Luke 16:9-18
Let’s continue to remember to pray for Jim and Marty – Debbie and Julie too (coming home Wednesday)!
“Notice what you notice.” “…unrighteous mammon…” (vv. 9, 11) is a confusing construction. The ESV notes say that the Greek word is “mammon”, which means money or possessions and is translated as money in verse 13. The word “unrighteous” seems a bit harsh. Seems like a better translation would be “worldly wealth”. Either way, Jesus does not in any way condemn worldly wealth, but advises us on how best to use it – make friends, but don’t let your quest for money replace your service to God.
Luke writes in verse 14 that the Pharisees were lovers of money and ridiculed Jesus for his treatment of “worldly wealth”. Every one of us has a bit of Pharisee in our hearts. We may not have a major focus on our wealth, but we would rather have more money than less money. And money problems for a single person or a family can lead to a whole host of other problems. I think Jesus is saying that it’s all a matter of perspective – how hard we seek it and what we do with it when we have it. We don’t talk much about money from the pulpit at St. Andrew’s. Our standard is the Biblical tithe and most people understand that. We give generously, especially to needy causes (note our recent experiences with the Odubenas) and typically leave our budget in surplus most years. But even with our generosity, at Vestry meetings we are regularly talking about other things that we would like to do if we had a larger budget. It’s hard to get away from a “love of money”, even when your heart is “right”.
Slava Bohu!