25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

When I first started drinking coffee in high school, the choices were simple. I could drink my coffee black, with cream and/or sugar.  Now if I go to a coffee house, I have to choose between a light, dark or medium roast.  I can choose between half and half, 2%, skim, soy or almond milk.  I can choose between white or raw sugar or something in a blue, yellow or pink packet.  

When I ate Cheerios® as a child, there was just one kind.  Today General Mills makes 16 types of Cheerios®, including original, honey nut, frosted, dark chocolate crunch, multi-grain, ancient grain, banana nut, multi-grain peanut butter, apple cinnamon, and protein cinnamon almond!

We live in a world of an almost dizzying array of choices.  But some choices are very basic:  on or off, light or darkness, life or death.  Today Jesus gives us a fundamental choice: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

The word “mammon” is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew or Aramaic word that refers to something in which one trusts.  In the context of our gospel reading, that thing is material wealth or money.  

There is nothing wrong with money itself.  In fact, we all need some money to pay for the things we need:  food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, transportation, education, etc.  We hold parish festivals and have collections during Mass to raise money that we need to pay our church bills and to help others in need.   Most of us would not mind having a little more money!  

The problem is when money, wealth, and material things become idols and preoccupations.  They can turn us away from God and away from others.   In our first reading, God speaks through the prophet Amos to condemn the people of Israel for their systematic exploitation of the poor and needy.  They fix their scales to cheat the vulnerable and maximize their profits.  They take advantage of people so desperate for a loan that they use their clothing as collateral.  They sell substandard food.  God is harsh and unrelenting in his condemnation of such injustice. “Never,” he says, “will I forget a thing they have done.”

Having power, including the power that comes with wealth, is not a bad thing.  It all depends on how we use that power.  As St. Paul tells Timothy in our second reading, God wants everyone to be saved and to know the truth of the gospel and the loving sacrifice of Jesus.  That’s why he urges the church to pray for everyone, including rulers and others in authority.  Today we still include government and church leaders in our Prayers of the Faithful at Mass.

Whom or what do we love and serve?  Is it God or something or someone else?  
The choice is ours, and the consequences are eternal.  +