3rd Saturday in Lent, March 26. “True riches”

Prepare to Listen.  Take your time to be still, using this prayer: Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 16:10-14
10‘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.  11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?  12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?  13No 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.’  14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
“If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?”  Dishonest wealth and true riches, while seemingly opposite have the same requirement of faithfulness.  Dishonest wealth isn’t necessarily what was gained through dishonest (as in deceptive or corrupt) means, but refers to the temporary wealth of this present age, wealth most of us have access to.  Like the steward in the parable (vv. 1-8) it may have been gained through shrewd means, but not entirely dishonest ones.  It’s the necessary wealth we have here on earth, and we’re expected to use it in ways that are faithful to God’s kingdom so that God’s will is done on earth as in heaven.
 
True riches, however, are given only to those who handle the world’s riches, however much, faithfully.  Luke doesn’t here explain what true riches are.  He has already done so, calling them “the unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (Lk 12:33).  This has little, perhaps nothing to do with receiving more earthly possessions.  True riches are what we’ll receive one day in the life to come, depending on how we live now.  Jesus warns us that, as N. T. Wright notes, “Money is not a possession, it’s a trust: God entrusts property to people and expects it to be used to his glory and the welfare of his children, not for private glory or glamour.”[1]  
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What do you need to do live more faithfully with the world’s riches?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord, as the psalmist prayed, I pray too, “Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.”  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Be faithful with what you have been entrusted.
[1] Wright, N. T.  Luke for Everyone.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  2001, p. 196.