Faith Daily | 6 November 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST

God our Father,

whose will it is to bring all things

to order and unity in our Lord Jesus Christ:

may all the peoples of the world,

now divided and torn apart by sin,

be brought together under his sovereign rule of love;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 16: 9-15

9And 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. 10“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” 14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. 15So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Alan Dann

It is curious that I, a retired Chartered Accountant, should score this passage which is a continuance of Our Lord’s story of the rich man, the Master, hiring a manager (in some translations an accountant) who turned out to be thoroughly dishonest.

He went about making friends on earth by seeming to be a good guy – handing out discounts that were not his to give. Was he making friends in his earthly surroundings? Well perhaps he was.

Was he making friends with his Master – well, certainly not.

The master’s commendation of the shrewdness of the manager is thought to be a touch of sarcasm because the manager is using the Master’s resources by ingratiating himself to his cronies and not being truthful to his Master.

Jesus teaches that it is not possible to serve both the love of money and the love of God (the Master). It is fine to accumulate earthly resources provided, in doing so, we never lose sight of the fact that these resources are really the Master’s and should be “shrewdly” used in upholding God’s word and furthering the spread of God’s love in our earthly surroundings and in dealing honestly with those around us.

FINAL PRAYER: Jim Cotter “Unfolding the Living Word”

Living God of simplicity,

showing us that we can be fully human

yet possess nothing,

prune us of the securities

with which we surround ourselves,

give us the folly of the Gospel

which errs on the side of generosity,

and encourage us to give more than we receive.

We pray this in the pattern of Jesus

and in the power of the Spirit.

Amen.