. Imagine what the impact might be on society and our world. It would, beloved, be nothing less than the kingdom Jesus proclaimed. It would be nothing short of heaven on earth.