Daily Office Readings for Thursday of Proper 3: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 37:1 to 18; Evening, Psalm 37:19 to 42;
Deuteronomy 4:32 to 40; 2nd Corinthians 3:1 to 18; Luke 16:1 to 9:
“And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” (Luke 16: 9)
I’ll be honest, this Luke reading is not one I wanted to tackle, I would much rather take the cowardly way out and go to an easier reading. But I decided to take it on anyway.
After prayer concerning this Luke reading I have pondered, or reasoned that this lesson is about putting people before profit. There are some business practices that sometimes have to be relaxed in order to help those in real need. It is perhaps better to just let a customer have some bread and milk rather than refuse them because of their lack of money. Compassion for the needs of those who are in need but do not have our manmade money, secures us an eternal home for us with God, God who made us before we ever thought about creating money.
It may be that this shrewd manager only reduced the debtor’s bills by what his take was in the dealings with the rich owner’s customers. Desperation made him rethink his priorities. This Luke writing teaches that when we betray some standard business practices regarding profit in order to help the poor, we put away something for ourselves more valuable than money. We store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. There are times when each of us will appreciate a hand up, rather than a hand out. While profit is fine, people are the priority as far as God is concerned, and so it should be for us as well.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 