Disciples Resist Greed (Sept. 18, 2022) Luke 16.1-13

Mark Twain once said that it was not the parts of the Bible that he did not understand that bothered him, it was the parts that he did understand. Now, this is a quote that is, I believe, held by many who read the Bible and by many who do not. And it can be applied to today’s scripture.

Sometimes the lectionary can throw a curve ball at us. As I have noted before, I like to follow the lectionary because it gives some structure. If I were to follow my own whims and preferences, then I would preach only on the topics that appealed to me and to others. But the lectionary is not like that. It sometimes pulls us out of our comfort zones and makes us think about the text that we are to study and preach. And boy does it ever pull us out of our comfort zone today.

Jesus has just finished telling parables about those things that were lost: a sheep, a coin, a son. Now he turns to the disciples and begins another parable. This one begins with something like this: A rich man heard from his neighbors that his manager, or steward, was mismanaging his property, in fact, he was scattering it into the wind. There would have been those listening who would have said, “Big deal. Some rich dude is getting his due. He has enough that he did not notice that his steward was wasting it. What is that to us who are the poor, who do not have enough?”

But Jesus continues. This rich man calls in the steward and says that he is to be fired and that he wants the books brought to him posthaste. The steward is now beside himself. What is he going to do? We would say that he grew soft in his position as steward. He liked the privileges that came with the job and grew accustomed to the way his life now was lived. Some would say that he was greedy and overstepped the bounds of what was overlooked in terms of kickbacks and graft. Whatever the case, he knows that there is now going to be trouble in his life. He claims that he is not strong enough to dig and besides that would ruin his manicure. Unlike the Temptations, he is too proud to beg. Both situations would have been a step down from his position and would have caused great humiliation to the man. So, again, what to do?

Suddenly he snaps his fingers and realizes he knows what to do. He calls in the debtors to the master and tells them to bring their bills of debt to him. Then he does what we call “cooks the books.” He reduces the bills of debt so that it looks as if the master is being generous. Now there are various interpretations of what he did. Some say that the bills were reduced of the interest that should not have been charged in the first place. Others say that he took off his commission that he would have earned, which was a sizable amount given what was owed. But I believe that the steward was just plain outright dishonest and cut the bills of debt. Those whose bills are reduced will have nothing but good feelings for the steward and welcome him into their homes when it comes time for him to “cash in” on the favor.

The rich man upon hearing actually commends the steward. He knows that he has gotten the best of him and that he now must honor those bills that have been…corrected. He possibly laughed and said that this one got the best of him. Let me have Richard B. Vinson describe what happened next as the manager has now put the master… “…in an impossible bind. To round up all the debtors and force them to pay the contracted amounts would be a tremendous loss of face for the wealthy man. Not only would it be public that his manager put one over on him, but he would look like a tightwad. On the other hand, if he lets the trick slide, he gets credit for being generous; his prestige goes up, because now he looks so rich that he can cut bills in half and still stay rich…. Luke’s “master praised the unrighteous overseer: ‘He acted shrewdly.’” The master passes the word that the manager is a sly one, thus preserving his own dignity (it was my idea all along), and giving a rather ambiguous employment reference for his former overseer. And there, the parable ends, with the trick against the rich man exposed and the tricky overseer heading for another house.”[1]And so the steward goes along on his merry way.

Now here is where things get tricky. Jesus states, “…the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”[2]Is Jesus saying that we are to use dishonest means to make friends and influence people? Of course not. What he is saying is that those who are the children of this age are often the shrewd ones who can know which way the wind is blowing and are able to take care of themselves. The children of light oftentimes miss what is happening and miss the opportunities to move forward the kingdom of God. The children of light are to be stewards of what God has given and what the kingdom is about.

Jesus continues with the statements about wealth and how it is to be handled. He says, “…make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the eternal homes. “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches? And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”[3] We are called to use wealth wisely and to not be greedy in our acquisition of it or in our hoarding of it. It is said that money is a good servant but a terrible master. As stewards we are to be honest in our dealings with money or services that we give to others.

Now sometimes when we use money or services, it is not is a big flashy way. Most of us will never do big things that grab headlines and if they do it is oftentimes that the person who is honored did the little things that led up to them being honored and is surprised at the honor. Fred Craddock said this in his commentary on this passage, “More likely the week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, tell a child a story go to choir practice, and feed a neighbor’s cat.”[4]We are called to be stewards in the small things.

Jesus is not saying that all wealth is bad and that we should get rid of all our money and never touch it again. What he is saying is that, again, it is a good servant but a terrible master. Wealth can be anything which includes possessions, land, money, status, power, anything that we set store by as showing wealth. When we accumulate and want more then we have a new master and it is wealth and not God. Jesus is telling those listening, which includes us today, that we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and wealth at the same time. Eventually one will win out and we will serve that one. Washington Irving, the famous early American writer, once said that America was not a “godless society” (This during a time when we believe that America was full of Godly people) because they all worshiped the “Almighty Dollar.”

Let me tell you a story that illustrate both greed and serving wealth. Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story called How Much Land Does a Man Need? In the story a man who owns a little land longs to own just a little more so that he could grow more crops and be a bit more financially secure. He does get some more land and then more and more. Soon he is a prominent land owner with servants. But his relationships with his neighbors are not that good. In fact, they stink. So, he decides what he needs is a really big estate where he does not have to worry about his neighbors and their small holdings of land. He hears of a tribe who are offering land, lots of it and cheap. He goes with his servant and discovers that it is all true: the tribe is offering all the land one can mark in a time from sunup to sundown for a paltry price. The catch is that if one is not back by sundown then the deal is off and the money is forfeit. The man agrees and sets off the next morning. As he goes along, he finds a place where he should begin to turn back, but he sees some land that he must have as it would be good for more crops. And so, he goes out further and further until he must turn back. On the way back he despairs because the sun is going down and he knows that he will not make it back in time. But those waiting on him can still see the sun and cheer him on. He makes a last sprint and returns to the spot, diving to reach the cap that is the marker, just as the sun sets. He is praised that he has gained much land and will be wealthy beyond his dreams. His servant comes and tries to raise him from the ground only to find that he is dead. The last-ditch effort took literally everything out of him. Tolstoy writes that his servant sorrowfully took a shovel and dug a grave six feet long and six feet deep and that was all the land that he really needed.

Possessions, money, status, all those things we look for that would make us wealthy are not bad things when they are in their proper context. It is when we let them take over our lives that they become a problem. Once a person on a tour of a United States mint asked if they had any problems with people stealing the money that was printed there. The person was told that as long as the workers saw only paper, things were fine. It was when they began to see what was on the paper that things got bad and the worker needed to be moved to a different section. We are the same way. I will say it again, when we see wealth as a servant, we are fine. When we let it become our master, there is a problem. We can serve God or wealth. We can let greed get the best of us and be like the unjust steward. Or we can serve God and be faithful stewards of what has been given to us by God’s grace. One master offers us eternal life and rest. The other offers us worry, heartburn and anxiety. Choose carefully. Amen.

[1]Vinson, Richard B., Luke, Smythe and Helwys Commentary, pp 523-524 [2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [3]Biblical Studies Press. The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press, 2005. Print. [4]Craddock, Fred, Luke, Interpretation, 193