September 21, 2025

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C

Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

In 1937, a man who had been in New York's Sing Sing prison died after serving 8 years of a life sentence. He was a New York City resident named George C. Parker, and he had been convicted of fraud. His crime: he set up elaborate schemes to sell things that he didn't own and didn't have the right to sell. He is most famous for selling, not once but multiple times, the Brooklyn Bridge. He convinced unsuspecting people that, if they bought the bridge, they could charge tolls to those that crossed it. Not once but twice the police stopped someone from erecting toll booths on what they considered their personal property. Reportedly Mr. Parker also tried to sell other public properties he claimed to own, including Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker ]. But it was the Brooklyn Bridge that has given him the most notoriety, and is responsible for the saying, “... and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.”

So today, the Gospel could very well have put these modern words into the mouth of Jesus: “If you think you can serve both God and wealth, I have a bridge to sell you.” George Parker and other people of evil intent have always used the lure of easy money to convince people that they can have it all. Jesus knows that we are all tempted by evil thoughts to believe that we can have it all, or at least more then we currently have, without having to give up anything we we currently have. Jesus also knows and teaches us what we already know in our hearts: that this is the big lie.

But maybe this larger-than-life character, like others with well-known names such as Ponzi and Bernie Madoff, obscure the challenge that most of us have in our everyday lives. We don't, at least I hope none of us here, steal people's money to make our livings. Most of us go to work, or at least went to work before we retired, and try to earn the money we make by providing legal goods and services that are of value to honest people Or if we are younger and still in school, we try to do things around the house to help our parents and to behave well and study, justifying what we receive from them. But yet we all struggle with these questions: when do I have enough for myself? How much must I give of my own resources to others to consider myself a good Christian, to serve God and not to just accumulate wealth for my own pleasure? Let's face it: I can always give more than I am currently doing, I can always sleep one less hour, I can live without cable TV, or the latest trend in fashion, or whatever. When have we done enough to merit the kingdom of God?

I have to share some bad news. Jesus, in his wisdom, and the Church after him, does not answer this question. Jesus expects everyone here to continually ask themselves that question, and to search their consciences for the answer. Jesus knows that the human tendency for self-justification will tend to answer the question in a way that we keep more and give less. Jesus wants us to continually ask this question because it is worth the struggle. Despite the discomfort it brings, and for those that are overly scrupulous it can bring on a lot of handwringing, it forces us to make a value decision: what value do we put on our relationship with God as compared with the value that we put on other things. The very act of going through this exercise allows us to set priorities in life, and the answer will change as we age and hopefully grow in our relationship with God, as our knowledge and understanding of what it means to be Christian develops over time. If you have not struggled to answer this question lately, if you are sure that you know where the line is when you've done “enough,” you probably have not grown in your faith, are stagnant in your progress in developing as a Christian, and this should worry you.

Our passage in the Gospel reading is part of a larger section in Luke dealing with this idea of our relationship to God, to worldly things, and to the poor. Next week, we will read from later in chapter 16, and we will hear the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Martin Luther King used to cite this story about a rich man and poor Lazarus to his audiences of mostly poor people. He would remind them that the rich man was not held accountable after his death for his riches; instead he is consigned to hell because he walked by Lazarus at his gate and he did nothing. In other words, the rich man did not struggle with his conscience enough, but instead believed that he had already done enough. He was serving himself, his riches, his mammon, and not his God.

All of us here today have been given riches by God when we were born, gifts that enable us to do incredible things. He expects us to use these talents to help build the Kingdom of God in love of neighbor in addition to providing for our own needs. I am always impressed when I see many individuals here at St. James give very generously of their time, talent, and treasure to help build the Kingdom of God. Many school-aged younger people take time to serve their church, such as being altar servers and through the many outreach initiatives of our youth group. Many of our parishioners who have retired from active employment don't retire from helping to serve the church and the needy of our community. And our working families help in various ways, such as ensuring that their children receive the proper moral and religious education to make them responsible adults that will ensure the success of our church and civic society. But let's not give ourselves tendinitis patting ourselves on the back. Today's Gospel compels each and every one of us to reexamine the amount of time, talent, and treasure that we focus outward to help those in need, and to make sure it is enough.

We have an immediate opportunity to help a diocese in need. Father Oscar's home diocese in Colombia is a poor, rural diocese. Despite not being rich in wealth, it has been rich in vocations to the priesthood, and it has supported our diocese in this regard. There is a misconception that there is a line forming there to come to the US to serve. Actually, the truth of the matter is that our bishops are the one that have called down to the Diocese of Garagoa and asked their bishop to send some willing priests to fill the gaps in our own vocations. The simple fact is that the United States Catholic Church has received, at our request, many more missionary priests to fill our own lack of priests than we have sent to other countries. Therefore it is appropriate that we show gratitude for this and return to them in a way that we are able in appreciation for the way that they sent to us what they were able. Envelops for this collection will be distributed this week and will be taken up next week. Please see the remarks of Father Oscar in this week's bulletin and be generous.

As we continue with the celebration of the Eucharist, let God's infinite grace poured out in this sacrament remind us to also pour out our own gifts to others. Let us never sit pat and stubbornly hold fast to a belief that we already do enough, but constantly calibrate our self-understanding about our relationship to God and mammon. For the simple fact is that, if you believe that you have your salvation firmly established and are right with God in all aspects of your life, well, I have a bridge that you might be interested in buying.