Lk 16:9-15
[Jesus said to his discipls,] 9“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10The 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. 11If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? 12If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? 13No 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 God and mammon.”
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. 15And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”
MAMMON: This word appears twice in the gospel tradition—here and in Mt 6:24. It is derived from the Aramaic word mamona which means money, property, or anything of value. The word does not appear in the Old Testament but is often used in the Targum, the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible. In the Gospel, it is used with a derogatory sense of the materialistic, even anti-God meaning. In Matthew, it is being personified and is placed opposite God. It can turn to be a master, and surrender to mammon brings practical enslavement. In Luke, Jesus warns against putting one’s trust in “dishonest wealth” (people then believed that no wealth is acquired without some form of injustice). Money could give one an illusory sense of security and independence, as well as access to temporal power. While it can certainly make one’s life comfortable, it can also be perceived as a “god” to be served.
But one can convert money and material possessions into heavenly blessings by sharing these with one’s needy brothers and sisters. Only then can a person have genuine wealth: eternal life and a share in God’s kingdom. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-30), a few verses after, illustrates the tragedy of one who enjoys his wealth and is blind to the suffering of others.