Today’s Scripture Readings

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.

Dystopian movies like Mad Max, The Book of Eli, and Waterworld have a certain fascination for me. One thing I find fascinating is how useless cash and money are in these worlds. Perhaps, the best use paper money could be put to is burning it to keep warm. These movies make me realise that our money system is a social construct – money’s value exists in our collective agreement. Money certainly makes pricing and transactions easier, and hence is the basis of our modern world. Try to imagine a world without it. But the economic system also has an oppressive side – something that rises up against us. For interest rates to decrease, unemployment typically needs to rise. Gross Domestic Product and economic growth do not care about you as an individual. We have become slaves to the economic system.

In today’s Gospel Jesus presents an alternative economy – an economy in which money becomes the servant of God rather than the master of humanity. Jesus gives us the power to break the bond money has over us. He invites us into an economy not governed by scarcity and fear, but of abundance, generosity and love. In the dystopian movies, we see that love and relationships are the primal economy, and money becomes useless. We do not need to wait for an apocalyptic event to break the power of money over us. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection unveil the alternative for us now.