Today’s Gospel passage ends with the seemingly unequivocal ‘You cannot serve God and wealth’ (Luke 16:13). The preceding parable, however, conveys a different message – worldly shrewdness is commended. This offers an opportunity to reflect on the complexities of our financial situations, both national and personal. Can we always be ‘squeaky clean’ in our use of money? Or do we find ourselves in compromising situations?
This week's news
Michael Gove says that some foodbank users are failing to manage their finances.
Poverty drains brainpower, according to new research from Warwick University. “Being poor saps the very mental energy needed to take on the tasks that might lead people out of poverty – such as education, job training and time management.”
London is still home to the tax avoidance industry.
Oxfam warns that European austerity programmes will cause poverty and inequality to increase, as happened as a result of structural adjustment in Indonesia, Latin America and Uganda.
A conference is meeting in Oxford this week to consider both the underlying structural causes of food poverty, and innovative and imaginative solutions.
City interns are pushed to the limit in a fiercely competitive world of 120-hour weeks.
Reflection
Financial management has been in the news, at both ends of the income spectrum. At one end people are working out how to afford a bus pass or school uniform, and still be able to eat; at the other people are find creative ways of paying less tax. What sort of shrewdness is the Gospel talking about (Luke 16:8)?
‘You cannot serve God and wealth’ (Luke 16:13). But most of us try to juggle the two. We are all compromised, as Archbishop Justin Welby discovered when he criticised Wonga, and was then told that the Church Commissioners had a stake in the payday lending company. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have ideals. But maybe we need to be humble about our ability to reach them.
Just like the manager in the parable, many people in this country are unable to work, but ashamed of begging (Luke 16:3). They arrive at foodbanks feeling demeaned. How do we respond to urgent need without creating dependency, and without squashing people’s selfhood?
If a person on Jobseeker’s Allowance puts a foot wrong – misses an appointment, refuses to go on a particular training course – they are subject to sanctions. The minimum sanction is four weeks loss of benefit. How are they, or their children if they have them, supposed to survive during that time? Is this a modern equivalent to today’s parable? The Warwick report suggests that when people are under that kind of stress, they are less able to make shrewd decisions.
At the other end of the social spectrum, city interns consent to work brutally long hours in their desperation to get well-paid banking jobs. It is easy to say that it is not worth risking health and mental equilibrium for the sake of a high salary, but how can such a culture be changed? Are there any small steps that we could take in our, probably more humble, workplaces to ensure that people are treated humanely?
Prayer
Reflect on the role money plays in your life: the pleasures it enables, and the worries it causes. Lay your financial situation before God.
O God our provider,
we lay before you all the ways in which money affects our lives:
we thank you for the goods and services it enables us to buy,
but we confess that we do not always spend it wisely or ethically.
As we bring to you our own money worries,
we pray for those who have so much less than us,
and are forced to live by their wits.
Inspire in us compassion and generosity,
that we may open our hearts,
and our purses.
Give us the strength to work for a world in which resources are shared equally.
Through Jesus Christ, who paid our debts,
Amen.
Questions
- What do you think of the steward’s behaviour?
- Have you ever felt forced to be canny?
- Which of your ideals do you find it impossible to live up to?
Action
Could your church play host to a credit union, as suggested by Archbishop Justin Welby?
Resist the pressure to work long hours: leave work on time, and thereby give others permission to do so.
Young People
Look at the first Eat, Act, Pray blog released by the Christian Aid Collective. It has ideas for sparking discussion, and inspiring action, on tax justice.
Ann Conway-Jones volunteers at her local foodbank.
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