Sermon: A wise person will set his priorities focusing on the long term goals

The readings of this week (: Amos 8: 4–7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2: 1–8; Luke 16: 1–13) do caution us that we must be efficient in our use of this world’s goods and be dedicated to the life of the spirit if we are going to prevail and persevere. This is more articulated in the gospel. The first two readings remind us that God cannot remain indifferent to this world, he is not only concerned, but he judges us as well on the basis of our behavior here and now. The story Jesus tells in Luke 16: 1-13, of the shrewd but dishonest manager may be difficult at first for us to interpret and draw a lesson from it. But Jesus points to the manager’s capacity to respond urgently to the challenge which comes his way. The same dishonest manager shifts quickly his priorities at the same time maintaining his focus on the longer term goals without ignoring the impact of both his short and medium time priorities. It is this kind of shrewdness that Jesus asks us to consider. There was a certain rich man, who discovered that his steward wasted his property. He asked him to give an account of his stewardship before he sent him away. Quickly, the steward said to himself, I know what I will do, so that when I am put out of the stewardship, my lord’s debtors may receive me in their houses. He called them all and reduced their debts very considerably. The Lord then commends the unjust steward, because of his wits and quick response to the new challenge. Jesus adds on: the sons of this age are in their generation more prudent than the sons of light. Jesus’ point is not that we must imitate this unfaithful steward. But surely we can admire his shrewdness: he is very practical and pragmatic in his dealing with the world in order to minimize his loss. Jesus in fact wonders at how this steward shifts his priorities so quickly and with a long term vision. Challenges are part of our life. We must therefore know how to respond to them quickly. And this capacity is of great value in our life because the whole of man’s history is made of this simple formula: challenge and response; where the challenge is created by the environment and the individual must know how to respond rightly shifting or setting his new priorities. In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People; Stanly Covey is of the view that man has the responsibility of deciding on what are his highest priorities in a given situation as he responds to his challenges. And he must have the courage; pleasantly, smilingly, but in a firm way to say ‘no’ to other things in order to concentrate on what is both important and urgent, because that is the best in that given situation. And in doing this man must keep in mind that the enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good’; a responsible person must always aim higher. The lesson that Jesus was driving home in this story is that we must by all means keep our eyes set on our ultimate goal which is eternal life. He gives a series of exhortations for us to “keep our eye on the ball” as it were. Accordingly, we must approach this life with the focus of a man who has everything to lose, like the manager being dismissed. There is one thing truly necessary, that we cannot afford to miss: to win our salvation. In this situation, like the shrewd manager, we too must use all our ingenuity, talent, and resources to achieve that goal. So many times we are distracted, or we take our salvation for granted, or we presume on God’s mercy, and we do little to form ourselves in virtue and love, living in a way pleasing but with a possibility of regret at last. According to Jesus’ story, the person who is truly wise and prudent is the one who puts first things first. Such a person when setting his priorities will maintain his focus on the longer term goals while still recognizing the impact of both short and medium time priorities. This is what happened to the unfaithful steward, when his situation began to get more complicated. This remains true in all our daily life: without a long term vision of where we want to go, it will be difficult to draw a road map and even much more difficult to get there. And that is what Jesus’ story is all about. God is supremely merciful, but at the same time he loves justice. That is why he will ask each one of us to give an account of his stewardship. As good managers therefore, we must use all that he has given to us in order to live the way he has commanded us: an upright life. And this necessitates taking stock of our situation constantly in order to avoid unnecessary surprises when accountability is asked of us. Ends