Fr. Paul ANIGBORO

The parable in our Gospel reading of today reminds us of the fact that we are merely stewards of everything we consider to belong to us. As Job would remind us: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return” (Job 1:21). Since we came to this world naked, empty, senseless and fragile, it would amount to mere foolishness for us to assume that anything belongs to us.

Like stewards put in charge of riches belonging to another person, we are just account managers and we must relinquish all that we presently control one day; a day we do not know.

Therefore, as Stewards, we can never hide anything from God. We recall that Joseph was a steward in Potiphar’s house and due to his diligence coupled with God’s blessing, Potiphar’s wealth increased exponentially (Genesis 39:2-6).

Till this day, wealthy people usually employ others to manage their funds. The truth is that having entrusted your wealth to others, it is very possible to be cheated without knowing it. As we see in this parable, a report was brought to the Master that the steward was wasting his goods. As much as humans can be deceived, God cannot be deceived. We can never hide anything from Him.

The steward was praised not for his dishonesty but for his Proactiveness. Now, we come to the crux of the matter. The master praised the steward not because of what he did, but because of his prudence. The steward upon realizing when the books would be opened, there was just no way he would retain his job acted ahead. He thought carefully about what to do and decided to use his master’s money (the debt others were owing) to do charity by reducing this debt. At face value, even this action of the steward appears unlawful in that you are not supposed to do charity with money that does not belong to you. But come to think of it, is there really anything that belongs to us? Since we came naked to this world, can we claim ownership of anything?

In other words, Jesus is teaching us first to think carefully like this steward of what shall become of us after our death (when we are relieved of our stewardship) and secondly, to use “what does not belong to us now” to be charitable to others so that like this steward, we would be welcomed into Paradise.

Our first reading points to us the evil of Social Injustice; how do we treat the Poor. Just like Jesus says to us, “he who is faithful in very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If you then have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what is not yours, who will give you what is yours?” Our first reading is a perfect description of this unfaithfulness that Jesus is talking about. Amos tells persons who, having made a god of riches, connive to dupe people by distorting the scales thereby selling the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.

We are unfaithful stewards when we tell lies to make money, when we cheat our customers, when we sell fake products even for higher the price of genuine products. We are unfaithful stewards when we treat the poor and needy as though they do not exist.

In a society like ours where government officials are the highest paid in the world compared to their counterparts, a society where senators and house of representative members are paid sitting allowances, wardrobe allowances, stress allowances, sleeping allowances where billions of naira are approved for official vehicles every four years.

God speaking through Amos today says: “Surely, I will never forget any of their deeds.” As leaders in whatever capacity we find ourselves, let us always think of the poor; not just the beggars in the street, but those who, no matter how hard they work or their educational attainment cannot rise above a certain level of poverty.

Let us Pray for our Leaders just like St. Paul writing to Timothy encourages us to always pray for our leaders. In truth, “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” We do a great evil when we only criticize our leaders (pointing out their errors) without taking our time to pray for them.

Have a splendid Sunday. God loves you.