Luke 16:1-13
So. anyone who preaches will tell you this is a challenging passage. You may not know but there are books and books and books that give me an idea of an explanation of every single passage in the Bible.
And none drives me to those books more than this passage. So let's just look at what we're presented with in the Gospel. First of all, like so many parables, it comes as a bit of a shock. Has Jesus really been telling a story which suggests to me that it's okay to be dishonest?
Surely not! So we look for something else. And secondly, it appears to contradict itself. Because the story, as I say, suggests that a man who used wealth dishonestly was commended. And then those beautiful payoffs that Jesus always does. seems to contradict that and send us to a safer ground.
Like, if you can't be trusted with a little, how can you be trusted with much? Well, like so much in the Gospels, we shouldn't just take it at face value. And this isn't just about money. In order to understand it more fully, we need to understand where it sits in the Gospel of Luke. It sits between, and I'll give a massive prize to anyone who can tell me this - it sits between the parable of the Prodigal son and the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. Both, in their way, give us a bit of a shock. The story of the prodigal son is one that most of you, I'm sure, will know. But if in your heart of hearts you've been the one person who frankly had all sympathy for the elder son,then you are not alone.
And the story of the rich man and Lazarus, where a rich man who has ignored the needs of a poor beggar is sent to hell. Looks up to heaven and sees Lazarus at the right hand of God and says, please Lord, send someone to my brothers before it is too late. Tell them to do what is right so that they don't essentially make the same mistake that I did. And he's told no, no. Because if you weren't listening when you were alive and had plenty of opportunity to act in a different way, then no one is going to listen after you're gone. So basically, too late.
So back to our gospel reading. The dishonest manager has acted wisely in his own terms. He knows if he loses his job, he's in big trouble. So he says, oh, I know what I'll do. I'll make it possible to reduce the debt of those who owe my master money.
So he does what he does, and he goes to his master, and his master says, well done. But Luke is all about, as is the prodigal son and the rich man and Lazarus,
about reminding us just how much the gospel turns things on its head,turns logic on its head, turns even common sense justice on its head. We are to live and to respond to money differently. Notice that Jesus talks about being welcomed into heavenly homes. What Jesus is saying here is what is the true treasure?
Is it just the money in your pocket? In our first reading from the prophet Amos, we hear of people who just want to make as much money as possible. And it's for the temple, so that's okay, right? No, wrong. It's about being good stewards of everything that we have.
We cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve Jesus and the transformational power of the gospel and the money in our pocket. Or even in the church's pocket. Unless we put it to good use. Well, what is good use, you may say?
Good use is making it work for as many people as possible, including those who are on the margins, including those who are in debt, in whatever way, spiritual debt, financial debt, emotional debt, putting it to good use. Because actually, so the man's motives might have been initially self-serving, but he did a good thing. He reduced debt. So this is about saying in a world that will say, and occasionally even a church that will say, yeah, just make as much money as you can, because it's good to be rich. It's good to be rich.
But this parable says something slightly more subtle. And, certainly something more profound - that what your common sense tells you might not wash with Jesus. He might be saying something bigger. What are you doing with the money that you've got? Whether it be your personal money or your corporate money or the church's money because we have to be accountable to God just like the rich man in the rich man and Lazarus. The story of the prodigal son of course teaches us grace because it doesn't seem fair. It's not right in logical terms and yet these three together teach us to think differently and more broadly about what we are doing in order that we can receive the heavenly riches and be welcomed into heavenly homes.
If you read on from this story, you will read that again, the scribes and the Pharisees, the leaders of the church, were moaning. How can that be right?
Jesus is very firm with them. So is it important to have money? Yes, of course. Is it also important to think broadly and more radically about how we use it, and the service to which we put it? Yes, also right.
So if you are confused when you look at this parable, you will not be alone.But know this, we only have one shot at this. We only have one shot at life. We only have one shot at saving the environment. So many things. We only have one shot. And the story of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that saying we're sorry at that point will be too late. So we need to live generously in every sense, now, because, and this is the good bit, Jesus loves each of us and demands more of each of us than we can possibly know. But the payoff is that we will live a rich, eternal life. The work of that life starts now. And I pray all of this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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