25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
Jesus in today's gospel reading states "No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon" - Luke 16:13. Hence my brothers and sisters, who are you serving? Are we serving God or mammon? This might seem to be a difficult question to answer especially when put into the perspective of our everyday living, we have a lot of bills to pay, issues to deal with, worries and things to take care of. But as Christians, we really need to take a moment and think about these words of Jesus to us, “You cannot serve both God and mammon."
What does Jesus mean by "to serve" in that statement? 'To serve' in the English dictionary means to perform duties or services for (another person or an organization). So, to serve here as pointed out by Jesus means to perform duties or services for God. What then is service? Service is the action of helping or doing work for someone, an act of assistance. This means that service to God is an action of helping or doing work for God and assisting him in spreading his gospel in the world.
So how many of us here today serve God? We all do I believe? But take a moment now to look at your life this past week and find out how you have served God or been of service to him in our world. How many hours did you spend on God this past week? How many hours did you spend with God this past week? And how many hours did you spend for God this past week? Ask yourself did I really spend time on, with or for God this past week and yet I say that I serve him? How much time did I spend on myself, or on things that I love or like this past week? What did I show the most interest in this past week, God or something else? What took up most of my time during the past week and how much time did I dedicate to God and my call to discipleship?
My brothers and sisters, listen once again to the words of Jesus to us in today's gospel reading, "No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon." So it is time to choose to serve God only, with all our strength, power and might. Also know that we are not alone, God is with us to help, guide and assist us to serve him well. Amen.
