The Sure Thing
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Understanding this difficult parable requires our people to follow along with Jesus as he turns a sort of logical back flip. The Lord's not commending unethical behavior, of course, but he is commending the unjust manager's zeal (as misdirected as it is). As we decide how to allocate our resources of time, talent, and treasure, we shouldn't let God's work be a mere afterthought. Christ's work ought to demand the same level of energy and acumen some of us bring to the dog-eat-dog world of business. This week's Immediate Word begins with Carlos Wilton and a response from Paul Bresnahan. There are illustrations, a worship resource, and a children's sermon also included.
The Sure Thing
Carlos Wilton
Luke 16:1-13
THE WORLD
What a skunk the unjust manager is in Jesus' parable! So, why on earth does Jesus speak of this shyster with seeming admiration, before advising his listeners, "make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth" (Luke 16:9)?
This is a hard parable to understand. Yet, it's worth preaching on, because it's a story that belongs to the real world -- the world in which our listeners live, do business, and relate to others. It's a world in which politicians have to give tainted campaign contributions away to charity because they came from dubious donors, and pro football teams are fined half a million dollars and a draft pick because their coaches were caught spying on the competition. No, we don't have to look very far before we realize the unjust manager's descendants are all around us.
The unjust manager -- in the tradition of con artists from way back -- will do nearly anything to hang onto a lucrative deal he considers a "sure thing." Most of us are not so bold. We wish for certainty before acting. "Be bold!" the Lord is saying to us -- "Not in the accumulation of dishonest wealth, but in promoting God's interests!"
There's an even surer thing, Jesus teaches, than the machinations of relentless self-interest. It is pursuing God's way.
THE WORD
It's a story about a rich man who owns an estate. The owner is rarely there, so he has retained a manager to look out for his interests. This manager is responsible for running the estate -- especially for collecting the rents owed by the tenant farmers.
The whole arrangement is a lot like a plantation of the Old South, in the sharecropper days following the Civil War. Enthroned at the top of the economic pyramid is the absentee landlord, who rakes in enormous profits by doing absolutely nothing. At the bottom of the pyramid are the field workers -- supposedly free people, but in reality little more than slaves. They labor long hours for very little profit (once the landowner's rent is taken off the top).
As in the coal miners' blues song of the 1930s, "they owe their soul to the company store." Just how much they do owe is obvious from the figures Jesus cites: one farmer owes a hundred jugs of olive oil, another a hundred containers of wheat. That's not chump change.
Right in the middle of the whole shameful enterprise sits the estate manager. This man lives in luxury in his master's vacant house. The laborers can see him there, of an evening, as they return from the fields. They glimpse him through the window, bathed in golden light. He's decked himself out in the finest of clothes. His feet are propped on the table, as he savors an after-dinner glass of fine wine.
The manager, in short, is behaving in every way as though he's the master -- when, as all the field-workers know, he's no better than any of them.
There's a further wrinkle to this sordid tale. The estate manager has been robbing the landowner blind and everybody knows it. He's been squandering the cash reserves of the estate on high living. Finally, word reaches the master of what's been going on, and an answer from him is not long in coming.
A certified letter arrives on the manager's desk. In meticulously crafted legal prose, he reads that his master is on his way over, with a team of accountants in tow. They intend to reckon out exactly how much cash he's bilked the company for.
Now, most people, confronted with ominous news like that, would head for the hills straightaway - and maybe that's what the landowner secretly hopes will happen. But this estate manager is made of sterner stuff. He's a grifter from way back. He knows he's got to think fast if he's going to salvage any profit for himself out of the situation.
The manager calls each of the tenant farmers in turn and asks them how much they reckon they owe his boss. "A hundred jugs of olive oil," says one, hanging his head in shame. The manager extracts his Mont Blanc fountain pen from his vest pocket, and with a triumphant flourish, draws a line through that figure in the ledger book. "Make it fifty," he says, flashing a beneficent smile.
The next farmer admits he owes a hundred measures of wheat. "Did I hear you say a hundred?" asks the manager, with a wink. "This book here says you only owe eighty." On and on he goes, reducing the debt of each tenant in turn. While each tenant assumes it's the landowner who has ordered the reductions.
When the lord of the manor finally does show up, he's confronted with a scene of riotous jubilation: a whole village of happy tenant farmers, who've just taken up a collection for a statue in his honor. How can the owner possibly fire his manager now?
Instead, he does the next best thing -- and here's the surprising twist to this parable. The estate owner congratulates his manager for his shrewdness. "You're a promising young businessman," he says, clapping him on the back. "Have a cigar. I need bold risk-takers like you in my organization. Take my Lear Jet and fly to the Cayman Islands. I'm making you executive vice president of my offshore holding company!"
This story seems to violate every principle behind the biblical parables -- at least, as most of us understand them. Most of us have been taught that parables are simple, allegorical tales. It's a reasonable assessment, based on certain interpretations of parables found in the Bible (see Luke 8:10-15, for an allegorical interpretation of the Parable of Sower; the authenticity of this interpretation as coming from Jesus is disputed by scholars).
There's a great deal more going on beneath the surface of this parable. According to Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, in their Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Fortress, 2003), p. 292, the subsistence economy in first-century Palestine was built on close personal relationships. The steward in the story is more than just an employee of the landowner; he is -- while not a member of the family -- someone for whom the landowner feels a certain kinship and responsibility. It's not easy to simply fire such a person, who is an integral part of the household -- if not by birth, then by long association. This system of patronage was deeply established.
Malina and Rohrbaugh write: "In the New Testament the language of grace is the language of patronage. God is the ultimate patron whose resources are graciously given, often mediated through Jesus the broker... By proclaiming that the 'Kingdom of God has come near' (Mark 1:15), Jesus in effect is announcing the forthcoming theocracy of Israel along with the ready presence of divine patronage" (p. 390).
Remember, too, that many of Jesus' listeners are peasants that are exploited by landowners. Anyone who forces the rich to subsidize the poor, by whatever means, has sort of a Robin Hood appeal.
In telling the parable, Jesus is not saying the manager is a paragon of virtue. Quite the opposite is true. This is an example of what we could call a "so much more than" logical move. It goes like this: "If such is true of A, then so much more is the same thing true of B." That "thing" that is true of the unjust manager and what Jesus expects faithful Christians to do is boldness.
Translation: "Look at the shrewdness, the enthusiasm, with which the sleazy shysters and charlatans of this world acquire riches for themselves. If you, the children of light, could marshal just a fraction of that cleverness for God's work, for serving others, what good could be accomplished!"
Jesus is saying something similar to what Batman or Superman might say of some recently vanquished super-villain: "If only he could have used his power for good!"
It's a complex, meticulously executed logical back flip -- one familiar to the ears of many of Jesus' listeners (skilled as they are in following rabbinical debates). Our listeners, however, will find it hard to follow where Jesus is taking us with this story, without some coaching from the preacher.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
There are plenty of examples of things done by people in power or authority today that inhabit a sort of ethical gray area: behavior not so blatant, in every instance, as to be called illegal, but which certainly leaves an unsavory odor in its wake.
There are recent news stories about presidential candidates diverting tainted campaign contributions to charity:
Another story tells of how the New England Patriots football team has been fined half a million dollars and stripped of one of its draft picks for using video technology to decipher the on-field signals of opposing teams:
There are also stories, out of New Jersey, of several widespread bribery "stings" planned by the FBI, that have ensnared politicians operating under unspoken "pay to play" rules:
Such stories provide ample evidence that, for a great many of our people, the daily struggle for economic survival in the marketplace is one that often displays a certain ethical ambiguity.
In Jesus' parable, the dishonest manager ends up doing a lot of good in spite of himself. After all, he does lift the crushing load of debt from the shoulders of the tenant farmers. He does it, of course, for all the wrong reasons -- and, even the very money he uses in doing it is not his own, but is stolen from his master. As evil and as larcenous as he is, the manager still knows that, in order to hang on to his ill-gotten gains, he's got to convert the wealth into such a form that his master's accountants can't get their hands on it. So he converts it into good will.
There's a (perhaps apocryphal) story of Henry Ford, pioneer automaker, that's strikingly similar. It seems that Ford was visiting his family's ancestral village in Ireland. Two trustees of the local hospital found out he was there and managed to get in to see him.
They talked Ford into giving the hospital five thousand dollars (this was the 1930s, so five thousand was a great deal of money). The next morning, at breakfast, he opened his daily newspaper, to read the banner headline: "American Millionaire Gives Fifty Thousand to Local Hospital."
Ford wasted no time in summoning the two hospital trustees. He waved the newspaper in their faces. "What does this mean?" he demanded.
The trustees apologized profusely. "Dreadful error," they said. They promised to get the editor to print a retraction the next day, declaring that the great Henry Ford had given not fifty thousand, but only five.
Hearing this, Ford offered them another forty-five thousand, under one condition: that the trustees would erect a marble arch at the new hospital entrance, and place upon it a plaque that read, "I walked among you and you took me in."
ANOTHER VIEW
With all that I am and all that I have
Paul Bresnahan
There are many weddings in the historic church I serve. Some want to be married here just because the building is very beautiful, and the historic nature of the place certainly gives it a certain ambience. Its proximity to a fine, old hotel also helps since it is a lovely setting for a host of wedding receptions. It is not unusual for a couple to find the hotel first and the church next. We do have an extra charge for non-member so the entire thing works well for everyone. It is what we call in the business world a "win-win."
It sounds a bit like the parable in today's gospel in a way. The ideal is, of course, that each of the intended spouses should, by rights, be a member of the church or even a practicing Christian. The reality often falls short of the mark.
I find that as I have gotten older, I'm not quite so stern about these things as I once was. After all, they're so young, and they are so much in love. The conversations we have are often so interesting. And more than once, I hear that years later, something was said or done at the wedding that led one or both of the couple back into the church, especially when a baby was born and needed to be baptized. That is when the issue of faith became somewhat more urgent.
When you're young and in love, there are often other things on your mind.
But there is a statement in the wedding service that comes to mind that has the ring of truth to it and addresses the issues that today's parable raises. As the couple exchanges their rings they say to each other, "I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of God."
Perhaps what the parable is getting at is the matter of stewardship. Perhaps God is looking to us to honor God, as we also love God. Perhaps the same can be said as the Great Commandment plays itself out as we honor and love one another.
The Great Delusion is that there is no God and that what we have is ours to do with, as we want. The Truth is that everything we are and all that we have is from God, and belongs to God. We have our possessions in trust for a short time only. For that matter, we have our lives for a rather limited amount of time. So the issue then is what we do with what we have and who we are. That is Stewardship.
In the parable, it is clear that 100% of the Rich Man's property belonged to him. It is also clear that there was some chicanery going on at the hand of his manager, so to mitigate the consequences of his corruption, he cut a deal with the master's debtors that ultimately left everyone relieved and satisfied. In fact, Jesus admired the manager for his shrewdness.
My friends as we make our way toward heaven, it behooves us to recognize that 100% of what we have and who we are belong to God. I would like to say that I honor God with all of that 100%. If I am honest about it, I can manage only a portion of my life in honor to God. I'd like to think that a large percentage of my life honors God. I know 100% belongs to God. It is only by God's Grace and through Christ's redeeming love that my salvation is won and my forgiveness is procured. This may be the "deal" Jesus has cut with us. "Give me what you can and I'll pay the price for the rest with the blood I pour out for you."
And so my friend, quickly sit down and give God what you can. Let me summon you one by one, and we'll figure out what you can give of what you have and who you are. I know you owe God 100% but let's make that 80%, 50%, or 30% depending on what we can salvage of your life. After all, isn't that what salvation is? Isn't that the church's calling? We are called to be a salvage operation for God, for God's people, and for the sake of the world.
One last word too about this wedding... the Great Wedding Feast toward which we are all invited. As we make our deals with God, remember that is not so much the amount of the gift that matters to God, it is the amount of love that goes into the gift that matters. That's what matters to the young when they got married in the first place. It is still what matters so many years later as we age and look to one another and wonder; "Do you love me?"
Let us say it often: "With all that I am and all that I have, I honor You!"
ILLUSTRATIONS
The secularists call it blind luck or fate, the faithful call it providence, but sometimes the configuration of events almost seems to illustrate the "shrewdness of God." There is a young man in our town that about twenty years ago was arrested and convicted of a brutal murder and rape. He happened to be black, and the victim was white and this certainly contributed to the emotions surrounding the case. In many ways, the young man, Darryl Hunt, did not have a lot to recommend him. He was a street kid without a family, job, or other characteristic that would make people stop and think that maybe he was not the murderer. There was, however, a young black lawyer who remembered Darryl because he had once played basketball with him in some pick-up games. The lawyer, Larry Little, just could not believe that the young man with whom he had played basketball could have committed such a violent act. Through eighteen years and three trials, Larry kept advocating for Darryl. Finally, science caught up with justice and DNA proved Darryl was innocent. He was released from prison and now advocates on behalf of the innocent in prison work to help those who are released to reenter society. One has to wonder, given the climate of racism, the lack of obvious redeeming characteristics, and the ease with which society can only maintain their focus on any issue for a short period of time, if it was not the shrewdness of God that made use of a basketball game to plant the seed that not only released an innocent man from prison but shaped a tireless advocate for those currently caught up in our prison system.
* * *
"If you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" We are all caught up in living in an impure world. I have a friend who for years was a chaplain with the Reynolds Tobacco Company. As it became more and more obvious that tobacco caused a myriad of health problems, he began to hear criticism about his willingness to work for such a company. Now retired, he is writing a book about his experience. In it he tells of countless times when his intervention as chaplain saved a marriage, prevented a suicide, interrupted a violent interchange between workers, or transformed a disaster into a possibility. Was he working with dishonest wealth? Many would say so. Yet, because he was faithful to his calling in the midst of an impure world, many individuals experienced the touch of the gospel. Is the incarnation, is not the supreme example of the shrewdness of God revealed through Christ who associated with sinners that the grace of God might be made visible? It was certainly not because his behavior always met with approval. Rather, was it not because through it all Jesus remained faithful to the God who had called him to proclaim grace in the midst of a sinful world?
* * *
"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Most of us hear that as a slightly disconcerting admonition to individuals to not make wealth our idol. Try to picture, however, the impact of churches taking that as Jesus' admonition to the Body of Christ. How many churches get so focused on acquiring the funds to operate and protecting their resources against the threats of the future that they allow their witness for Christ to become distorted? It is not that we are not concerned about the needy of the world. Rather it is that we do not believe that we have sufficient to help them and maintain ourselves. In Mark 6:30-44, the disciples express their concern about the physical needs of the crowd gathered around Jesus. One should recognize that as genuine compassion on behalf of the disciples. Yet, when Jesus suggests that the disciples offer them something to eat, the disciples reply that they lack the resources to do that. The miracle happens when the disciples are willing to entrust what little they have to Jesus, who blesses it and returns it to the disciples. When they risked what they had in obedience to Jesus, they discovered that they had more than enough to feed everyone and have much left over. They worshiped God rather than wealth and they were abundantly blessed. May it be so for the church of Jesus Christ.
* * *
We are working right now on building a house for Habitat for Humanity. I would say that Habitat understands this parable. They just don't build a house and then hand the keys over to a person on the street, walk away and say, "God bless." There is a stringent interview process to receive a Habitat house. You have to have a job, no police record, and be drug free. You have to have lived independently on your own for at least a year, paying all of your bills. You have to put in 250 hours of sweat equity into your house and other houses. When you do receive a house, you have to stay in that house for a few years before selling it so you just don't turn it to make a profit. Finally, you have to be a mentor for a new Habitat owner to help them understand utilities, mortgages, and maintenance. After surviving all of that, you receive the house and take on the fifteen-year, interest free mortgage of about $50 to $60,000. Habitat does not give houses away. That's just smart.
* * *
Where else could we use that same shrewd street smarts for the kingdom? Think about that driven businessperson closing the hardest deals -- put him on evangelism because he knows how people think. Think about that neurotic mom brooding over her children -- put her on the nursery team because she can see it through the eyes of a mother. Think about that anxious high school student worrying about SAT -- what does that teach us about not worrying about tomorrow? Think about that competitive athlete practicing for the game -- what message does she have about persistence? Think about that elementary student spending hours trying to find that secrete doorway in that favorite Ps2 or Nintendo game -- what creativity and problem solving! Jesus is saying, "Can we use that same creative ingenuity, that same focused energy, and same amount of time that you already are spending, that you know is needed, that's currently being focused on worldly things and use that for the sake of the kingdom?" I remember talking with a member whose brother borrowed money from every member of the family. When he finally came to him for a "loan," he thought, "I can either throw several thousand dollars down a hole or I can help him find a job, establish credit, and get back on his own two feet." His street smarts convinced him that his brother needed more than a blank check.
* * *
Look closely at this parable again. This parable was spoken to the disciples, not to the masses. Jesus was addressing the future leaders of the church. To Matthew, a tax collector who understood money, Jesus says, "Use that gift for the sake of the kingdom." To fishermen who had to barter with others to make a living, Jesus says, "Use that experience for the sake of the kingdom." To you who know how life works, whether it is advertisement or finances, teaching or wheeling and dealing in the boardroom, Jesus says, "Use that for the sake of the kingdom."
Why must it be this way? In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves (it's a jungle out there). So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Get it? Be wise, cunning, shrewd as serpents who use their street smarts and be as innocent, blameless, spotless as doves who must give an accounting of their lives one day to God.
* * *
I attended a church-related college in Florida, in an area that contained three greyhound race tracks. Struggling financially in its first year or so, the trustees were approached by one of the race tracks, which offered to give a percentage of the profits for one night to the college as a charitable gift. It would have been much needed money, but as you can imagine, it generated a rather heated debate at the trustees meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, one Trustee gave an impassioned plea as to how the money could not be accepted. It came from gambling, it came from the devil, it was ill-gotten gains, "It is tainted money," he exclaimed loudly and sat down. At that point, the dean of the college is said to have remarked calmly, "'Taint enough."
* * *
Self-employed, skilled workers often face difficult moral choices. A fellow who does home repairs tells of going into people's homes, discovering the work that is needed, and, of course, being asked how much he will charge. Many times when he gives an estimate, the owner will come back with, "If I pay you in cash, will you give me a discount? After all, you would not have to report it on your income tax." He is expected to cheat, so they can get a deal.
* * *
Speaking of this parable, Elton Trueblood talks about the struggle to "bring into harmony what is a plain contradiction." He says "at the worst, the parable becomes a means of Scriptural defense for the worldliness of the Church and for otherwise damaging compromises with the existing political and economic order." His hypothesis about the parable? "Jesus was joking. And why not? Since we have already seen abundant evidence that He was joking on other occasions, there is nothing intrinsically unreasonable about the probability that He is joking in His story of the unscrupulous employee... After the humorous banter, which is apparently meant to be transparent, Christ gives His real teaching, to the effect that not even a small degree of unfaithfulness in what belongs to another is to be permitted."
-- "The Humor of Christ" by Elton Trueblood
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Thom Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: We gather together to celebrate
the joy in our lives.
People: God's love fills our hearts
to overflowing with laughter.
Leader: We gather, in God's presence,
to find comfort and hope for our pain.
People: God's grace wipes away our tears
and knits us together as one people.
Leader: We gather together, in God's presence,
to worship God in faith and truth.
People: Alleluia! Amen!
Prayer of the Day
Healing God,
when dismay
is our daily companion,
you come to touch us
with your healing hope.
When grief falls on us
like a wall of bricks,
you rebuild our joy
with your comfort and love.
Jesus Christ,
Faithful Spirit,
when bullies pick on us,
you stand by our side.
When neighbors taunt us
for choosing to be faithful,
you commend us
for our wisdom.
Teaching Spirit,
when we are heart-sick
over the brokenness of our lives,
your compassion races
to bring your gentle balm.
When our joy is gone
and we are stained
by the world's cruelty,
you bathe us in the tears
flowing from God's broken heart.
God in Community, Holy in One,
hear us as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
Before we speak, God knows our needs,
yet our words open our hearts to God's
grace. Let us prepare ourselves for God's
healing as, in words and silence, we tell of
all that separates us from God and one
another. Please join me as we pray,
Unison Prayer of Confession
First of all, Everlasting God, we must confess
how we have not lived as your people. We
serve many masters -- work, wealth, power,
addictions -- yet find no hope in them. We hear
the cries of the poor, and shut the doors of our
hearts to them. We ridicule those who expose
their hopes and dreams to us.
Forgive us, Compassion's Heart, and heal us
of our brokenness. Make us well, so that by
our healing, we might be the hope and love
others need in their lives, even as Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, brought these gifts to us,
calling us to be faithful with the grace, peace,
and joy entrusted to us.
(Silence is kept)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Now that we have let go of the pain,
the bitterness, the anger of our lives,
let us be kind, tender-hearted, and
gentle toward each other, forgiving
as God has forgiven us.
People: We are God's beloved children, and
will model God's grace and love in
our hearts. Thanks be to God! We
are forgiven! Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Are you a good steward?
Object: a houseplant
I brought this plant from home this morning. Isn't it beautiful? I love this plant. I've taken care of it for a long time. This plant needs me to survive. What do you think I do to take care of it? (get responses) I give it water, sunlight, and plant food. I pull weeds out of the soil and trim it so that it grows strong. If you want to own a plant, you have to do things to take care of it so it will grow and not die.
A steward is someone who takes care of things. I want to be a good steward of the things I have. I want to take good care of my plants, my pets, my home, my family, my money -- anything that God has given me. Everything I have is a gift to me from God. He gives me things and trusts me to take care of them. He wants me to be a good steward.
Some of the things I care for, like my family, are really important. Some things, like this plant, are not as important. My family means more to me than this plant, but I take care of them both. God has given them to me. They are special, no matter how important they may seem to anyone else.
In our verse today we are reminded to be faithful in caring for things big and small. If we are dishonest or are a bad steward in small things, we are likely to be the same way with big things. How you care for little things says much about how you will take care of the bigger ones.
That's why this plant means so much to me. I want to take good care of it, because it helps me to remember to take care of the other special things in my life. All things are gifts from God, no matter how large or small, no matter how important or seemingly unimportant. Take care of the things God has given you.
Prayer: God, you have given us all many wonderful things. Thank you for all you do for us. Show us how to care for all your gifts, no matter how big or small they are. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 23, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
The Sure Thing
Carlos Wilton
Luke 16:1-13
THE WORLD
What a skunk the unjust manager is in Jesus' parable! So, why on earth does Jesus speak of this shyster with seeming admiration, before advising his listeners, "make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth" (Luke 16:9)?
This is a hard parable to understand. Yet, it's worth preaching on, because it's a story that belongs to the real world -- the world in which our listeners live, do business, and relate to others. It's a world in which politicians have to give tainted campaign contributions away to charity because they came from dubious donors, and pro football teams are fined half a million dollars and a draft pick because their coaches were caught spying on the competition. No, we don't have to look very far before we realize the unjust manager's descendants are all around us.
The unjust manager -- in the tradition of con artists from way back -- will do nearly anything to hang onto a lucrative deal he considers a "sure thing." Most of us are not so bold. We wish for certainty before acting. "Be bold!" the Lord is saying to us -- "Not in the accumulation of dishonest wealth, but in promoting God's interests!"
There's an even surer thing, Jesus teaches, than the machinations of relentless self-interest. It is pursuing God's way.
THE WORD
It's a story about a rich man who owns an estate. The owner is rarely there, so he has retained a manager to look out for his interests. This manager is responsible for running the estate -- especially for collecting the rents owed by the tenant farmers.
The whole arrangement is a lot like a plantation of the Old South, in the sharecropper days following the Civil War. Enthroned at the top of the economic pyramid is the absentee landlord, who rakes in enormous profits by doing absolutely nothing. At the bottom of the pyramid are the field workers -- supposedly free people, but in reality little more than slaves. They labor long hours for very little profit (once the landowner's rent is taken off the top).
As in the coal miners' blues song of the 1930s, "they owe their soul to the company store." Just how much they do owe is obvious from the figures Jesus cites: one farmer owes a hundred jugs of olive oil, another a hundred containers of wheat. That's not chump change.
Right in the middle of the whole shameful enterprise sits the estate manager. This man lives in luxury in his master's vacant house. The laborers can see him there, of an evening, as they return from the fields. They glimpse him through the window, bathed in golden light. He's decked himself out in the finest of clothes. His feet are propped on the table, as he savors an after-dinner glass of fine wine.
The manager, in short, is behaving in every way as though he's the master -- when, as all the field-workers know, he's no better than any of them.
There's a further wrinkle to this sordid tale. The estate manager has been robbing the landowner blind and everybody knows it. He's been squandering the cash reserves of the estate on high living. Finally, word reaches the master of what's been going on, and an answer from him is not long in coming.
A certified letter arrives on the manager's desk. In meticulously crafted legal prose, he reads that his master is on his way over, with a team of accountants in tow. They intend to reckon out exactly how much cash he's bilked the company for.
Now, most people, confronted with ominous news like that, would head for the hills straightaway - and maybe that's what the landowner secretly hopes will happen. But this estate manager is made of sterner stuff. He's a grifter from way back. He knows he's got to think fast if he's going to salvage any profit for himself out of the situation.
The manager calls each of the tenant farmers in turn and asks them how much they reckon they owe his boss. "A hundred jugs of olive oil," says one, hanging his head in shame. The manager extracts his Mont Blanc fountain pen from his vest pocket, and with a triumphant flourish, draws a line through that figure in the ledger book. "Make it fifty," he says, flashing a beneficent smile.
The next farmer admits he owes a hundred measures of wheat. "Did I hear you say a hundred?" asks the manager, with a wink. "This book here says you only owe eighty." On and on he goes, reducing the debt of each tenant in turn. While each tenant assumes it's the landowner who has ordered the reductions.
When the lord of the manor finally does show up, he's confronted with a scene of riotous jubilation: a whole village of happy tenant farmers, who've just taken up a collection for a statue in his honor. How can the owner possibly fire his manager now?
Instead, he does the next best thing -- and here's the surprising twist to this parable. The estate owner congratulates his manager for his shrewdness. "You're a promising young businessman," he says, clapping him on the back. "Have a cigar. I need bold risk-takers like you in my organization. Take my Lear Jet and fly to the Cayman Islands. I'm making you executive vice president of my offshore holding company!"
This story seems to violate every principle behind the biblical parables -- at least, as most of us understand them. Most of us have been taught that parables are simple, allegorical tales. It's a reasonable assessment, based on certain interpretations of parables found in the Bible (see Luke 8:10-15, for an allegorical interpretation of the Parable of Sower; the authenticity of this interpretation as coming from Jesus is disputed by scholars).
There's a great deal more going on beneath the surface of this parable. According to Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, in their Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Fortress, 2003), p. 292, the subsistence economy in first-century Palestine was built on close personal relationships. The steward in the story is more than just an employee of the landowner; he is -- while not a member of the family -- someone for whom the landowner feels a certain kinship and responsibility. It's not easy to simply fire such a person, who is an integral part of the household -- if not by birth, then by long association. This system of patronage was deeply established.
Malina and Rohrbaugh write: "In the New Testament the language of grace is the language of patronage. God is the ultimate patron whose resources are graciously given, often mediated through Jesus the broker... By proclaiming that the 'Kingdom of God has come near' (Mark 1:15), Jesus in effect is announcing the forthcoming theocracy of Israel along with the ready presence of divine patronage" (p. 390).
Remember, too, that many of Jesus' listeners are peasants that are exploited by landowners. Anyone who forces the rich to subsidize the poor, by whatever means, has sort of a Robin Hood appeal.
In telling the parable, Jesus is not saying the manager is a paragon of virtue. Quite the opposite is true. This is an example of what we could call a "so much more than" logical move. It goes like this: "If such is true of A, then so much more is the same thing true of B." That "thing" that is true of the unjust manager and what Jesus expects faithful Christians to do is boldness.
Translation: "Look at the shrewdness, the enthusiasm, with which the sleazy shysters and charlatans of this world acquire riches for themselves. If you, the children of light, could marshal just a fraction of that cleverness for God's work, for serving others, what good could be accomplished!"
Jesus is saying something similar to what Batman or Superman might say of some recently vanquished super-villain: "If only he could have used his power for good!"
It's a complex, meticulously executed logical back flip -- one familiar to the ears of many of Jesus' listeners (skilled as they are in following rabbinical debates). Our listeners, however, will find it hard to follow where Jesus is taking us with this story, without some coaching from the preacher.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
There are plenty of examples of things done by people in power or authority today that inhabit a sort of ethical gray area: behavior not so blatant, in every instance, as to be called illegal, but which certainly leaves an unsavory odor in its wake.
There are recent news stories about presidential candidates diverting tainted campaign contributions to charity:
Another story tells of how the New England Patriots football team has been fined half a million dollars and stripped of one of its draft picks for using video technology to decipher the on-field signals of opposing teams:
There are also stories, out of New Jersey, of several widespread bribery "stings" planned by the FBI, that have ensnared politicians operating under unspoken "pay to play" rules:
Such stories provide ample evidence that, for a great many of our people, the daily struggle for economic survival in the marketplace is one that often displays a certain ethical ambiguity.
In Jesus' parable, the dishonest manager ends up doing a lot of good in spite of himself. After all, he does lift the crushing load of debt from the shoulders of the tenant farmers. He does it, of course, for all the wrong reasons -- and, even the very money he uses in doing it is not his own, but is stolen from his master. As evil and as larcenous as he is, the manager still knows that, in order to hang on to his ill-gotten gains, he's got to convert the wealth into such a form that his master's accountants can't get their hands on it. So he converts it into good will.
There's a (perhaps apocryphal) story of Henry Ford, pioneer automaker, that's strikingly similar. It seems that Ford was visiting his family's ancestral village in Ireland. Two trustees of the local hospital found out he was there and managed to get in to see him.
They talked Ford into giving the hospital five thousand dollars (this was the 1930s, so five thousand was a great deal of money). The next morning, at breakfast, he opened his daily newspaper, to read the banner headline: "American Millionaire Gives Fifty Thousand to Local Hospital."
Ford wasted no time in summoning the two hospital trustees. He waved the newspaper in their faces. "What does this mean?" he demanded.
The trustees apologized profusely. "Dreadful error," they said. They promised to get the editor to print a retraction the next day, declaring that the great Henry Ford had given not fifty thousand, but only five.
Hearing this, Ford offered them another forty-five thousand, under one condition: that the trustees would erect a marble arch at the new hospital entrance, and place upon it a plaque that read, "I walked among you and you took me in."
ANOTHER VIEW
With all that I am and all that I have
Paul Bresnahan
There are many weddings in the historic church I serve. Some want to be married here just because the building is very beautiful, and the historic nature of the place certainly gives it a certain ambience. Its proximity to a fine, old hotel also helps since it is a lovely setting for a host of wedding receptions. It is not unusual for a couple to find the hotel first and the church next. We do have an extra charge for non-member so the entire thing works well for everyone. It is what we call in the business world a "win-win."
It sounds a bit like the parable in today's gospel in a way. The ideal is, of course, that each of the intended spouses should, by rights, be a member of the church or even a practicing Christian. The reality often falls short of the mark.
I find that as I have gotten older, I'm not quite so stern about these things as I once was. After all, they're so young, and they are so much in love. The conversations we have are often so interesting. And more than once, I hear that years later, something was said or done at the wedding that led one or both of the couple back into the church, especially when a baby was born and needed to be baptized. That is when the issue of faith became somewhat more urgent.
When you're young and in love, there are often other things on your mind.
But there is a statement in the wedding service that comes to mind that has the ring of truth to it and addresses the issues that today's parable raises. As the couple exchanges their rings they say to each other, "I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of God."
Perhaps what the parable is getting at is the matter of stewardship. Perhaps God is looking to us to honor God, as we also love God. Perhaps the same can be said as the Great Commandment plays itself out as we honor and love one another.
The Great Delusion is that there is no God and that what we have is ours to do with, as we want. The Truth is that everything we are and all that we have is from God, and belongs to God. We have our possessions in trust for a short time only. For that matter, we have our lives for a rather limited amount of time. So the issue then is what we do with what we have and who we are. That is Stewardship.
In the parable, it is clear that 100% of the Rich Man's property belonged to him. It is also clear that there was some chicanery going on at the hand of his manager, so to mitigate the consequences of his corruption, he cut a deal with the master's debtors that ultimately left everyone relieved and satisfied. In fact, Jesus admired the manager for his shrewdness.
My friends as we make our way toward heaven, it behooves us to recognize that 100% of what we have and who we are belong to God. I would like to say that I honor God with all of that 100%. If I am honest about it, I can manage only a portion of my life in honor to God. I'd like to think that a large percentage of my life honors God. I know 100% belongs to God. It is only by God's Grace and through Christ's redeeming love that my salvation is won and my forgiveness is procured. This may be the "deal" Jesus has cut with us. "Give me what you can and I'll pay the price for the rest with the blood I pour out for you."
And so my friend, quickly sit down and give God what you can. Let me summon you one by one, and we'll figure out what you can give of what you have and who you are. I know you owe God 100% but let's make that 80%, 50%, or 30% depending on what we can salvage of your life. After all, isn't that what salvation is? Isn't that the church's calling? We are called to be a salvage operation for God, for God's people, and for the sake of the world.
One last word too about this wedding... the Great Wedding Feast toward which we are all invited. As we make our deals with God, remember that is not so much the amount of the gift that matters to God, it is the amount of love that goes into the gift that matters. That's what matters to the young when they got married in the first place. It is still what matters so many years later as we age and look to one another and wonder; "Do you love me?"
Let us say it often: "With all that I am and all that I have, I honor You!"
ILLUSTRATIONS
The secularists call it blind luck or fate, the faithful call it providence, but sometimes the configuration of events almost seems to illustrate the "shrewdness of God." There is a young man in our town that about twenty years ago was arrested and convicted of a brutal murder and rape. He happened to be black, and the victim was white and this certainly contributed to the emotions surrounding the case. In many ways, the young man, Darryl Hunt, did not have a lot to recommend him. He was a street kid without a family, job, or other characteristic that would make people stop and think that maybe he was not the murderer. There was, however, a young black lawyer who remembered Darryl because he had once played basketball with him in some pick-up games. The lawyer, Larry Little, just could not believe that the young man with whom he had played basketball could have committed such a violent act. Through eighteen years and three trials, Larry kept advocating for Darryl. Finally, science caught up with justice and DNA proved Darryl was innocent. He was released from prison and now advocates on behalf of the innocent in prison work to help those who are released to reenter society. One has to wonder, given the climate of racism, the lack of obvious redeeming characteristics, and the ease with which society can only maintain their focus on any issue for a short period of time, if it was not the shrewdness of God that made use of a basketball game to plant the seed that not only released an innocent man from prison but shaped a tireless advocate for those currently caught up in our prison system.
* * *
"If you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" We are all caught up in living in an impure world. I have a friend who for years was a chaplain with the Reynolds Tobacco Company. As it became more and more obvious that tobacco caused a myriad of health problems, he began to hear criticism about his willingness to work for such a company. Now retired, he is writing a book about his experience. In it he tells of countless times when his intervention as chaplain saved a marriage, prevented a suicide, interrupted a violent interchange between workers, or transformed a disaster into a possibility. Was he working with dishonest wealth? Many would say so. Yet, because he was faithful to his calling in the midst of an impure world, many individuals experienced the touch of the gospel. Is the incarnation, is not the supreme example of the shrewdness of God revealed through Christ who associated with sinners that the grace of God might be made visible? It was certainly not because his behavior always met with approval. Rather, was it not because through it all Jesus remained faithful to the God who had called him to proclaim grace in the midst of a sinful world?
* * *
"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Most of us hear that as a slightly disconcerting admonition to individuals to not make wealth our idol. Try to picture, however, the impact of churches taking that as Jesus' admonition to the Body of Christ. How many churches get so focused on acquiring the funds to operate and protecting their resources against the threats of the future that they allow their witness for Christ to become distorted? It is not that we are not concerned about the needy of the world. Rather it is that we do not believe that we have sufficient to help them and maintain ourselves. In Mark 6:30-44, the disciples express their concern about the physical needs of the crowd gathered around Jesus. One should recognize that as genuine compassion on behalf of the disciples. Yet, when Jesus suggests that the disciples offer them something to eat, the disciples reply that they lack the resources to do that. The miracle happens when the disciples are willing to entrust what little they have to Jesus, who blesses it and returns it to the disciples. When they risked what they had in obedience to Jesus, they discovered that they had more than enough to feed everyone and have much left over. They worshiped God rather than wealth and they were abundantly blessed. May it be so for the church of Jesus Christ.
* * *
We are working right now on building a house for Habitat for Humanity. I would say that Habitat understands this parable. They just don't build a house and then hand the keys over to a person on the street, walk away and say, "God bless." There is a stringent interview process to receive a Habitat house. You have to have a job, no police record, and be drug free. You have to have lived independently on your own for at least a year, paying all of your bills. You have to put in 250 hours of sweat equity into your house and other houses. When you do receive a house, you have to stay in that house for a few years before selling it so you just don't turn it to make a profit. Finally, you have to be a mentor for a new Habitat owner to help them understand utilities, mortgages, and maintenance. After surviving all of that, you receive the house and take on the fifteen-year, interest free mortgage of about $50 to $60,000. Habitat does not give houses away. That's just smart.
* * *
Where else could we use that same shrewd street smarts for the kingdom? Think about that driven businessperson closing the hardest deals -- put him on evangelism because he knows how people think. Think about that neurotic mom brooding over her children -- put her on the nursery team because she can see it through the eyes of a mother. Think about that anxious high school student worrying about SAT -- what does that teach us about not worrying about tomorrow? Think about that competitive athlete practicing for the game -- what message does she have about persistence? Think about that elementary student spending hours trying to find that secrete doorway in that favorite Ps2 or Nintendo game -- what creativity and problem solving! Jesus is saying, "Can we use that same creative ingenuity, that same focused energy, and same amount of time that you already are spending, that you know is needed, that's currently being focused on worldly things and use that for the sake of the kingdom?" I remember talking with a member whose brother borrowed money from every member of the family. When he finally came to him for a "loan," he thought, "I can either throw several thousand dollars down a hole or I can help him find a job, establish credit, and get back on his own two feet." His street smarts convinced him that his brother needed more than a blank check.
* * *
Look closely at this parable again. This parable was spoken to the disciples, not to the masses. Jesus was addressing the future leaders of the church. To Matthew, a tax collector who understood money, Jesus says, "Use that gift for the sake of the kingdom." To fishermen who had to barter with others to make a living, Jesus says, "Use that experience for the sake of the kingdom." To you who know how life works, whether it is advertisement or finances, teaching or wheeling and dealing in the boardroom, Jesus says, "Use that for the sake of the kingdom."
Why must it be this way? In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves (it's a jungle out there). So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Get it? Be wise, cunning, shrewd as serpents who use their street smarts and be as innocent, blameless, spotless as doves who must give an accounting of their lives one day to God.
* * *
I attended a church-related college in Florida, in an area that contained three greyhound race tracks. Struggling financially in its first year or so, the trustees were approached by one of the race tracks, which offered to give a percentage of the profits for one night to the college as a charitable gift. It would have been much needed money, but as you can imagine, it generated a rather heated debate at the trustees meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, one Trustee gave an impassioned plea as to how the money could not be accepted. It came from gambling, it came from the devil, it was ill-gotten gains, "It is tainted money," he exclaimed loudly and sat down. At that point, the dean of the college is said to have remarked calmly, "'Taint enough."
* * *
Self-employed, skilled workers often face difficult moral choices. A fellow who does home repairs tells of going into people's homes, discovering the work that is needed, and, of course, being asked how much he will charge. Many times when he gives an estimate, the owner will come back with, "If I pay you in cash, will you give me a discount? After all, you would not have to report it on your income tax." He is expected to cheat, so they can get a deal.
* * *
Speaking of this parable, Elton Trueblood talks about the struggle to "bring into harmony what is a plain contradiction." He says "at the worst, the parable becomes a means of Scriptural defense for the worldliness of the Church and for otherwise damaging compromises with the existing political and economic order." His hypothesis about the parable? "Jesus was joking. And why not? Since we have already seen abundant evidence that He was joking on other occasions, there is nothing intrinsically unreasonable about the probability that He is joking in His story of the unscrupulous employee... After the humorous banter, which is apparently meant to be transparent, Christ gives His real teaching, to the effect that not even a small degree of unfaithfulness in what belongs to another is to be permitted."
-- "The Humor of Christ" by Elton Trueblood
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Thom Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: We gather together to celebrate
the joy in our lives.
People: God's love fills our hearts
to overflowing with laughter.
Leader: We gather, in God's presence,
to find comfort and hope for our pain.
People: God's grace wipes away our tears
and knits us together as one people.
Leader: We gather together, in God's presence,
to worship God in faith and truth.
People: Alleluia! Amen!
Prayer of the Day
Healing God,
when dismay
is our daily companion,
you come to touch us
with your healing hope.
When grief falls on us
like a wall of bricks,
you rebuild our joy
with your comfort and love.
Jesus Christ,
Faithful Spirit,
when bullies pick on us,
you stand by our side.
When neighbors taunt us
for choosing to be faithful,
you commend us
for our wisdom.
Teaching Spirit,
when we are heart-sick
over the brokenness of our lives,
your compassion races
to bring your gentle balm.
When our joy is gone
and we are stained
by the world's cruelty,
you bathe us in the tears
flowing from God's broken heart.
God in Community, Holy in One,
hear us as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
Before we speak, God knows our needs,
yet our words open our hearts to God's
grace. Let us prepare ourselves for God's
healing as, in words and silence, we tell of
all that separates us from God and one
another. Please join me as we pray,
Unison Prayer of Confession
First of all, Everlasting God, we must confess
how we have not lived as your people. We
serve many masters -- work, wealth, power,
addictions -- yet find no hope in them. We hear
the cries of the poor, and shut the doors of our
hearts to them. We ridicule those who expose
their hopes and dreams to us.
Forgive us, Compassion's Heart, and heal us
of our brokenness. Make us well, so that by
our healing, we might be the hope and love
others need in their lives, even as Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, brought these gifts to us,
calling us to be faithful with the grace, peace,
and joy entrusted to us.
(Silence is kept)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Now that we have let go of the pain,
the bitterness, the anger of our lives,
let us be kind, tender-hearted, and
gentle toward each other, forgiving
as God has forgiven us.
People: We are God's beloved children, and
will model God's grace and love in
our hearts. Thanks be to God! We
are forgiven! Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Are you a good steward?
Object: a houseplant
I brought this plant from home this morning. Isn't it beautiful? I love this plant. I've taken care of it for a long time. This plant needs me to survive. What do you think I do to take care of it? (get responses) I give it water, sunlight, and plant food. I pull weeds out of the soil and trim it so that it grows strong. If you want to own a plant, you have to do things to take care of it so it will grow and not die.
A steward is someone who takes care of things. I want to be a good steward of the things I have. I want to take good care of my plants, my pets, my home, my family, my money -- anything that God has given me. Everything I have is a gift to me from God. He gives me things and trusts me to take care of them. He wants me to be a good steward.
Some of the things I care for, like my family, are really important. Some things, like this plant, are not as important. My family means more to me than this plant, but I take care of them both. God has given them to me. They are special, no matter how important they may seem to anyone else.
In our verse today we are reminded to be faithful in caring for things big and small. If we are dishonest or are a bad steward in small things, we are likely to be the same way with big things. How you care for little things says much about how you will take care of the bigger ones.
That's why this plant means so much to me. I want to take good care of it, because it helps me to remember to take care of the other special things in my life. All things are gifts from God, no matter how large or small, no matter how important or seemingly unimportant. Take care of the things God has given you.
Prayer: God, you have given us all many wonderful things. Thank you for all you do for us. Show us how to care for all your gifts, no matter how big or small they are. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 23, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
