Gracious Lord, help us to follow you, especially
when we do not know how to ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I hate this parable. Yes, I know that in Second Timothy we read that “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” but still, I hate this parable. I mean, seriously, “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth”? That sounds more like something from an Enron deposition than it does Jesus. The parable does not have a clear meaning, it’s confusing, and just has a general feel of “ickiness.”
When
Jesus tells the parable of the sower and explains that some seeds fall on good
soil and some on bad, Scripture then records Jesus’ explanation of that, fairly
self-evident, parable. But here, in what nearly every scholar and reader of
Scripture calls the most difficult parable there is, we get nothing except for
a bunch of one-liners about money tacked onto the end of it. One Roman emperor
who opposed Christianity used this parable as evidence that Christians are
liars, thieves, and con-artists not to be trusted.
As
will become evident in this sermon, I’m really not sure what point Jesus was
trying to make with this parable, but I really wish he would have spelled it
out a bit more clearly or used an example that doesn’t seem so, well, un-Christian.
That’s why I hate this parable, which exactly why I need to wrestle with this
passage instead of taking the easier way out of preaching about the balm of
Gilead in Jeremiah or the mediation of Jeus Christ in First Timothy, as tempted
as I am to just ignore this parable as most Christians have for 2,000 years.
Afterall, when was the last time you saw a stained glass window dedicated to
the dishonest manager?
So,
what might be going on in this parable? Well, to start, we have to locate
chapter 16 within the whole of Luke. Chapter 16 comes, not surprisingly, after
chapter 15. And Luke 15 includes three parables, two of which we heard last
Sunday: the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. Then we have the Parable of the Lost Son.
Luke did not insert chapter divisions, those were added about 1,000 years
later. So, these parables all are written in seamless way. As we read today’s
parable, we should have in mind the idea that God is one who seeks out the
lost, is lavish with love, and yearns to draw us together in unity. After this
parable, Jesus tells the Pharisees that to God all hearts are open and all
desires are known, and then tells the parable about the rich man and Lazarus, a
parable about the need to care for the least of these and the very real consequences
of neglecting the poor. This parable about the unjust manager is situated
between parables of God’s lavish love and a parable of judgment about those who
are stingy. This does not explain what the parable means, but it at least situates
this passage within the larger story that Luke is telling.
It’s
an interesting narrative, even if it feels more like a mob story than a
parable. A rich man had a manager who was lousy at his job and gets called in for
a not-so-good performance review. The manager sees the writing on the wall and
decides that time is short to come up with a plan B, as he is too lazy to labor
and too proud to beg. He decides to cook the books, figuring that he needs to
create some favors to call in later. So he reduces the amount owed by some of
his boss’s creditors. Now he’s taking a gamble here – his boss could have him
jailed for such “creative accounting.” But that would make the boss look like
the fool for letting this crook manage his affairs. The boss could also tell everyone
that a mistake was made and the original amounts were still due – but that’s
not going to sit well with anyone. Imagine if the student loan debt relief that
was just announced was taken back. The boss wants to be seen as generous, not
greedy. And what other choice does this manager have? Sure, there are risks,
but he figures the risk is better than hard work or begging.
Well,
the rich man realizes that he’s been played and praises the shrewdness of the manager.
What makes interpreting this parable difficult is that we don’t know when the words
of the rich man end and where Jesus picks up his address to the disciples. Scholars
are divided on where this parable ends. Some say the ending is “because he had
acted shrewdly,” others say it goes through the section about the “children of
light,” some say it ends with the bit about “eternal homes,” and still others think
it includes everything that we heard read. And this makes a big difference,
right? If the duped rich man says “make friends for yourselves by means of
dishonest wealth” that’s one thing, but if that’s the take-home message that
Jesus is giving to the disciples, well, that makes a huge difference in how we understand
this parable and apply it. I have no special insights here. I wish I knew where
the parable ended and the commentary began, but I don’t.
One
theologian has said that this parable has suffered death by 1,000 explanations.
People who read this passage try to explain away the difficulties. Some say
that the manager is just forgiving his salary that is a part of the debt, so it’s
not really stealing. But just not in the text. Others say that the manager is simply
forgiving the interest, and because usury is against the laws of the Old
Testament, the manager is saving the rich man from getting into trouble. But,
again, that’s putting something in the text that isn’t there. Still others say
that what is being commended isn’t so much the dishonesty, but rather his shrewdness.
Those who make that point then go on to say that Jesus is exhorting his
followers to, likewise, do all they can to spread the Kingdom.
But
I just don’t buy that. For one, Jesus could have said that plainly, without a
parable. But what really gives me pause about praising the shrewdness of this weasel
of a manager is the word “shrewd.” That word can also be translated as “crafty”
and there’s a story in Genesis 3 that uses this word. It begins, “Now the
serpent was more crafty than any other animal.” I hardly think that the purpose
of this parable is to lift up the character traits of the serpent.
This
leaves me stuck. Is this a counter-parable of some sort, where Jesus is illustrating
the opposite of what we are to do? It does say “If you have not been faithful
with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?” Might Jesus
be saying that if we act like the manager that we won’t be trusted with anything
further? Perhaps, but it seems like we’re missing a few sentences that would
connect the parable to that interpretation. It’s no wonder that Matthew, Mark,
and John had enough sense to not include this parable in their writing of the
Gospel.
One
thing that I know about Jesus and his parables that Jesus is not interested in
giving us an attitude adjustment or moralistic fables. The problem is not that
we need to just view things from a different perspective and then we’ll be able
to fix everything and bring heaven to earth. No, consistently the parables are
stories of shocking, transgressive, and scandalous grace. I don’t see how this
can be a parable meant only to encourage us to be generous or creative. This is
not a parable that assures us that the ends justify the means, thereby giving
us permission to do unethical things for the sake of some loftier goal. I’m
just left further sratching my head about what is going on.
Now,
whether it was Jesus or Luke that put this parable next to some saying about
money, we can’t say for sure, but that’s the way the Spirit led Luke to
remember and record this chapter. Somehow, the “no slave can serve two masters”
is integral to this parable. A better translation would be “no slave is able to
be a slave to two masters.” That translation better follows the Greek of Luke’s
writing and it makes it clear that what is at stake is not a choice about which
masters we will serve. The issue at hand is that we are all enslaved – it’s not
as if we have a choice to serve or not, we are all captive. Saying that we are
not bound to something is like saying that gravity has no pull on us; it’s
utterly ridiculous.
The
danger that Jesus is alerting us to is not some choice that we have to make. It’s
not “You can serve wealth or you can serve God, so choose wisely.” Not at all.
As one of the great prayers of our Prayer Book tradition puts it “we have no
power in ourselves to help ourselves.” If it were as easy as deciding that following
Jesus is more important than chasing money, we’d at least have a shot at doing
that. That’s not the problem. The issue is when we try to do both. When we say
that we can be disciples of Jesus while at the same time worrying about money.
The dishonest manager was focused on money, and that led him to follow the example
of the serpent in being crafty. This is not a good example for us to follow.
Perhaps
what Jesus is commending to us is the same idea found in this week’s Collect, asking
for God’s help that “while we are placed among things that are passing away, to
hold fast to those that shall endure.” The only way I know to make any sense of
this parable is through this lens of what we invest in and who we serve. It is
stewardship time, but it’s always a good reminder that there are two ways we
relate to money – either we serve it or it serves us. And the way to know if
you are in charge of your money or if your money is in charge of you, is that you
have to be able to give it away. I realize that everyone’s situation is unique,
but if you can come up with more reasons why you shouldn’t be expected to give
your money away than you can for giving generously, that’s a clear sign that your
money is in charge of you. The only way to know that you aren’t a slave to
money is to give it away.
If
you think that St. Luke’s is doing the work of God, I’d ask you to consider
giving 5% to this parish and another 5% to other charities or causes that you are
passionate about. Does that mean that money still won’t have a pull on you? Absolutely
not. We give that much each year and I still worry about money and I would still
prefer to have more money. Which is why I still rely on the mercy of God, not
my ability to write a check, to save me. But in writing those checks and getting
rid of that money, I am attempting to make it clear to myself that money will not
be what I invest my life in. To be clear, I’ve got a lot of growing to do, but
I’m thankful to have places like St. Luke’s, Episcopal Relief &
Development, and Rowan Helping Ministries to invest in. Is this a parable about
what we are invested in? Who knows, but at least as I read it this week, I
think that Jesus is teaching us about holding fast to God’s mercy, grace, and
love which shall endure.
Faith
is a matter of investments. Where do we expect the return of peace, mercy, and salvation
to come from? If we think that through our cunning, our ingenuity, our good looks,
our charm, our wealth, our reputation, our leadership ability, our perseverance
that we will obtain the peace that passes all understanding then we are seriously
misinformed. If we expect that our striving will save us from the inevitability
of death, then we are mistaken. If we believe that our accomplishments will
give us a sense of purpose, then we have been quite good at lying to ourselves.
If we invest in worldly goals and currencies, we will be sorely lost.
And
being lost is a great place to be when it comes to Jesus, because he seeks out the
lost and through his love goes to all lengths to make sure we are found. So if,
like me, you feel lost in this parable, fear not, our Good Shepherd is deeply
invested in us and will find us all.
