25th Sunday in Ordinary Time ( C )
INTRO: Tell story of making something look good……….
My father, in his day, he was pretty talented at many home carpentry and mechanical things!!!
Well, I don’t know what possessed us brothers….but, my twin and I, at a very young age, took “Bobbie pins” (hair pins) and began to carve drawings (I am sorry to say) on our wood bedroom dresser!!!! Completely disfiguring the wood!!!!
Our mother really couldn’t take her eyes off of us, but apparently she did that day. Well…the dresser was ruined….all kinds of scratches of artwork. While John and I were impressed, my parents were NOT!
BUT, my dad made that DRESSER LOOK GOOD once again. He completely sanded it down and re-stained it to perfection.
HE MADE IT LOOK GOOD!!!
We have a very difficult parable to understand today, but in the end, I believe you will see that
THE MASTER MADE THE STEWARD …. LOOK GOOD!
AND THAT’S A GOOD THING; THE MASTER WILL MAKE ALL OF US LOOK GOOD!
You see, the STEWARD has been fired for embezzling funds that he had been hired to manage. Now, the caveat…..
THE MASTER DOES NOT PUNISH HIM!!!
HE IS NOT REQUIRED TO PAY BACK WHAT HE HAS TAKEN!!!
HE IS NOT JAILED!!!
Interesting Master I would say!
The Master saw something beautiful in the STEWARD … and GOD always sees something BEAUTIFUL in US!!!
God will make us look GOOD!
We are all sinful; we all have some lack of charity, selfishness, wrongful pride, and unfair prejudices and so on….
This story is to remind us of THIS GREAT AND WONDERFUL GOD with unusual mercy and generosity.
And simply from this very difficult to read and understand Gospel we find OUR MESSAGE:
THE MASTER makes us look GOOD to others!!!!
Many people cannot believe how merciful and generous GOD is to us sinners. AND…..maybe we don’t even think about it!!!!But God is merciful and generous.
He always LOVES us… AND….. He knows of our wrongdoings, but, still He lets us be and gives us time to realize what wrongs we have done without any of His condemnation.
CONCLUSION
So in response……….
Let others hear you PRAISE GOD and THANK GOD for all He has done for you. His mercy and generosity is worth talking about!