Today’s Gospel offers us the parable of the corrupt steward who is fired by his boss for his greed and corruption. I have been ruminating on this parable for the past few weeks, considering its implications for human relationships. Many, if not most, of Jesus’ parables deal with human relationships and, in each of them, Jesus guides his hearers to understand what human relationships are meant to look like in the Kingdom he was announcing.

Jesus’ relationship to his Father was foundational to everything Jesus spoke and did. I and the Father are one. His mission was to establish God’s Kingdom. The “Original” unity, tranquility, peace, and the familiar God and human relationship were ruptured by sin. The Son, who had taken on our humanity, was the personification of that Kingdom. For three years, he gathered close followers, preached a vision of the Kingdom, healed thousands who were blind, lame, deaf, or seeking new meaning and hope, and he raised the dead. These were the manifestations of the Kingdom: wholeness, peace, community, forgiveness, mercy, and hope.

He was clear about what human relationships would manifest in the Kingdom. Blessed are peacemakers, Blessed are those who seek justice; Blessed are the merciful; Blessed are the pure of heart. They are to feed the hungry; clothe the naked; give drink to the thirsty; welcome the stranger; visit the imprisoned.

On the night before he died, Jesus gave his closest followers a pretty strong command. This is my Body broken for you; This is my Blood poured out for you. Do this in memory of me. Human relationships in the Kingdom will demand that those who follow Jesus, in imitation of him, will be those who empty themselves in the service of others, especially those most in need of love and support.

Let Us Pray:

Creator God, you, your Son, and your Spirit are the model for human community and love. Jesus was incarnated to teach us and to model for us what the human community could be. But sin, in all its manifestations, continues to alienate us from one another. Send your Spirit into our hearts and into our world with an overflowing abundance of your grace that we might be converted to mercy, love, forgiveness, and a deep love for the poor and for the strangers in our midst. Amen.