Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time C
September 21, 2025
Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Our reading today is from the holy gospel according to Luke
Jesus said to his disciples, "A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.' The steward said to himself, 'What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.' He called in his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, 'How much do you owe my master?' He replied, 'One hundred measures of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.' Then to another the steward said, 'And you, how much do you owe?' He replied, 'One hundred kors of wheat.' The steward said to him, 'Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.' And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
"For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon."
The gospel of the Lord.
Homily
The parable in today’s gospel is not a homey metaphor we often expect from Jesus’ parables. It is a brutal presentation of class exploitation and an example of the lengths to which an unscrupulous person will go for self-preservation. Still, Jesus is able to find a positive message in the actions of the unjust steward and bemoans the fact that those dedicated to the kingdom of God are not as single-minded.
We need to understand that the size of the debts in the parable was very large and would be difficult to pay back. The steward had erred in allowing his master’s clients to accumulate such large debts. And then, to ingratiate himself with those same clients, he reduces their debts, also by large amounts. We can imagine the shock and joy on the faces of the debtors as their debts were written down. More difficult is imagining the face of the master. He could have lost money, but overnight his reputation had gone from Mr. Scrooge to Santa Claus. The townspeople would be telling everyone what a good guy he was. And in Jesus’ neighborhood, that kind of capital was worth more than the money.
The point Jesus was trying to make is that even an unjust steward can be good to his neighbors, when his own life is on the line; and he questions why it is so difficult for his disciples to be good to one another, when eternal life is on the line?
Jesus seems to be saying that the goods of this earth are to be used in building up and caring for one another, and if we cannot learn the proper use of the goods of the earth, how will we ever learn to use the spiritual goods of God’s kingdom?
Taking advantage of one another seems to be rooted in our human nature since the fall of Adam and Eve. In the first reading, the prophet Amos condemns those “who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!” Even though they kept the Sabbath and the holy days, they were anxious for them to be over, so that they could get back to making a profit. And yet we admire people like Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Dorothy Day for their dedication to serving the poor. Jesus tells us that admiration is not enough; we need to imitate their virtue.
In the second reading, Saint Paul gives us one of the roads to the goods of the kingdom: Prayer. “Beloved: I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.” We must ask God for the graces of justice, kindness and mercy for our leaders as well as for ourselves. And he continues: “It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.” And then we must set about turning into reality the things that we have prayed for, serving not so much the world, as our fellow pilgrims in the world.
For, as Jesus said: “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon."
May God bless you.
Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsR
Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help
Brooklyn, NY
