Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself, `What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' He answered, `A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, `And how much do you owe?' He replied, `A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for 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.
"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 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."
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
I’ve never actually done a count of this myself but I’ve heard it said, from reliable sources, that the topic that Jesus most frequently talks about is – can you guess? – love. What comes in 2nd? The second most often talked about topic by Jesus is money. That was a surprise to me. I would have guessed forgiveness or healing. But it’s money, wealth, what we do with it, where we do right and where we go wrong. And that includes this parable today. I think this parable connects something very ordinary in our day-to-day lives with the extraordinary nature of God. And Jesus wants us to consider how our handling of earthly wealth prepares us for handling spiritual wealth.
The hard part about this parable is figuring out who is the good guy here? It’s not at all clear. The rich man is probably an absentee landlord who fires his manager on a rumor of bad behavior and yet expects him to continue working by giving an accounting of what he’s done. Not much heroic here.
Then there’s the lazy, self-serving manager out to save his own skin by cuddling up to the people he’s been cheating all these years. We listeners lean forward to the end because we want to see this scoundrel get what’s coming to him. And when the masters finally speaks, we’re shocked. He congratulates his for being so clever.
The ending is anything but satisfying because instead of being defeated, he triumphs. His plan succeeds. His former boss praises his ingenuity. Adding to the listener’s dismay, the parable ends with Jesus saying “The scoundrel gets it, the believers do not.” This guy of questionable character and ill repute understood something that the children of light couldn’t grasp: this man understood how to use what was entrusted to him to serve a larger goal. Believers take note, Jesus teaches: how much more must the children of God understand the riches entrusted to their care?
With the end in mind, the manager redeemed whatever he could about his present situation. He understood that, in order to end up where he wanted to be in the future, how he handled today counted big time.
Solomon wrote in his proverbs: Where this is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18) This parable of the manager speaks especially to those times in our lives when we have lost the big picture. Who are we are people of God? How do we understand ourselves and what are we called to do? At those times when we have lost our vision of who we are and what are mission is, the treasures in front of us are not treasures at all. They are simply things that have no larger value, are objects to be used, misused and manipulated.
Here is another way to read this text. See how it resonates with you: Among those in the crowd when Jesus tells this parable are the Pharisees who Luke characterizes as “lovers of money.” Leaders of God’s chosen people, keepers of the treasurers of God, they were like the dishonest manager. They had lost their vision of who God had called them to be. They had traded their call to be God’s people to becomes servant of the treasures of the present day. Controlled by wealth, by money, by strident voices, by complacency, they had blended into society and lost their vision. To these Pharisees Jesus says ‘you can serve this present age and love its treasures or you can love God and serve him in this present age. But you cannot do both. One leads to death. The other leads to life.’ Jesus has put them on notice that they have lost their vision of who God is and who they are as children and servants of God.
Their lesson is not lost on us 2,000 year later: Jesus warns us that we, too, are susceptible to losing focus. We don’t remember our shouts not too long ago of “he is alive” and instead we whisper our faith. We stop believing that Jesus was resurrected and life was made new. Somewhere along the way it becomes easy to serve all the pressing demands of people, of schedule. Somewhere along the way the vision for God’s call becomes cloudy and muddled. We stop hearing God’s voice and join the crazy survivor-take-all mentality. The challenges seem so much bigger than the answers. So we huddle up in an effort to save whatever is left and forget about living for something great. We have buried our treasure.
The Coventry Cathedral in England has a welcome sign outside their church. It’s a big sign. Whether you’re there for the first time or a regular attendee you can’t miss it. This lovely sign is the antithesis of buried treasure – it is the living, loving treasure of their call – in spite of what they’ve been through. Coventry is a village that during WWII was bombed along with its ancient cathedral nearly out of existence by the Nazi regime. It was a village of no strategic value at all in the conduct of the war. In bullying fashion, they leveled it because they could. And goodness knows countless treasures were lost.
The current cathedral stands next to the ruins of the ancient one. This is what the welcome sign says:
Jesus’ praise of the manager is not an endorsement of unethical behavior; rather, his praise of the manager is an affirmation of his personhood; of his identity as a beloved—albeit broken—part of the Body of Christ, just like all those folks that are welcomed to Coventry Cathedral. And he tells this story to point us to the ones we’re to be most concerned are about, our neighbors - the ones living on the margins, longing to emerge from the shadows of poverty; if we are to remember always that our treasure is the chance to offer welcome and relief to those most in need.
And at the end of the day, perhaps Jesus is calling us to second-guess ourselves; to err on the side of mercy and forgiveness and authentic welcome. Because when we do the Kingdom becomes just a little bigger, and the Body of Christ becomes just a little stronger. Amen.