Today’s Readings are about wealth and how to use it, or at least not to abuse it. Amos thunders against those who gain wealth by exploiting the poor (Am 8:4-7). We hopefully are not amongst those, but there clearly is exploitation of the poor as much in our society as there was in Amos’ time. Our decisions about who we work for, who we buy from, who we support politically, are caught up with those issues whether we like it or not. We need an awareness of the roots of poverty, locally, nationally, and globally, as a basis for ensuring we are not part of the processes which steal from the poor.
Jesus suggests (Lk 16:1-13) that we can use our natural inclination to look after our own financial affairs as something like “training wheels” for managing more important matters – that is, our relationship with God. “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”. But he goes on to warn that we should not confuse the two. If our concern for those financial matters outweighs our concern for God then we have a problem – in the end there is only one thing that matters, and it is not our bank account.
So, yes, Readings about money and how we deal with it. But underlying this is something deeper. These Readings tell us about relationships. Money, or wealth, is an outcome of economic relationships. Money itself is not the issue. But if we exploit others (directly or indirectly) to gain our own financial wellbeing, or if we are not trustworthy in our dealings with others, then those relationships are broken. Money is the symptom. Serving mammon destroys the relationships that we need if we are to be “welcomed into eternal dwellings”.
Paul, writing to Timothy, his friend and close collaborator in his missions, isn’t talking about money or wealth (1 Tm 2:1-8). He seems to advising that we should be aiming for a quiet life. Pray for everyone, particularly those in positions of power and authority, “that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life”. So while we might be concerned about the world we live in, the abuse of power and wealth that we may see, let’s be sure to keep our heads down and stay out of trouble.
The problem is that that doesn’t jive with anything of Paul’s character as we see it anywhere else. Keeping out of trouble was not his forte; avoiding arguments, not so much; insisting on his rights, he sure did. I’ve no doubt Paul would have liked to live a quiet life, as much as anyone would. But that wasn’t what drove him. He was “appointed preacher and apostle, teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth”. Where that drove him into conflict with “kings and those in authority” he accepted that. The key to what he is saying to Timothy is not about wanting to lead a quiet life but, as he goes on to say, his wish “that in every place the men should pray, without anger or argument.” Paul pleads many times for those who listen to him to avoid anger and dissension. The earliest church clearly suffered as much from arguments as we do, arguments between members of the church and with those in authority – just as they are in our time. The antidote to anger and argument is not capitulation but prayer.
Our quietness is the quietness of Mary, of Mother Teresa, of Jesus himself on the cross and in the tomb. Our quietness comes from avoiding anger and argument, but building relationships founded on justice and respect for all those around us.