In preparing this reflection, I read the readings a couple of times and then wondered what actually ties these readings together. Perhaps I haven’t have enough coffee, or I can’t see past it.

There is always a good reason the readings are selected together, but todays took some detective work. It was not obvious. Let us begin on this search this morning for meaning.

Paul’s journey in Romans shows a man who is on a mission. A mission given to him serving as a priest to the Gentiles, convincing them to change their pagan ways and sacrifices to follow the light of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul affirms this mission in his bold words, knowledge that each day he must continue to lay new foundations for their future. Our future as it turns out, us being both Christians and Gentiles.

“Those who have never been told of him shall see,
and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”

These words are spoken in the Old Testament, Isaiah, 52:15 ones that foretold of Christian conversion.

“so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.”

We are that nation which was converted as predicted in the Old Testament. So Paul is calling us to join the fold that will be the foundation of our own future. The everlasting kingdom of heaven.

Now we can move the Psalm given the clue we were given in the first reading.

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

Again the power of God is made known to us, we are one of those new nations. The Gentiles that Paul has been traveling amongst. Teaching and showing how important it is for us to follow the way of Christ.

We have cause for rejoicing.

So then we move to the Gospel today. The parable of the rich steward. Wow, this one can be confusing. Firstly it seems that the steward is doing little in the way of looking after the property that would have been under his care during the time of his landlord’s absence.

The role of the steward of this time was to manage those assets of the master and would take a percentage of the interest of loans granted to the debtors in the parable.

He has been reported to the master for squandering his property. Obviously was not doing a good job of “his job”. Something we can relate to; we often see someone doing a job poorly, for a variety of reasons, but it is always disheartening to see that happening, not only are they taking money that is perhaps not earned fully, but they are also unhappy to boot.

In our society with “greed” still drives a lot of decisions, we seem more of this than we would like.

So the steward decides to take some action. He brings down the debt by a considerable amount. And the master congratulates him for it. At first look this seems crazy. So if someone is looking after my money and then cuts the debts from my money it makes no sense.

However, the clue in this story is that the exorbitant interest rates on the debts were initiated by the steward in the first place.

Very high, almost illegal interest rates were not only bad news for the debtor in these times, but they were also against the law in the Old Testament (Exodus 22:24). So by cutting the debts he may have achieved several things.

He started to reform his actions to become more fair and showed he was at least starting to manage the debts in a proper manner; also he was aligning himself with God’s Law by not charging crazy interest rates and also beginning to reform himself.

As the steward only gets paid a percentage of the interest this makes sense, as he would still have had to repay the initial amount borrowed from the master.

So now this starts to make a little more sense doesn’t it? St. Paul is telling us to prepare for the new kingdom of God and so is Luke in this Gospel. Not to treat others badly just so we can have a fine time here in this life, but rather prepare ourselves for the wondrous time ahead for us in heaven at his side.

This is done by being the Children of Light and not the Children of this World. By being Children of Light we also spread the message of God in this world and show others how to forfeit the temporary nature of goods and rewards in this life. What could be more wonderful than the joy we will share soon, in our ultimate communion with Christ in our lives. The sharing of the Eucharist together.