Thought for the week - 21 September 2025

When I set out to write a sermon, I tend to go through the same few moves. First I check, for sure, what the readings of the day will be. And double check if the service, like today, is going to be slightly different, today also being our harvest festival. Then I read the readings to see what message leaps out at me. And then, because I don’t have the level of experience that someone like Fr Andrew has, I read a few commentaries or chapters/articles about the readings, usually the gospel. And I go from there. I pray, of course, frequently – asking God to guide which way I am to go. And a number of times I have gone off on one route only to get a sense that I need to do an about face.

Now I have been constructively advised, occasionally, about trying to cram too much into a sermon and that I need to remember that less is more. So, not to try and get through the entire gospel reading with explanations or clarifications, but just to focus on one or two points and look at them deeper. But this one……..well, I guess the standout teaching from today’s gospel, at least at the end, is materialism. No-one can serve two masters; you cannot serve God and money. But the parable Jesus tells, the shrewd manager, has by some been labelled one of the most confusing of the parables. Jesus tells it, we are told, to His disciples, His followers, and therefore, also to us – we, too, being His followers.

At first glance, I wondered why did the master commend the manager for apparently reducing the debts of the debtors? And I read commentaries which suggested that the manager was feathering his bed, so to speak, so that when he was jobless, at least the debtors will remember that he reduced their debts and would therefore look favourably upon him. And the apparent praise from the master? Jesus is saying that building relationships for future security is far better than building wealth. Even if building those relationships is done by less than honest means. Seems strange, coming from Jesus, but OK, good solid relationships will help us in this life and will also endure into life eternal. Fine. I get that, I thought. As the saying goes, about money, wealth ‘you can’t take it with you….’

Then I came across another source which reckoned that this parable was perhaps one of the most confusing of Jesus’ parables. We need to know that in Luke’s time of writing, the manager was effectively an extension of the master. Whatever the manager did reflected upon the master. So, was the manager doing his master a favour? Was the master charging hidden ‘interest’ on the loans and the manager was taking off this interest making the master seem as honest as the day is long? Or was the manager deducting hidden interest that he himself had added to the debts without his master’s knowledge? Maybe the manager was deducting some of the original debts as a way of getting back at the master for sacking him. We don’t know for sure what the back story here is. But what we do know is that the master commended the manager for acting shrewdly. Understandable if the manager acted to cover up the master’s dishonesty; not understandable if the manager was doing the master out of some of his rightful debt. We just don’t know for sure, but I guess that is the beauty of Biblical hermeneutics – each one of us will interpret the same piece of scripture differently according to our lives, history, personality etc.

But then Jesus goes on to explain that if you can’t be trustworthy with temporary, earthly wealth, why would God entrust you with eternal riches? If you can’t be faithful with what belongs to another, why would God give you your own? God demands exclusive trust. You can’t worship God on Sunday and then live for money, power, or pride the rest of the week. And it money that so often trips us up. I read during my research for this sermon, that in older translations the word ‘mammon’ was used regularly to denote wealth, money etc. According to a New Testament scholar the words for ‘faithful,’ ‘entrust,’ and ‘true’ in Hebrew and Aramaic all derive from the same root as ‘mammon’ – a word that means ‘that in which one places trust’ and is derived from ‘amen.’ So, Jesus is playing with words in the native language of his hearers. We may think of mammon as evil money, but it’s really whatever you trust when you aren’t trusting God. And here is, I think, where the main message comes in. We

should not put our trust in the wrong things. Wealth, status, stuff may make us feel good in this world, but they won’t do us any good when God’s Kingdom is fulfilled and Christ comes in glory.

I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to amassing ‘stuff’. I live in a reasonably sized house up near Anchorsholme Park, have been there 40 years now. I live alone with a cat, separated from my husband more than 20 years ago and my son flew the nest years back. And to be honest, I do not know how two other human beings fit into that house with me. I have exploded into it and have barely enough room for my own ‘stuff’ now. And oh, so much of it hasn’t been used, worn, read for years but I simply cannot get rid, can’t declutter. But what good will it all do me come the day of God’s Kingdom? Am I trying to serve two masters? God and my stuff?

I heard a Catholic Priest preach recently about detachment. He said it is very important to have a light hold on the things of this world, if we are to have a spiritual life. But in addition to that, detachment brings not only a peace of mind, but also a kind of freedom in letting go. We should ask ourselves if we are hanging on this or that ‘stuff’, because it fulfils some worldly pleasure which only lasts for a moment (in the grand scheme of things), or are we attracted to whatever it is because it is a thing of God, helping to grow our spiritual lives? We should let go of the things, and not just physical things, which risk becoming a god to us (small g), things that we tend to worship – because we are commanded in the first of the Ten Commandments -You shall have no other gods before me.

Money can so easily replace God in our lives. It can become our master. If we get too hung up on money, our possessions, then that is a distraction away from God. Money is, indeed, a hard and deceptive master; wealth promises power and control but to paraphrase a Beatle song ‘money can’t buy me happiness’ We may think that when we can buy what we want, that lovely new coat, that bigger car, the most up to date phone, that we will be happy. But are we truly, truly happy? And if we are, it is fleeting, until the next new fashion coat hits the shops, or Apple/Samsung or whoever releases the next phone upgrade. We should focus on eternity, look towards God for our happiness, sustenance. Let Him be our Master, so we can look towards peace of mind and security both now and into the life to come. But it is hard. Believe me, I know. Case in point, what I said earlier – I have way too much stuff that I kind of covet and cannot give away.

So let’s not be slaves to two masters. That simply won’t work. Let’s not let money rule our lives, as Jesus teaches. We cannot serve both God and money. God is our Father, He will provide. We must have faith that He will; we must have belief in His goodness. And that involves prayer – we cannot let go of our materialism on our own, we cannot declutter our lives, our hearts without His help. We pray for forgiveness, and with that forgiveness, our hearts will heal. The manager in our gospel today was shrewd. Jesus calls His followers to use the same shrewdness, but in a way that reveals heavenly wisdom. We are called to apply shrewdness but for God’s Kingdom, by investing our resources in eternal matters and using what God has given us to ‘make friends’ for eternity, and for supporting causes that align with God’s purposes. Prioritising eternal gains over temporary ones reflects our hearts’ true allegiance and is a response to God’s generosity. Jesus invites us to accept Him as our only Lord and Master, so that we may have eternal life with Him in the Kingdom of God. But He also invites us to live into that kingdom reality here and now with eternity in our sights.