Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Richard Davenport September 18, 2022 - Proper 20 Luke 16:1-15 As we continue through Luke, we also continue through the many parables Jesus shares. As we saw last week, Jesus continues to confront the people of God with their misguided ideas of what they should be trusting in. This time Jesus has a bit longer story to tell. A rich man finds out his manager has been mishandling the things he has been entrusted with. The rich man clearly has a lot of business he is involved with, buying and selling various kinds of goods, collecting his due from wheat fields and olive tree orchards and probably many other things as well. The manager's job is to ensure things going in and going out are tallied correctly and get where they need to go. In this case it sounds as though some of the goods have been sent to the wrong people or didn't get tallied correctly, or something of that nature. Whatever the case may be, the manager is clearly the one who screwed up and he has no one to blame but himself. The rich man isn't cutting him any slack. A manager who is going to lose your stuff isn't much of a manager. Not much point keeping someone like that around. I'm sure the rich man will plan on finding someone else to do the job. His only consolation is that he isn't out of the job that very second. He's been given a little time to get his affairs in order before he's out the door. He has to think fast. There's not a lot he can do that's going to help him in the long run. He knows there are a couple of alternatives. He could dig ditches or he could beg in the streets, but neither of these are good options. He needs another option. It's then that he realizes something. The master is merciful. As soon as the master had heard of the manager's malfeasance he could have had him thrown in jail or worse. But he doesn't. He doesn't even immediately confiscate all the manager's possessions and dump him on the street. Instead, he gives him a little time to sort himself out and leave. The master has probably always acted like this, showing mercy to his business associates and servants. The manager realizes he can count on this. In other circumstances, a deal made in bad faith wouldn't be accepted. The people bringing in the master's share of the harvest would know something fishy is going on, but they wouldn't know exactly what. Nevertheless, they do what he says. After all, he has been given the authority to manage the accounts. When those harvesters present the tally to the master he would have two choices. Either he dismisses the adjustment as erroneous, and probably risk some bad press at the same time, or he absorbs the loss and those bringing the harvest see him as the merciful master he is. The manager is betting on mercy and he is not wrong to do so. The master even praises the manager for his shrewdness. He understood what few options he had available and made creative use of his resources. In all of this, Jesus is not telling the disciples to knowingly be dishonest, for he contrasts these sorts of people with the "sons of light." The goal is not to be dishonest, but to use the gifts and resources given to you knowing you can bank on the master's mercy. The manager realized all the money and possessions he had weren't going to do him any good if he was tossed out on the streets. His only choice was to use them and, by doing so, gained friends for both himself and the master. The Pharisees have been floating around for a couple of chapters now, however Luke tells us here Jesus is speaking directly to the disciples. Jesus knows the Pharisees are listening in, so the parable is directed at both groups with slightly different messages. For the disciples, the message is to follow the lesson of the manager. Wealth and possessions are a tool to be used. They are there to display the master's mercy, to show how willing God is to forgive debts. Even if you didn't have a dime to your name, God has still given you a portion of the infinite abundance of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. The master's mercy is something that can be counted on in every circumstance. Forgiveness is a gift to be received, but also to be used. There isn't a person in the world that can't benefit from God's gift of forgiveness. We, as the royal priesthood, are privileged and authorized to share that forgiveness with anyone who will hear and receive it. Telling someone their sins are forgiven isn't a gamble. God's mercy is perfect and unwavering. He will honor that promise with all who repent. That continues with every other gift he gives. Anything we do that displays the mercy of God will be honored and supported. Giving our abundance to the less fortunate is something held up throughout the Bible as a good and gracious act of mercy. Caring for the sick and others in need, supporting relief efforts after disaster, finding ways to lift people out of the mire of life and help them stand again, all are extensions of the mercy shown to us. Whether God has given us an abundance of time, or a special skill or talent, or wealth and possessions above and beyond what we need, all are gifts. All of them ultimately belong to God and should be used in his service, and, if used in his service, his mercy will shine on those in need. This is both an encouragement and a directive, to always be on the lookout for ways to show God's mercy. They aren't to be used for any kind of unrighteous gain and it wouldn't really accomplish anything even if you tried. God isn't casting you out. You're already saved. You're already forgiven. You don't need to hold on to all of those other things anymore. Give them to someone who needs them more, someone who is desperate to see the mercy of God. Every opportunity we use should be a joy and an expression of how good God is. There's also the message given to the Pharisees listening in, and a warning to the disciples and the rest of God's people. We look around here and see God's people gathered in his house, gathered in his name to worship him. Yet, outside of the worship service, many times before we've left the sanctuary, God's name is not what is heard. It's not what is talked about. God's will is not what concerns people and his word of promise to care and protect his people falls on deaf ears. God, Jesus, forgiveness, and all of the other things related to God are scarcely heard, even in God's own house. Instead, the word that comes up over and over and over again is money. Money is what concerns us. Money is where we put our trust. Money is what will save us. Without money, all is lost. The Pharisees thought money was of prime importance and Jesus doesn't mince words with them. It is pure and simple idolatry. Back in Luke 12, Jesus tells his disciples, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Jesus is asking the unspoken question of the Pharisees, who value wealth above all, "Do you worship God or money? You say God with your lips but your actions show the world that wealth is more important." For us the question is the same, "Whom do you serve? What is it that determines what is truly important for you? What is it that guides your decisions and course of action? Is it God, the creator of the universe, the one who crafted Adam and Eve with his own hands and made life from nothing, the one who sacrificed himself to save sinful mankind from eternal condemnation purely out of love for that fallen creation? Or is it the stuff he created, the stuff that God can create with a word whenever he chooses, the stuff that cannot give eternal life, cannot even add a single minute to your sinful, mortal life, the stuff that is itself not alive, does not love you, does not care about you a single bit? Jesus knows the Pharisees are overhearing and he wants them to know he hasn't forgotten them, but the main message is for the disciples. He may as well be pointing a finger right at the Pharisees and telling his disciples, "Don't become like them. They will have all the money they could ever want or need and they will still perish." Everything in the world can be divided up into two categories: Creator and created, God and world, Savior and the things that need saving, life and death. One of these can do anything you can imagine and more. One of these can forgive sins. One of these can bring eternal life to even the coldest corpse. One of these loves you more than anything else in all existence. The other can do nothing. Jesus doesn't want there to be any confusion. If money is what you truly care about, whatever the reason, you can't be putting God first. The two are simply not compatible. Follow Christ and trust in his mercy. He wants you to know his mercy can be counted on in every possible situation. You already know he has forgiven you. You already know he has given you eternal life. If even death could not hold Jesus, is there anything in the world that can stand against him if he is with you? Grab a hold of his gifts with both hands. Immerse yourself in his word to know what his will is and be guided to follow it. Take a hold of your baptism and know the Spirit is there to show you the temptations of the world for what they are and strengthening you to stay the course and follow God alone. Take a hold of the body and blood of Christ that gives you and know that Christ himself has brought all of us together to be his church. Even if we did not raise up our needs and concerns to him in prayer every week, he would know them and will care for us. We are his people, people he loves more than his own life. Trust in him and see his mercy at work.