Saturday – St Martin of Tours

Gospel – Luke 16:9-15

Money Can’t Buy Me Love

Open Market, Old City of Jerusalem

One day a very wealthy father took his son on a trip to the country for the sole purpose of showing his son how it was to be poor. They spent a few days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.  After their return from the trip, the father asked his son how he liked the trip. “It was great, Dad,” the son replied. “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Oh Yeah,” said the son.

“So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father. The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.  We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them. The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “It showed me just how poor we really are.

There is one phrase in today’s Gospel that really stands out for me:  “You cannot serve God and mammon.”  Mammon is literally ‘wealth’ but it’s wealth taken to the extreme, to the point where money is all that matters.  And as life goes on, it can lead to selfishness, greed, envy, dishonesty and even violence.  In and of itself, wealth is not inherently evil but it can mess up our priorities and make us forget what is truly important, what is truly life-giving.

The lesson here is about choice!  We cannot serve two masters.  Do we fool ourselves into thinking that all the little things in this world matter the most?  Or do we choose to serve God?  Do we realize that, in serving God, we place a higher value on the virtues of love, human dignity, honesty, and truthfulness?  Do we recognize that all the things in this world come from Him and that they are merely tools and not ends in themselves? 

Yes, I do need that $5 bill to get my grande mocha for the day. But maybe the tip I leave for the barrista who is struggling to make ends meet speaks more of what’s really important in our lives as Christians – love of God and love of neighbor!

 

 

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