You can’t love God and love money: Homily for Sunday, September 21, 2025

You can’t love God and love money. The income inequality on the planet is a record levels. There was a similar situation during the time of the prophet Amos in the first reading. Jesus warns us of the danger of greed. Can we choose God over money? Readings for Today.

You can’t love God and love money

Hedge fund investor Ray Dalio, a billionaire, caught the attention of some when he made observations about the current state of wealth in the world. Speaking in Forbes Magazine, he said this:

“I believe that all good things taken to an extreme can be self-destructive, and that everything must evolve or die. This is true for capitalism.” Dalio is the owner of Bridgewater Capital, which manages over $124 billion in capital.

The Forbes article mentions these facts. “As of Q3 2023, the top 10% of Americans owned a record 93% of all U.S. stocks. A decade ago, that number was “just” 81%. Meanwhile, the bottom half of American households own less than 1% of stocks and mutual fund shares.”

“That top 1% owns more than half the total value of the public equity market—a concentration that would have been unimaginable a generation ago notes Inequalty.org.”

“The Median Retirement Savings for Half of Americans is $0: That’s right. Zero. For the bottom 50% of American families, the median retirement savings is nothing. In contrast, families in the top 10% hold a median of $610,000 explains the Economic Innovation Group (EIG).”

PAGE TWO. “Between 1989 and 2021, pension entitlements for the top 1% grew by 720%, while the bottom 50% saw just a 470% increase, EIG adds. The richest added $14 trillion to their retirement wealth; the bottom half, only $716 billion.”

“According to the OECD, about 23% of Americans aged 66 and older live in relative income poverty—the highest rate in the G7. The Racial Wealth Gap in Retirement is Stark: Median wealth for Black and Hispanic households is $24,000 and $36,000, respectively. For white households? $143,000, notes EIG. These disparities are compounded by lower access to retirement accounts and greater vulnerability to income shocks.”

I mention all of this because the prophet Amos, the author of the first reading noticed disparities in wealth among people of his age too. His message was one where the true follower of God was one who noticed that, as Mother Teresa said, “We belong to each other.”

The major concern articulated in the first reading today was how one’s religious obligations get in the way of earnings and profits. “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?”

PAGE THREE. But what is mentioned is not just the ways in which religious practice gets in the way of profit, but how dishonest means can increase profit. “We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!”

Just so we are clear, the ephah is a way to measure wheat. So, by diminishing the ephah, and adding to the currency a shekel, people would pay more for less quantity. It will be even worse, because the scales will not be accurate either. They will be fixed for cheating. And the “leftovers” of the wheat will be sold as if they are the best.

Do we realize that we belong to each other? Do we realize we will be judged by our treatment of the poor? That every other person, especially those in need, are Jesus himself for us? Are we able to be generous with our money, our time in visiting those in need, our time in welcoming the stranger, using our talents for the help of those on the margins?

Obviously, we need financial resources to live. Jesus is not suggesting our basic needs are not important, or even necessary. Jesus is warning that if we are not careful, financial resources can become our God. Rather than our possessing them, they possess us. 

PAGE FOUR. Jesus warns us of the real connection between what we might consider “small matters” and how they can lead us to sin in “major matters.” “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.”

When we realize that all we have comes from God, we are better able to see the truth of the connection of our community. We can see that we are more Christian when we recognize the eternal human dignity of every human being. And we see the destruction that occurs when we fail to acknowledge that we belong to each other.

When Jesus tells us we should sell what we have and give to the poor, it may be that Jesus is referring to what we count as our possessions. Do we allow ourselves to be possessed by material goods? Or do we allow ourselves to be possessed by God?

For it cannot be the case that we can be possessed by material goods and by God. “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.”

So, we are warned. Do we serve God, or do we serve money? Because we cannot serve both.

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