Homily Eighteenth SUNDAY OF YEAR C
Using our Wealth Wisely and
Responsibly
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
· Eccl 1:2;2:21-23;
· Ps 90:3-6,12-13;
· Col 3:1-5,9-11;
· Luke 12:13-21
Last Sunday Jesus
taught us how to pray. Today he teaches us how to use what we have wisely; not
allowing material things to run or rule our life. This could be very
challenging in a time and century that materialism seems to have eaten deep
into the fabric of our society. I am very sure; today in order to win an
election or be elected into public office in most countries you need tons of
money. You need a lot of money to go to college. Some marriages, and who we
love or relate with are also determined by material assets. Even social status
at social gatherings are getting to be measured by what we wear or the type of
car or jet we travel on, or expensive homes we live in.
These may not be
evil in themselves, but how we use them. Setting our priorities right. We
want to use our wealth and gifts wisely for the greater glory of God. This is
the message that comes through in today’s scriptural readings beginning with
the gospel parable of the “rich fool,” (Luke 12:13-21).
Here Jesus
is busy teaching us about the Kingdom and someone who made his way from the
crowd and reached out to Jesus with a request; “Tell my brother to share the
inheritance with me.” On the surface there seems to be no direct antecedent to
this problem. Looking at it closely there is no surprise. In the
beginning of his ministry in Luke 4 Jesus made it clear that he came for the
sick, the poor and the oppressed. In chapter 6 he preached a sermon that,
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God....,"
similar to that of the mountain in Matthew 5. Others are the stories of the Prodigal
Son in chapter 15, the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16, the Tax Collector in
chapter 18, and of Zacchaeus in chapter 19. Clearly the Lukan Jesus has a
great concern for the poor! They were top on his list.
Or, in
addition, could it be that the questioner presumed or indirectly acknowledged
the divine knowledge of Jesus. He is omniscience. He knows everything,
everyone, every family. Jesus knows there are two or three brothers or sisters
out there fighting over property, money or material things.
His response to
the questioner is divine, wise and holy. He says to the person, “Friend who
appointed me a judge or an arbitrator” over you. Jesus called the person
“friend.” He warned the crowd against creed. Jesus came to reconcile us to
friendship with God and to each other. Greed and selfishness should not be the
priorities of his followers.
Jesus wisely
expanded on his response by using this parable of the rich fool, who stored up
plenty food and material stuff in his store with the hope that a time will come
when his soul would be idle, doing nothing, except making merriment with his
accumulated goods. The treasurer here is not wise, but a foolish and greedy
because, she or he wouldn’t even live to enjoy the things ignorantly and
selfishly treasured.
The message of
Jesus, is meant to remind us that material possessions do not give full meaning
to life. God is the one that give life meaning. What matters most is not
material or earthly treasures but spiritual and heavenly treasure. St. Paul
calls these spiritual treasures, “things that are above.” He says,
“Brothers and sisters, “if you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think what is above, not what
is on earth” (Col 3:1-5, 9-11).
And put
differently, the preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes says “all things are
vanity.” Labor without God is vanity. Money, cars, houses, clothing, property,
material treasures without God are all in vain.
This is in line
with the visions of our recent Popes, (Benedict XVI and Francis) which I always
admire. Pope Francis stresses the need to reach out to the poor everywhere, the
needy, the downtrodden, those in prisons, and in the slums, the homeless, and
of course, modesty in our life style. We saw this in his recent ministry in
Brazil, during the 28th World Youth Day. Benedict on the other hand, from
the beginning of his Petrine Ministry challenged what he called “dictatorship
of relativism.” Close to these two visions is “dictatorship of materialism;”
allowing material things and greed to run and detect how we live our life.
We must not allow
our shoes to wear us. But we ought to wear our shoes. We must not allow our
dresses and shirts to wear us. But we wear our dresses and shirts. Our cars
don’t drive us, but we drive our cars, we use our cell phones, we use our
money, we drink those drinks, those drinks must not drink us. We eat those
foods, those foods don’t eat us! In other words, our material things must be
used wisely and responsibly for the common good; for the good of the community,
and for the greater glory of God. We must set our priorities right, our
choices!
The
"we" include even the G-8, richer nations and individuals to
ponder as to the best way to treasure the goods of the world economy. Is it
better to open up the global economic market to every nation, and encourage
global participation, or to keep, monopolize the treasure tightly and closely
for fewer nations? In the so called Third-World” countries where the percentage
of poverty is rising, is it better for rich individuals in those countries to
keep their wealth and (billions) in their countries for their well-being, or to
treasure them selfishly or greedily in foreign banks, like the rich person in
today's gospel?
The other day I
stopped-by our food pantry, the outreach. I admired the wonderful work they do.
I discovered how generous you are in sharing your food, clothing, books, house
items, and things you don’t really need with our less privileged brothers and
sisters. God will continue to bless you. By doing this, you are wiser than the
foolish person in today’s gospel.
Our prayer is that
the Lord may continue to bless every nation and everyone, and we may use wisely
and generously every gifts that God has blessed us with.
Reflection
Questions
1.
What have we learned from today’s scripture passages?
2.
How often do we use our wealth wisely?
3.
How often do we extend our hands of charity to our neighbors especially the
poor and those on the margins of the society?
Eighteenth Sunday of Year C
The Meaning of Life is found in Sharing
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
§ Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23
§ Ps 90:3-4, 5-6,12-13
§ Col 3: 1-5,9-11
§ Luke 12:13-21
When we were
growing up as teenagers we had different nick names….. A good friend of mine
took “Experience” as his nick name. And often when asked why he did that, he
said, he liked it, particularly, because of the common expression: “experience
is the best teacher.” Experience about what, one may ask? I guess about life as
a whole. The common theme of today’s reading is built around life
experiences of a 3rd century BC, anonymous preacher and teacher
known as Koholeth, or Ecclesiastes, today’s 1st reading.
Koheleth lived
among his brothers and sisters, his contemporaries, who were so greedy,
pessimistic, selfish, and attached to material wealth, possessions, power,
career, human recognition, earthly things, and fame. Based on his experience
the preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes, is convinced that life is found in
sharing with our needy neighbors all the blessings that God has blessed each of
us with: time, treasure and talents (TTT).
For him,
greedy acquisition of material things is useless after death. Qoholeth uses the
familiar expression “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” In his ancient
languages, Hebrew and Greek this sounds like Hevel hevelim, hakol hevel
or matoiotēs matoiotētōn… translated as emptiness, nothingness,
futility, breathe, perishable, void, transitory etc. For “what profit comes to
a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under
the sun?” he asked. Material things, earthly things that we have will
pass away. We can only preserve them spiritually, heavenly, if we use it well
to love God and our neighbors. Without God all that we have is useless.
Similarly, Saint
Paul, in the 2nd reading, while speaking to the Colossians church,
who were also anxious for material things, re-directs their attention to Christ
and things that are above, heavenly and spiritual. Paul says, “Put to death,
then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire and the greed that is idolatry.”
In the Gospel
parable of the foolish rich, man (Luke 12:13-21) who thought he would not die
soon, Christ warns us against all types of greed and possessiveness to fame,
honor and material things. Of course, all these sound familiar to us today.
They sound counter cultural to the way we live today and what we like most
today in place of God: money, fame, material things, those passion spoken of by
Saint Paul in the 2nd reading, and attachment to human recognition.
What are your idolatrous greed?
Many of us have
witnessed wealthy, beautiful and handsome celebrities and famous people come
and go. Needless of naming names here...! What matters most is how they lived
their lives and shared their wealth and talents. Talents or wealth here is not
limited to finance. Even though we may be financially poor, some of us
may be rich with good smiles, sense of humor, intelligence, gift of
counselling, ability to encourage, empower, appreciate, uplift and support
others. Christ invites us today to control our various forms of greed: inordinate
search for others approval, recognition, excessive eating, drinking, gambling
habits, playing (pokemon) excessively, control of others, power and
materialism. He invites us today to look heavenly and be always generous in
sharing our blessings and life with our neighbors, since life is too short, and
all is vanity! An unshared life is not worth living!
Reflection
Questions
1.
What have we learned from today’s scripture passages?
2.
How often do we use our wealth wisely?
3.
How often do we extend our hands of charity to our
neighbors especially the poor and those on the margins of the society?
