Jesus Wants Our Undivided Hearts
“No one can serve two masters.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t give a third option. There are only two paths in life, the one that leads to God, or the one that leads away from Him. In other words, we can’t sit on the fence. Either we live for ourselves, or we live for God. If we live selfishly, we contribute to the culture of selfishness. But if we live for God, we help build up His Kingdom of justice and love – the eternal Kingdom. Those who try to stay neutral are just fooling themselves.
Jesus reminds us that we don’t make this choice just once. Every day, in “small matters” and “great ones”, God gives us chances to exercise our love for Him, or our love for self. The life of a Christian is an ongoing series of decisions that will either reinforce or undermine our call to follow Jesus. He even warns us that we’re just like the steward in the parable—we’ve all squandered the gifts God has given us. But right now, we have a golden opportunity to put our lives at the service of God’s Kingdom, instead of at the service of self.
This Life Is a Rehearsal for Eternal Life
Sometimes we’re irresponsible stewards be-cause we forget what’s really at stake. We become seduced by daily pleasures and problems and forget that this life is only a rehearsal for eternal life. Here is an example of one saint who had the right perspective.
St Ida was Charlemagne’s granddaughter, and the lessons of the Christian faith took deep root in her soul while she was still a child. Eventually, she married, but after her husband died she dedicated her time and the proceeds from her estate to serve the poor. This was a remark-able dedication when you compare it to the way the other members of the royal court lived. They were constantly surrounded by temptations to power, wealth, and pleasure, and most of them gave in sooner or later. So how was Ida able to resist? Like the crafty steward in the parable, she used her wits. Every day she would fill up a coffin with food and distribute it to the poor. By doing this, she was not only serving her neighbor, but also reminding her-self of her eventual death. She knew that the glamour of life in the royal court could easily blind her to the truly important things of life. Like a wise steward, she did what she had to do to make sure she kept her eyes God.
Being Wise Stewards of God’s Many Gifts
Jesus reminds us today to be wise stewards of the gifts He’s given us. As such, there are three commodities that we are supposed to manage with care: Time, Talent and Treasure.
Time – How much time do you give to Jesus and His Kingdom? We all give Him some of our time; that’s why we’re here today. But could we give Him more? It might be a matter of dedicating more time to serving Jesus and the Church, or it might be a matter of just adding some more prayers to our drive to work.
Talent – Our talents have been given to us by God, and we are called to invest them in loving God and our neighbor. It might be as simple as joining the choir or teaching in our religious education department. Prayerfully consider it!
Treasure – As Catholics, we are obligated to give financial support to the Church, each one according to his means. There is a longstanding tradition in Christianity of tithing. That means giving ten percent to the Church. If you aren’t tithing, maybe you should ask yourself why not. Do you think it would be a bad investment? Of course not! What do you think the wise steward would say about this?
Today, Jesus will give us all His time, talent and treasure in Holy Communion; He will hold nothing back. And because He will offer Himself completely to us, He asks us to do the same for Him. In the end, it will be a lot better than trying to serve two masters.