Luke 16:9-15
Chapter 16
Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big ones; whoever is dishonest about minor matters will also be dishonest about greater ones.
So, if you have been dishonest in handling dirty money, who would trust you with real wealth?
And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly yours?
No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not favor one and prefers the other, or he respects one highly and looks down on the other. You cannot devote yourself to both God and Money.”
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and sneered at Jesus.
He said to them:
“You do your best to be considered righteous by people. But God knows the heart, and what is highly esteemed by human beings is loathed by God.
Commentaries
The Use of Money.
Earthly things are temporary, so we should not become attached to them. For Luke, accumulating wealth is already a sin, especially when living among the poor. Those who become attached to money end up excluding God because you cannot serve two masters.
The Law and the Good News.
Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who claimed to serve both money and God. Jesus reveals that God knows what is inside each of them and warns that when someone is too attached to material goods, serving God becomes just a facade with very negative effects on people’s conscience and mindset. It gives the impression that God favors (blesses) some while remaining indifferent to the needs (expropriation) of others.