23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (C-) September 4, 2022 Fr. John C. Garrett
OK, let’s start this homily off a bit differently. To yourself, fill in the blank, “The topic of money makes me feel ____?” Perhaps stressed because not fully understanding what’s going on with the economy. Anxious, wishing we had more. Guilty because we know we can be a bit of a spender. Ashamed when we consider how much we have compared to so many others have so little. Or on the other hand, jealous because there are people have so much more than we do. Confused because we get so many requests from different charities and we don’t know which to support. Inadequate because we have not managed my money well in the past. Finally, annoyed because it is nobody’s business how we feel about money. Notice how none of these emotions that people commonly have concerning money are positive. Then of course when you bring the topic up in Church, that’s just like throwing gasoline on the fire. Most of us have not had good experiences hearing about money in Church, engendering even more negative emotions, like annoyance and anger. Often fundraising appeals rely on guilt, and the sum total of the church’s message on money can come across: we need more. Today we are launching a brand new message series called “Right on the Money.” All those negative emotions about money, all those negative experiences about money in church are exactly why most pastors actually don’t want to talk about money at all, myself included, but that is wrong. It is wrong because Jesus said a great deal about money and possessions. He had more to say about money than he said about religion, the Church, Heaven and Hell, marriage and family life. He had more to say about money than any other topic. Besides which, in parable after parable he uses money to illustrate his point…as we’ll see in a moment. Jesus talked about money because he knows how much stress and tension it can cause in our lives and in our relationships. He knows how easily worry and concern for it dominates our thoughts and directs our lives, and how love for it can hold our hearts. Everything Jesus teaches about money is for our benefit and welfare. So Jesus taught about money, but he never asked anyone for any. That’s because, when it comes to your finances, Jesus doesn’t want something from you; he wants something for you. So as we begin this series it is important for me to emphasize that there is no “ask” coming at the end of this series. We are not launching a capital campaign or an increase offertory program, so relax. The focus of this series is about helping us get our money right, because how we handle money and how we follow Jesus go hand in hand. Today we are going to look at the key principle to getting money right. Everything else Jesus teaches about money flows from this key principle. We are going to discover it by looking at a passage from the Gospel of St. Luke. Jesus drew large crowds and at one point he said to them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25-27). Jesus challenges the crowd by saying it is one thing to just listen to his teaching and preaching, but it is another thing to step up and make a commitment. Jesus calls people to a higher level, one called discipleship. A disciple is simply a student of Jesus Christ. A disciple gets to know the Lord in a personal way, talking to him daily and centering more and more of their lives on his teaching. There are conditions or requirements for discipleship. The first is that we have to hate our families. By hate Jesus does not mean an intense emotion of anger or malice. In that culture, to hate could mean to put in second place. Jesus is saying if we want to be his disciple we need to put our relationship with him in first place even above our family. Jesus continues, “Whoever does not carry his own cross cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). Today the cross is a symbol of our Faith, maybe even consolation. In Jesus’ day the cross was a symbol of suffering and death. If we want to be a disciple, we are going to have to sacrifice and maybe even suffer. People naturally have themselves as the center of their lives. Disciples have Christ as the center of their lives. Jesus then uses one of those money illustrations we mentioned; “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for completion?” (Luke 14:28) Jesus says there is a cost to following him and we should calculate the cost. Jesus is saying if we just want to be in the crowd, just come to church because we like the music, listen to the message, that won’t cost us anything. But if we want to be his disciple there’s a cost to that. What’s the cost? If we get this one thing right, we will get our finances right. Are you ready for it? “In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). We should hear the word renounce the same way Jesus intended us to hear the word hate. Make money and the stuff money buys, at best second to a relationship with Jesus Christ. See our money, how we earn it, have it, hold it, use it as an expression of following Christ. Jesus wants his friends and followers to live in the tension between needing money and growing as his disciple. He also wants us to learn to use money as a tool to love God, love others and make disciples. There is a cost to following Jesus’ teachings on money but there are benefits as well. That’s what we’ll be looking at in this series. When focused on following Jesus instead of money we don’t have time for the comparison trap that makes us jealous of what other people have. When focused on following Jesus instead of money we don’t have to feel guilty about money because Jesus leads us out of guilt. When focused on following Jesus instead of money we don’t have to worry about money, because he teaches us that worry is useless and prayer is powerful. When focused on following Jesus instead of money we are not a spend-thrift or a tight wad, we are not a consumer or a saver, we are not rich or poor, we are not defined by our money, rather we are defined by your relationship with Jesus Christ. This week for your homework, take some quiet time to consider what is the number one negative emotion you experience when it comes to money? Stress? Guilt? Jealousy? Worry? Be honest. Start thinking about how it feels and how it would feel not to feel that emotion. Second, commit to coming each weekend of this series.