Are you at peace with yourself? Is your life quiet and tranquil? I’m afraid that most of the time, mine isn’t – unless you count the times I’m asleep – and even then my dreams are rarely quiet and tranquil. When you mix 3 people, 4 dogs, a cat, two TVs, and multiple electronic devices under one roof, there’s bound to be a lot of action and noise. You with kids know exactly what I mean.
The world outside of my house might actually be worse. At least there is a level of civility within my household - most of the time. But it doesn’t take much to show me that once I step across the threshold into the world at large the challenges to peace become even greater.
I think that’s why I find St. Paul’s letter to Timothy particularly insightful. Most scholars believe that it was written near the end of St. Paul’s life, or that it might have even been a synthesis of several letters that he composed, but whatever its source it strikes to the root of much of our problems today – living in peace. In the letter Timothy is described as the young administrator of the Church in Ephesus, and Paul is providing instructions on how to shepherd the people in his Christian community through the challenges they faced both within their church and with the pagan culture at large. The problems Timothy faced are no different than what we face today.
Today, we pick up with the beginning of Chapter 2 and Paul’s specific instructions to Timothy: “First of all, 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. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”
Notice that Paul links a quiet and tranquil life to devotion to God and dignity in our behavior. They go hand in hand with each other. But to get there, we must first pray. Not first for ourselves, although it is natural that we should think of ourselves first. But first we pray for others, especially for those who are in authority over us.
Remember, at the time that Paul is writing this, Christians were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus. The leaders and their policies in the Roman world were in direct conflict with Christ’s teachings – just like we often see in our world today. How then do we orient ourselves so that we can be at peace with the world – and with ourselves?
We look to the rest of today’s readings to provide some insight for us as they intertwine with each other.
The first reading from Amos could just have easily been written to us today. We once had “Blue Laws” on the books which were meant to safeguard the Sabbath and to give us time to be quiet and focus on God. Now that they are virtually non-existent, those who are focused on getting ahead in life economically, expecially at the expense of others, see leisure time as a waste. Of course, there are also those who take leisure activities to the other extreme, seeing the time set aside for God as a burden to tolerate and not as a joy to experience. Amos warns the Israelites that short-changing or ignoring God on the Sabbath and focusing only on personal gain at the expense of others would have dire consequences. And we’re seeing those consequences in our world today.
Which leads to today’s Gospel. I admit that I struggle with this particular passage from Luke’s Gospel as it seems to reward secular cleverness instead of the virtue of honesty. But if we know Jesus, then we know that there is always a deeper meaning to his parables.
What do we know about the steward? First, since richness was an indication of power in Jewish times, his wealthy boss would be a person of great influence, and as his steward, he in turn would wield power in his boss’ name. Second, he must have been abusing that power since he must be living a life of some luxury at the expense of his boss. Third, he might or might not have been directly cheating those who owed the boss since it says he was taking advantage of his boss’ resources, but in his attempt to ingratiate himself with the debtors he must have had some positive relationship with them in order for his gestures to be met with any quid pro quo on their part. Finally, the commendation by his boss as being prudent doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t be fired.
From a spiritual point of view, I think we tend to forget that God is our master, just like the rich man is the master of the steward. We are stewards of all of the gifts that have been entrusted to us. His differentiation of honest vs. dishonest wealth is a distinction between earthly (dishonest) wealth and spiritual (honest) wealth. Jesus’ admonition that we should be trustworthy with the gifts that we have, from whatever source they come, reminds us that anything we have is a gift from God. If we want to enjoy the spiritual gifts promised to us for eternity, we must also be prudent with the earthly gifts we receive first.
Finally, we return to Paul’s letter and his wish for all Christians stated in the last line of today’s passage: “… in every place (people) should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.” While hopefully this is true during an hour of Sunday Mass, given the lack of civility and respect we often show to others during the other 167 hours of the week I wonder if we are taking this admonition truly to heart. And yet, when we can embrace a civil tongue and show respect to others, there is a lack of conflict in our lives and we tend to find ourselves at peace.
Sadly, I believe that we are a cynical nation today, and rather than praying that everyone, including those in authority, to be saved we instead pray that those who do not conform to our belief – especially those in authority – are struck down or otherwise removed from power. And with Midterm elections coming in a few weeks we only have to look to the news and the talking heads on social media to realize that we are far from Paul’s insistence on prayer for all.
So, what’s the answer? How do we experience that calm and peaceful life that Paul describes? First, the prophet Amos tells us to appreciate the gift that God gave us with the Sabbath and to use it as it was meant – a time to thank God for the many gifts He has given to us and to use that time for the purpose He intended. Second, as Jesus reminds us, we are stewards of the many gifts we have received, whether earthly wealth or spiritual health, and we need to be wise in our use of both. And finally, Paul reminds us to pray, especially for those with authority over us or with those that we disagree with, not in anger but in love.
It is then that we will find peace.
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