Joke: A pastor was speaking to a Sunday school class about the things money can’t buy. “It can’t buy laughter, and it can’t buy love” he told them. Driving his point home he said, “What would you do if I offered you $1000 not to love your mother and father?” Stunned silence ensued. Finally, a small voice queried, “How much would you give me not to love my big sister?”   

In last weekend’s Gospel, the last of the three parables was the parable of the prodigal son who squandered his inheritance. In today’s Gospel, it was another parable about a dishonest steward who squandered his boss’ property, and his boss was about to lay him off. Next weekend’s Gospel was another parable about the rich man and Lazarus. This rich man also squandered his wealth and ignored others’ needs. These three weekends have the same theme: What have we done and what should we do with what we are given? What we are given in this life is treasure, time, and talent.

“What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.” A dishonest steward squandered his boss’ property, and he was about to be laid off. Nowadays, he might be put in jail because of his dishonesty to his boss. However, the way he dealt with the debtors of his boss, his boss commended him for acting prudently. What did this dishonest steward do? He called his boss’ debtors in one by one and lowered their debts to his boss. To the one who owed a hundred measures of olive oil, he asked him to write a promissory note for fifty. To the one who owed a hundred kors, he asked him to write a promissory note for eighty.

The action of this dishonest steward was not a great one, but what Jesus concluded, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Using dishonest wealth to buy what is eternal dwelling, not being put into jail because of his dishonesty but being commended for acting prudently. What does this mean? It means that we are reminded to use this temporary wealth that this world offered to us to build up for the permanent wealth which is the everlasting treasure, heaven. In other words, we are reminded to convert this earthly treasure for a heavenly treasure. What is our earthly treasure if it’s not what is called our time, talent, and treasure? How do we convert these three T--Talent, time, and treasure into everlasting treasure? To answer this question, we are reminded to reflect on whom have we served in this walk of life. Which master are we serving, God or mammon, heavenly treasure or earthly treasure? Are we busy building up for our earthly treasure or building up the heavenly treasure? Can we build up a heavenly treasure in our own home? If we cannot build heavenly treasure in our home, how can we build heavenly treasure in our community? Ask not what you can do for your community – ask what u can do for your own family. Ask not what you can do for God, ask who your master is. There is a commitment to serve God, are you faithfully committed to serving God? There are many distractions in this earthly life that might pull us away from committing ourselves to God, have you allowed these distractions to block your vision to serve God?

What do you do with the treasure--time, talent, and treasure which God given you? We all have time, but do we use our time to convert what is earthly treasure to turn into the heavenly treasure? We spent money in shopping, constantly eating out favorite foods in restaurant, buying things that we don’t really need, etc., but when we come to Church, we put in what is called the “left over”. We live in luxury house and drive expensive vehicle, but we put in some change when we come to Church. We spent hour after hour surfing on media with our electronic devices, but we hesitate to involve in any ministry we have in our own community.

We are all given the earthly treasure of time, talent, and treasure. What do we use them for? How do we use them? Should we convert this earthly treasure into the heavenly treasure, the everlasting treasure? Between God and mammon, who do we serve? As a follower of Christ, should we make a commitment to be a faithful follower both in words and in deeds? You can make a commitment today. The decision is yours.