Always Redeemable

What?? What was that all about? Right? This is one of the weirder parables that Jesus tells us of in the Gospels and only in Luke. And in Luke, it serves as a belt buckle linking the stories of joy in reclaiming the lost in chapter 15, the stories of the lost sheep, lost coin, and the prodigal son; and the later parts of 16 where Jesus continues to warn about the love of money. And there is money here in this story as well but it sure seems muddled doesn’t it.

The manager of the estate get’s accused of mismanaging the accounts and the boss says he’s gonna fire him. And of course when the manager finds out and does what you and I would do and panics about what he’s going to do, he then decides that he’s going to half the amount of money that people owe to the estate and the owner then is like wow. Never mind! What a great guy. For lowering the amount of collected money that you are already squandering of the estate?

How does that make things better?? So what is going on here.

What did the manager actually do?

Well there are a couple of things.

Being caught the manager seems to have had a change of heart. Wanting in his last hours as manager to set something right. Perhaps he was falsely accused and felt the injustice of that and wanted to contribute to someone else’s wellbeing while he still had the chance to make things right. The forgiveness of debt here is like the debt forgiveness of the Jubilee in Jewish tradition. But also what may have been happening is what was also customary at the time, the manager may have been up-charging on the collection of the money taking a large cut for himself so long as the owner got his bit. Who knows, may be that hurt business. Maybe that is what got back to the owner. We don’t know. But the selfless gesture is impressive enough to the owner that he reconsiders who this person is.

The manager has served the greater good. Jesus then tells us that you can’t serve two masters. You can’t serve Mammon (one of my favorite biblical terms for money and wealth that own you rather that you owning it.) you can’t serve mammon and God. And the manager in the end did the right thing. Served the right purpose. The merciful, compassionate purpose. Rather than take what he could until the last second.

Jesus also tells us in essence that it is the thought behind the action that counts. It’s if you can’t do justice in the little thing, you can’t do justice in the big thing. You have to get that right first before you can make the grand gesture.

So what about these days where might we see an example of this kind of transformation taking place? More than a time or two we hear about billionaires catching awareness of the embarrassment of riches they have amassed and start to ask. To what ends?

I had an English teacher in college in the 1990’s who was a classic west Texas lady. She always bought the finest items you can get at Dillards. The fanciest store in the land. This was also during the time that Michael Jordan was at the height of his earning powers and was making $2,000,000 a day. She asked the question, “What do you do with 2 million dollars a day? I mean… you go to Dillard’s and you buy it. All of it, everything. Then what?

Once you have all the things in the world, what do you do with them? Do you live to serve the money or does the money serve you. Or even, God?

Bill Gates. “In the 1990s, Bill Gates was the face of technological conquest. Microsoft crushed competitors; the U.S. government took him to court for monopoly practices.

He amassed a fortune: 150 billion at its height. How much money is that? Each of you got a little grain of rice a few minutes ago. For our purposes today, let’s call that grain of rice $100,000. So how many of those do you need to make 150 billion dollars? [bring out bags]. That many. That is 50 lbs of rice. Imagine what you can do with just one of those grains and then consider how many of those are in this pile. That is the scope of what was at Bill Gates disposal.

Two decades later, headlines call him the world’s most generous philanthropist. And he has pledged to give all of his money away by the time his time on earth is over.

Bill Gates was ruthless. But at some point he realized there was more to life than acquisition and started his charitable foundation to give it all away.

Now we don’t all have 50 lbs of rice to give away before we die, but just like the manager and just like Bill Gates, in God’s eyes, there is hope for everyone. You are redeemable, you are capable of course correcting. You can always start doing good even if you’ve been a monster before. God is ready to acknowledge the worth of your character. Hope springs eternal and God never gives up. Not on a sheep. Not on a coin. Not on a prodigal son. Not on the squandering manager, not on Bill Gates and not on you.

We are all saved by the grace-filled selflessness of Christ on the Cross, when God joined in the suffering of all creation. So you don’t need to do good works to receiver salvation. The shrewed manager didn’t need to do what he did to be saved either, but when facing his own demise, he decided before it was too late to do something good. To give back to the universe, to do the right thing. Each of us is an Amos. A normal person that God calls to make the world more just and beautiful.

When we do the right thing, it isn’t to curry favor with God or to get a ticket into heaven. It is in response to the outlandish ridiculous loving mercy of the creator God who breaths within us love, and mercy and life!

Live into the promises of your baptism, the freedom we all have to serve the neighbor, to make a difference in the world.

The temptation to hate is strong these days.Dont give in to it. Don’t let it stop you from loving the world into wholeness.

God will see your works and rejoice in you. No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you have done before. Live in the freedom that is the redeeming love of God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

Amen.