C: 25th Sun OrdTime (22 Sept 2019) - TRUSTING MAMMON (Lk 16:1-13)

“You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk 16:13).

But what is a “mammon”? We encounter this term thrice in our gospel (vv. 9, 11, 13) and is used by a good number of English bibles to translate the original Greek mamōnas (e.g., ASV, NKJV, WEB). Apparently, this term must have been taken by Luke from an earlier saying, having been corroborated by Matthew in a parallel verse that employs the same word (6:24). The English language accepts already the word “mammon” in its lexicon, appearing in the Oxford Dictionary (1992) as “god of wealth, regarded as evil or immoral”. But this description of mammon as a personified god of wealth is more of a later tradition, especially in Christian writings and pious commentaries.

Yet, mammon remains to be a loanword, probably from Aramaic, that might have been based from “the root ’mn with the meaning of ‘that in which one puts trust’, with ‘money, riches’ as derivative meaning” (Dict. of Deities,1012). In Hebrew, though, this root word means “to go to the right, stand on the right, do what is right” (HALOT). From Aramaic and Hebrew, hence, we can imply that, if it is indeed derived from the root ’mn, the word mammon infers something or someone to whom one fully puts one’s trust for being correct or truthful. When the accompanying passion is intensified, this action will eventually lead one to a blind faith or even to an act of worship of the mammon, thus, inaugurating a kind of a deity with a customized cult. Thus, it is understandable why later writers would identify mammon as a pagan god.

At first glance, Jesus, in our gospel, seemingly abhors wealth, placing it in direct contrast with God as if the two could never co-exist since he is asking his followers to choose only one of the two to serve. However, if we analyze this episode, we can learn that Jesus is not totally against wealth; what he is against is dishonest wealth, i.e., when it becomes mammon-like, or when one fully entrusts his/her life to wealth to the point that one can do immoral and unjust things in its service. Giving wealth this revered place in our hearts, in effect, elevates it in the same level as God. Doing so will clearly be in violation of the first commandment of God to the Israelites, viz. “You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or likeness of anything whatever is in heaven above and whatever is in the earth beneath and whatever is in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not do obeisance to them, nor are you to serve them”(Exo 20:3-5a).

The problem, hence, is not wealth. The real problem is trust… for if one surrenders everything to a concept (whatever or whoever it may be), his/her whole life is enslaved to that cause forever. This is our gospel’s warning to all of us: To whom do we put our full trust? Jesus’ speech is filled with an exhortation on the value of trust/faith, captured in the Greek word pistos, which means “faithful, reliable, trustworthy, stable” (BDAG): “Whoever is faithful (pistos) in a very little is faithful (pistos) also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.If then you have not been faithful (pistos) with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust (pisteuō) to you the true riches?And if you have not been faithful (pistos) with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?"(Lk 16:10-12).

The crux of our gospel is choosing wisely whom to entrust our life to. If is not yet God, then we may be members of the religion of the passing fake world.

- Rex Fortes, CM