What is True Wealth?

Gospel Reflection for September 21, 2025 - Luke 16:1-13

And he said also to his disciples: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods.

And he called him, and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship: for now thou canst be steward no longer.

And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able; to beg I am ashamed.

I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord?

But he said: An hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill, and write eighty.

And the lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.

And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.

He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater.

If then you have not been faithful in the unjust mammon; who will trust you with that which is the true?

And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's; who will give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16:1-13 DRA)

The parable which Our Lord gives in this Gospel reading is, in my opinion, one of the most mysterious and difficult to interpret in the Gospels. But after contemplating it and consulting the wisdom of the saints in their commentaries, its true riches, as excellent as all the inspired words of Scripture, can be mined and brought to the surface.

In this parable, Our Lord is making a specific kind of comparison, what is called in literary terms an antithetical irony or moral paradox, where something evil is shown to be superior to something good in a particular respect in order to correct the inadequacy or failure of the good. Here, Christ compares the virtue of prudence as it is found in the sinful and the just, or those He calls “the children of this world” and “the children of light.” The former are those who serve mammon, a Syriac word for riches or material possessions, and thus indirectly serve the flesh and the devil, while the latter are those who have received the light of Christ in Baptism and adoption as children of God, including Israelites who were prepared for this new covenant by circumcision.

Prudence is the highest natural virtue, the discipline of the practical intellect discerning what is good or evil in a particular situation, determining what one ‘ought’ to do. But according to St. Thomas Aquinas, there exist not only true and authentic virtues but also what are called “apparent virtues” (simulacra virtutum), actions which appear virtuous but are actually evil. In truth, a virtue directed to an evil end is not a virtue but a vice; virtues can never be evil or used for evil. So, when an action seems prudent but is actually evil, it is only apparently virtuous, as is the case with the so-called prudence of the unjust steward.

Yet even so, in Our Lord’s moral paradox, where our expectations are subverted to make a point, the apparent prudence of the dishonest steward is commended – not because he did something objectively good, since Christ still calls him the “unjust” steward even after his commendation, but because he acts with more apparent prudence than the children of light act with authentic prudence.

In other words, if the children of light were truly prudent, they would take the “mammon of iniquity” they have received, i.e. the riches of this world which do not ultimately belong to them but to God and are often acquired by unjust means, and distribute them to the poor rather than clutch onto them. With the wisdom given by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the children of light should know better: worldly riches fade away, but the treasures in Heaven accumulated through almsgiving and other acts of mercy are eternal.

Christ is not recommending that we imitate the unjust steward, as though injustice were suddenly just or as though an evil means can be used to a good end, contrary to the entire message of Scripture – just as He does not actually mean for us to amputate our own limbs, or for every Christian to sell everything he owns even if he has a family that depends on him, etc. Christ frequently uses the hyperbolic language of rabbinic teaching to make a point, exaggerating for effect to correct His listeners, as many of the Church Fathers would also do in succeeding centuries. Here, His goal is to teach us to have true Christian prudence, recognizing what is really worthwhile.

In the Book of Tobit, one of my favorite books of the Old Testament (apart from or against which the New Testament should never be read), Tobit gives his son this advice on prudential charity and almsgiving:

Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not away thy face from any poor person: for so it shall come to pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from thee. According to thy ability be merciful. If thou have much give abundantly: if thou have a little, take care even so to bestow willingly a little. For thus thou storest up to thyself a good reward for the day of necessity. For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness. Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it. (Tobit 4:7-12)

Pope St. Gregory the Great similarly taught, “But if through their friendship we obtain everlasting habitations, we ought to calculate that when we give we rather offer presents to patrons, than bestow benefits upon the needy.” (Catena Aurea) Ultimately, earthly wealth is only “a little thing,” whereas the spiritual riches of grace are “great things,” the gift of God’s very life in Christ. Thus, Our Lord warns us that, if we cannot be charitable in little things like money, how can we be entrusted with great things like the Way, the Truth and the Life? And if we can be entrusted with neither, we will receive neither but end up like the rich man in Christ’s parable of Lazarus, who was damned for his lack of generosity to the poor, given later in this same chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel.

This is the profoundly relevant warning of the Gospel reading for us today, especially in a world where capitalism has distributed wealth so widely and yet so many remain on the brink of destitution or worse (even in ‘developed’ countries), and where so many Christians explicitly or implicitly follow the heresy of the Prosperity Gospel and flaunt their wealth in church as though it is a sign of God’s favor, rather than an opportunity for almsgiving and a warning against greed and worldliness.

May we always strive to become prudent in what truly matters in this life, to treat all the poor as Christ with whom He identified Himself (Mt 25:40) and to become worthy of the name Children of Light. As St. Augustine once wrote,

They may receive you into their eternal tabernacles. What a beautiful thought this! What a consolation to the rich man, when the term of his mortal existence is approaching, to think he shall have as many advocates to plead for his admittance into the eternal mansions of rest, as he has made friends among the poor by relieving their temporal wants. The rich give to the poor earthly treasures, the latter return in recompense eternal and infinite happiness. Hence we must infer, that the advantage is all on the side of the giver; according to the saying of our Lord, happier is the condition of him who gives, than of him who receives. (Haydock)

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