Stealing in the Name of the Poor.

Homily for April 10, 2017.


Once upon a time, a friend told me the story of a priest who usually goes abroad to beg for aid on behalf of the poorest of the poor in his home country. He would take along gory pictures of how life is hard and tough for the citizens of his country; pictures capable of breaking the heart of even the most stingy to give out money.

This priest was such a saint, carrying such a humanitarian project every year hustling for money for the poor but there was only one problem, no dime ever got to the poor! All the money he gathered ended up in his personal bank account.

This story sums up the character of Judas Iscariot who is described in our Gospel passage today as a thief! He was in charge of the money box, he was the chief accountant of Jesus and his disciples, the last person anyone would ever suspect of financial misappropriation yet he was a thief.

How many of us steal in the name of the poor? With begging having become some sort of international business, those who are really poor suffer more because those who ought to give are not able to tell who is genuine anymore?

Money is good, yet it is the root of all evil. How? Money is evil when we fall in love with it. Money is evil when we begin to tell lies because of it, when we begin to disregard the commandments of God, betray our friends and so on. *Any* *money* *we* *get* *by* *committing* *sin* *is* *blood* *money*.

Judas Iscariot not only fell madly in love with money, he lost both his faith and his reasoning. This is what happens to us when our hearts are taken over by money; we begin to interpret everything only in terms of profit and loss.

While others saw the action of Mary as an expression of love, Judas saw it as waste of resources. Jesus went further to explain that by anointing his feet with the ointment and wiping them with her hair, Mary was actually preparing him for his burial. Of course, this made no sense to Judas because the only thing that mattered to him was money.

Judas’ love for money would eventually lead him to betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. That was his ultimate shot at making cool money. He was hoping that Jesus would prove himself too powerful to be arrested and call down Legions of Angels to fight on his behalf. But how wrong was he?

When Judas saw how Jesus was captured freely and without resistance whatsoever, he realized this was bad market for him. All of sudden, the money became useless to him and he hung himself in deep regret. When we commit sin because of money, that money will one day become useless to us!

I believe the story of Judas Iscariot is contained in the Bible for a reason; to teach us that money is not everything in life. Becoming rich is not as important as being honest, pure in heart, faithful to God and to one’s vows. Money should never be god to us.

If we don’t have money, we should never see ourselves as unfortunate or unlucky in life. Our lack of money should not inspire us to sin or get into shady deals or become like Judas Iscariot. No matter how little we have, we should be content with it and learn to give thanks.

If we have money, let us learn to control it and not allow it control us. When we become too stingy, it is a sign that we are being controlled by money. By refusing to give away our money or share with others, we are indirectly saying that: it is in money we place our trust for survival and not in God.

Of course Mary knew how expensive the ointment was yet she poured it freely on Jesus. She was willing to give away her most-priced possession because she did not consider it as god to her.

The question that bothers me now is: Why is it that when it comes to giving to God, I select the worst and least of all I have? Can I like Mary give away my most valuable possession to help the poor?

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, please remove the spirit of Judas Iscariot from me. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of the 5th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Isaiah 42:1-7 and John 12:1-11).


Fr. Abu. 

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