Christ Episcopal Church
September 22, 2013
20 Proper C
Two weeks ago, Jesus was handing out common sense advice and saying things like "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost to see whether you have enough to complete it?" That Sunday, Jesus also said "Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with then thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty-thousand." When Jesus comes at us with common sense advice, there is usually a trick up his sleeve, since he is the one who usually says things like "the last will be first and the first will be last," and "turn the other check," and "blessed are the poor," and "those who save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." But while we have to wonder what Jesus is up to when he is dispensing common sense, this week Jesus makes no sense at all. Jesus seems to be commending the very traits we warn our children against: cheating, dishonesty, and laziness for starters. Once Jesus has commended these dubious character traits, he says "Whoever is faithful in a very little, is faithful also in much. And whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest in very much." That part, at least, makes sense. As I used to tell my children when they were little "If you are going to eat like that when you are at home, how can I possibly think you will have good table manners anywhere else." This parable should have a warning label that reads "Do not attempt to imitate this parable at home."
Here is a thought. The rich man fires the manager for squandering his property. So far, so good. If the manager has, indeed, been squandering the rich man’s property, he deserves to be fired. Now that we know that the manager is a person of dubious integrity, we are not surprised that the manager would act in his own self-interest and cut the debt owed to the rich man by that man’s customers. By cutting the debt, the man wins friends and will have a place to stay once he no longer has a paycheck. So far, the story makes sense. But just at the point when the manager should be thrown in prison, the master commends the manager for acting shrewdly. The manager has squandered the master’s property, taken 50 or 80 cents on the dollar as payment for debt owed the master, and the manager is now told that he will be welcomed into the eternal homes.
But, what if the manager has so badly squandered the master’s property that getting back 50 or 80 percent of what is owed to the master is actually a great bargain? Instead of looking at a total loss, the rich man is actually getting back 50-80% of what he is owed. Given that the manager has squandered the rich man’s property, now we have a win-win. The master is happy to get something back. The manager is happy because now he has friends to stay with. The clients are happy because their debt load is now lower. Jesus follows the parable by saying "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful in very much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." In some bizarre way, the manager has been faithful in a very little and will be welcomed into the eternal homes.
Jesus is using this strange parable to teach us something about our relationship to the Kingdom of God. On the one hand, if we live with the values of the Kingdom now, if we can be faithful with what we are given now, God will know that we can be faithful with the abundance of eternal life later. If we are not faithful with what we have now, then God has no reason to think we will be faithful with the abundance of eternal life. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it leads us to believe that we earn eternal life by being faithful with what we have now. While that might make for a powerful stewardship sermon, and we could have competitive pledging to see who is the most faithful and who is clearly the most likely to get into heaven, the idea that we earn our way to heaven is simply not the gospel. The message of the gospel is that life, now and forever, is a gift secured for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And that, I believe, is the point of the parable. Life-all of life, this life and the next, the eternal life that actually begins with our baptism is a gift. We have done nothing to earn or deserve this gift. Jesus is calling us to be faithful with that gift and not squander what we have been given. We are faithful with the gift of life when we use all that we have and all that we are to make the Kingdom of God a present reality for those around us. We squander the gift when we are selfish and believe that what God has given us-whether the resources of time or talent or material things-God has given us for our use alone. We know from the rest of the Gospel that the Kingdom of God is in our midst when the poor and the outcasts are raised up, the sick are healed, and justice and peace guide our lives. What would the world around us look like if we used our lives to give God an 80% return, or even a 50% return, on the investment God has in us? Perhaps God would commend us for our shrewdness and the world around us would look a little more like the Kingdom of God.
Amen.
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