Fr Jack SJ MD: mammon is NOT a proper name: Homily for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Am 8:4-7

Ps 113

1 Tm 2:1-8

Lk 16:1-13

The parable of the dishonest steward is a challenge to scripture scholars, preachers, and all those who hear this gospel proclaimed at Mass. It seems to fly in the face of the dishonesty that God will not forget as described in the first reading.

After being summoned for squandering and mismanaging his master’s resources, but before being fired, the steward quickly forgave portions of the debts owed to the master. By doing so he assured that those who owed the master would be grateful to the soon-to-be-ex-steward when he was unemployed. A shrewd quid pro quo. He would be a very successful politician in the U.S. today, especially where Big Pharma is concerned.

The confusion begins when we ask if Jesus is condoning dishonesty when he says, “And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.” He is not condoning dishonesty. He is making an observation on human nature, a nature that hasn't changed or improved in millennia, a nature that is unlikely to change or improve over the next several millennia, assuming humans last that long. But there is something to admire in the cleverness of the dishonest steward’s scheme, a cleverness that did not pass unnoticed by Jesus.

Like the despised Ancient Near East tax-collectors stewards would bill more than the individual owed to the master. They would keep the overbilled amount for themselves,

not unlike the dishonesty described in the first reading. Merchants would overcharge

or reduce the amount of product despite maintaining the same price. Things haven’t changed. Once again, the relationship to today’s Big Pharma cannot help but be noticed

I stumbled across a cartoon on FB that is a good illustration of the technique: “I paid a dollar for a bag of air. The seller kindly included a few potato chips with it.” But, the reality isn’t always amusing when we see the leap that medications prices have undergone that coincides with the appallingly expensive TV commercials shilling Jardiance or even medications for diseases that are considered rare such as myasthenia gravis.

When the steward instructed those who owed the master to reduce the amount on the promissory note he was changing the bill to reflect what they actually owed without his take added on. He wasn’t going to get his take through the usual channels so he was now putting those he had been ripping off into his debt, making himself appear noble and worthy of their gratitude in their eyes when, in fact, he was being even more dishonest. Truly a skilled politician. “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Only in theology school did I learn that mammon is not a proper name, it is not capitalized, is not a synonym for Satan, and does not necessarily mean money. Mammon derives from ancient Chaldean with its root in the word for confidence or trust. Thus we can ask, “In what do you have confidence?” “Where do you place your trust?” Do you serve and trust God—capital G or god—small g. The small g god may be money, power, prestige, drugs, alcohol, one’s own self, or any of a number of other idols.

We cannot serve the true God and any of a number of false gods of our own choosing simultaneously. The choice is black and white. The stakes are high when one considers that the price is the loss of our own selves.

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Walden Pond is nearby depending on the traffic. I did not take these this weekend but on a visit a few years ago.