I remember the first time I heard this reading. I was in a wealth Washington DC Episcopal church. I was in grad school. I was struck by the strangeness of story and the unfamiliar term “mammon”. I spent weeks trying to understand what Jesus was saying. I’m not sure that I ever worked it out.

Years later, in 2008 as Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix during the market collapse and the subsequent regional depression, I finally understood. I watched the way that the managers and the laborers responded to the financial crisis. And I began to see the deeper point Jesus was making. It’s not simply about the afterlife and getting someone to speak up for you before the judgement-seat, it’s also about how to survive in a world when nothing is guaranteed.

I talk about what I saw and what I learned in the sermon this week. I hope you find it interesting and perhaps useful.

The direct like to the video is found here.