Honesty

25th Sunday Of Ordinary Time, Year C

The Gospel today from Luke is addressed to Jesus’ disciples and he tells them a parable about a dishonest steward who is commended for being shrewd in the management of his masters’ affairs. Although it is rather complicated in its details, it conveys a very clear message.

 The manager of the rich man’s estate shows initiative when faced with a crisis, he is going to lose his job. He is very resourceful as he comes up with a plan which he will benefit later from. He responded to the crisis and was rewarded by the rich man. We too as Christians are asked to respond to the teachings of Jesus. We should ask ourselves what do I do in my daily life to actively respond to the good news? We need to make use of all that God has given us, so that we can bear witness and tell others about the good news.

The parable tells the story of a steward who is dismissed because he is mismanaging his employers’ estate. He is called dishonest as he is not managing the affairs of his master properly. In response to the crisis of losing his job he calls all the debtors and attempts to secure his future by significantly reducing the money each debtor owed the rich man. Hoping that when he loses his job one of the debtors will help him. What is interesting about the steward is that until the moment he is going to lose his job he is wasteful and incompetent but when faced with unemployment, he comes up with a clever plan to make sure that he will be provided for. It is this action, the putting aside his greed and looking at the long-term perspective to secure his future, which is commended by the rich man.

 What does this parable mean for us today? We as Christians are to put our earthly treasures in perspective, our daily actions have a bearing on our eternal life. Jesus knows that we will often be tested about being honest in our every day lives. If someone in a shop gave you too much change, what would you do? Being honest is a choice we make every day. Those who can be trusted in small things can also be trusted in great things. Jesus invites us to consider our priorities in a new light. How we use our money has implications for us as Christians and for members of our family. Finally, Jesus tells the disciples; “No servant can be the slave of two masters; he will either hate the first and love the second or treat the first with respect  and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.” God must be put ahead of money.

A reading from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 16: 1-13)

Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?

I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note.

Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it.
  2. How do you look at God? Did any of these parables teach you something new about God’s character?
  3. Think about how your attitude to money affects your decisions and the way you live your family life? How does it affect or reflect your attitude to God? What do you spend your money on? Does it have a positive or negative affect on your relationship with God or your family? 
  4. As parents you have been given stewardship of your children, during this week talk with them about what it means to be responsible. Responsibility often means that we give up something of passing value for something of a greater value.
  5. Together with your family find the right time to read this Gospel. The environment helps, so before you start prepare;
    i. The Bible reading from St Luke (16: 1-13)
    ii. A candle
    iii. Cover the table with a green cloth
    v. A computer/laptop with the readings and clips
  6. Go through the steps with your children (2 age groups are being suggested).
  7. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  8. Be creative 😊 

In the Gospel today Jesus teaches us about honesty, he tells the disciples a parable about a dishonest steward. Jesus taught that it is important to tell the truth about big things and small things. 

  • When we tell the truth people know that they can trust us.
  • If we are honest people, then we will be honest in everything we do, large or small
  • Flower template
  • Colours/Pencil
TemplateDownload

Every day we are faced with decisions which test our honesty. Being honest means that we speak the truth and do not tell lies. Not only that, it also means that our actions are truthful too. We of course as followers of Jesus should always do the right thing. Imagine that you are at the supermarket with your family, and you look at the floor and notice a ten euro note which some one has dropped. There is no way of knowing who dropped it, if you pick it up and keep it for yourself no one will know. What do you think is the right thing to do? Keep it for yourself or hand it in to the customer care assistant? Or maybe you heard a rumour at school about a person in your class, everyone is talking about it, but you think that it is not true. Do you spread the rumour, or do you just say nothing? Spreading rumours isn’t a nice thing to do whether they are true or not. But if you spread rumours that you even just think are false, then you are being dishonest because you are not speaking the truth. 

One day Jesus told a parable about a rich man who accused his manager of wasting his money. He called him to the office and demanded to know on what the manager was spending his money. The manager knew that he had been cheating his employer so he thought of a plan that would make him a lot of friends because he thought he was going to lose his job.

He called all the people who owed his boss money and asked them how much they owed. When they told him how much they owed, he told them they only had to pay back a smaller amount! Imagine how happy the people were when they only had to repay a small amount of what they owed. The manager now had many friends who would help him when he no longer had a job. 

Jesus told this parable to show that “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” In other words, if we make sure we are honest in the small things, then we can be sure to be honest in the big things. If people know that they can trust us in small things, they will know that they can trust us in the big things too. 

Just like a flower which grows from a seed we can grow in honesty, print out the “honesty flower” in the centre write the word HONESTY. On each of the petals write the different ways in which you can be honest, such as being truthful, listen to your parents, being trustworthy, don’t cheat, don’t spread rumours. Try to think of more ways. Remember, if you plant honesty trust will grow!

Listen to the song;  I Wanna do right .

Sign of the Cross.

Dear Father in Heaven, help us to remember what Jesus taught us about honesty. Please help us to be honest and truthful in everything we do and say, no mater how big or small. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

In the Gospel, today, Jesus talks about money and reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God which we should use sensibly and responsibly. It is called “stewardship.” He warns us about trying to serve God while at the same time serving money. He tells his disciples the parable of the dishonest steward.

  • True happiness comes from God
  • What it means to be trustworthy in the eyes of God
  • Heart in Hands template
  • Colours/Pencil
  • Stickers to decorate
TemplateDownload

As we grow up, our parents and teachers give us more responsibility. We are trusted with doing certain things when we show that we are reliable, this means following rules and paying attention. In today’s Gospel Jesus tells a parable about the dishonest steward and we learn what it means to be trustworthy in the eyes of God. 

A steward is someone who looks after money and property or other valuable things for someone else. The steward in this story looks after the rich man’s money and property, but the rich man is not pleased with the way the steward is working, he suspects that he is being cheated. He calls the steward to his office and the steward is afraid that he is going to lose his job, so he quickly made friends by letting the people who owed the rich man money pay back less than what they owed. He thought that when he lost his job these friends would look after him! 

Instead of being angry with his steward the rich man praised him for being smart. What is Jesus teaching us in this parable? First of all, Jesus doesn’t want us to think too much about how much money we have, he reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God and that we should use it wisely. Also, we show what we value most by our actions. If we are honest people then we will be honest in everything that we do, large and small. As followers of Jesus, we are challenged to be good stewards of our time of our talents and of our treasures. It means being trustworthy and responsible for things we are given. Sometimes we can use our money to help one another, like giving it to someone who is hurt or in need or hungry. Furthermore, we can also use our time to help others at home, at school and in our parish community. Maybe we can volunteer to be altar servers or to join a choir. Singing at church during mass is sharing our talents and time. When we make sure we are sharing and being stewards of things, it keeps our eyes on the importance of loving God above everything else. True happiness comes from God and we are called to be stewards of creation, ourselves, our talents and gifts, our time and our priorities, our treasures, and our possessions.  

To remind yourself of today’s Gospel message of ‘stewardship and priorities’ print the ‘heart and hand’ template. In the heart write the things which you can be trusted with, and in that way, you are being a good steward. For example, keeping your room tidy, laying the dinner table, saying a prayer as soon as you wake up, using your pocket money to help the poor. Then you can colour it or decorate it with stickers.

Listen to the song;  Who I wanna be.

Sign of the cross.

Dear God, we praise your Holy name and thank you for all your blessings. Help us to be honest stewards of everything you have given us. Please help us to use our time, talents, and treasures wisely. We love you God with all our hearts. Amen

Gospel in Symbols Sunday 25Download

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God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.