The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

September 21, 2025 – Twentieth-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 16:1-13

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Currently I am part of one of the largest groups in the United States, perhaps even in the whole world. I am retired. Unemployed.

Some think of this chapter as being no longer active. After all, I work for no company. My days are no longer bounded by nine to five. Yet I continue to do a small amount of teaching and writing. But I belong to no formal business of organization. I have no boss although at times my wife plays that role.

Today’s gospel talks about the role of stewardship. In today’s world this usually involves working for a business or any organization or operation where one works for others. Some build things. Some deliver what’s built. Some sell it in stores. Or one is self-employed and might work mostly online. In my own life stewardship had meant teaching at universities. Or writing books for publishers. Of course, there are a million other ways one might be employed. And like many retirees, I guess I can be called a part-time worker.

One question we might ask about today’s gospel is what does stewardship (in other words, our work) have to do with the message of Jesus? Isn’t Jesus mostly focused on matters directed associated with religion, like prayer and worship? How does religion connect with work?

Our new pope, Leo XIII, took his name from the pope who held that position more than a hundred years ago. In his time the reality of work was dramatically changed because of the industrial revolution. He wrote that the gospel had a direct bearing on work especially related to the changing nature of employment, capitalism and the changing working conditions in which many were compelled to endure by their employers. That earlier Leo said that workers had rights and their work, no matter what its nature, was dignified, even holy. Being a good Christian included being a good employer and a good worker.

And Jesus taught the same truth, Our work, no matter what its nature, helps to build God’s kingdom.  In that sense, we all work for God, no matter what we do.  Though work we help create goodness in the world. Recall that Jesus spent most of his life as a carpenter in a small shop in Nazareth. A small sign over the entrance read “Joseph and Son: Makers of fine furniture.”

David M. Thomas, PhD