Urgical day: Saturday 31st in Ordinary Time

Today's Gospel (Lk 16:9-15): Jesus said to his disciples, «And so I tell you: use filthy money to make friends for yourselves, so that when it fails, these people may welcome you into the eternal homes. Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling filthy money, who could entrust you with true wealth? And if you have not been trustworthy with things which are not really yours, who will give you the wealth which is your own? No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to Money».

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and sneered at Jesus. He said to them, «You do your best to be considered righteous by people. But God knows the heart, and what rises high among humans is loathed by God».

:confused:What lessons do you see in this gospel lesson?:confused:
:)Peace and kindness,:)
Fred (arcura)

God sees our motivations for doing something. Even when what we do seems good to others, our heart may have ulterior motives, that really are only to benefit ourselves.
The holy spirit will direct our actions, if we choose his will over our own. Even in the seemingly unimportant, or small matters, obeying god will lead to the discipline for more important deeds.
We serve only one master when we reject our own will, and obey god.

There is much in the original language which helps us to understand the lesson.

"Filty lucre" is really a poor translation. It says "of the mammon of unrighteousness" "Mammon" is a word used in the Bible only by Luke. There are riches "of righteousness" i.e.. From God to us. But the riches sought by the world are "of unrighteousness": riches considered by man to be the highest good. But they are false mammon... and will fail us in the end.

The lesson is "don't seek them as highest good nor trust them".

Paul says more of this matter when writing to Timothy:

1 Tim 6:17-19

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
NIV

revdrgade
Very good explanation.
You used on of my favorite bible passages.
I pray that God helps us all be "rich in good deeds."
Peace and kindness,
Fred

The Bible tells us to lay up treasure in Heaven, our treasures on Earth will rot or rust or get eaten by moths or stolen by thieves. We are told that when a man finds a pearl of great price, he will sell all he has and buy that one pearl, or if he finds a treasure hid in a field he will sell what he has and buy that field. Also where our treasure is, there the heart will be also. So we have to examine our hearts and see what our greatest treasures are, to be sure we are working toward the right prize. If we spend undue time laying up earthly stores of riches for ourselves, or say stepping on other people to climb up the ladder of success, we are showing that we can't be trusted with real riches by God.

wildandblue.
Yes, very good.
WORKING to lay up treasures in heaven is the way to go.
Fred