Luke 16:1-13
1 Then 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. 2 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.’ 3 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. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 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.’ 8 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. 9 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. 10 “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. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 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.”
“Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into eternal homes,” Jesus said. Now here’s a story for you. Talk about scratching your head, whatever could Jesus be talking about here? Scholars are all over the place on this one. Most argue that there really is no offense here. Lending money with interest is specifically forbidden by the law so the unjust manager isn’t unjust at all. He’s following Amos’ instruction for justice by slashing the interest and his commission in order to kill two birds with one stone. He’s righting the wrong of the rich man who was lending with interest plus he’s making friends for himself so that he can call in favors from them in the future. So some conclude Jesus’ story here is about prudence in earthly matters. Furthermore, Jesus is telling us that worldly possessions are not worthy of our allegiance. You get the picture. Now I suppose that’s all well and good. I’m all for prudence, doing the right thing, and making sure my allegiances are proper. It’s a full time job! But I wonder if that’s what this is all about really.
Is there no comfort in Jesus’ words here? Is there no “Balm in Gilead” to use the words of the hymn. Is all we’re dealing with here law and its demands. I wonder if perhaps we’ve missed the point in this passage. Now why would I say that? Well this reading comes right after the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In those parables we saw God on the loose doing crazy things to get the ones he loves. He is like a crazy shepherd who left the ninety nine for one stray. He is like a woman who tears apart her house looking for one coin when she has nine in her pocket. He is like a father who waits and watches day after day for his no good son to come home and bends over backwards to make sure his other son isn’t bitter about his father’s mercy. I wonder if this parable isn’t a continuation of this God on the loose running after those he loves. It would go something like this. The kingdom of God is like a rich man who had a manger. The landlord gets complaints that his manager is squandering his property. You know complaints like, “this fellow welcomes sinners and he eats with them.” What could be worse than that? What more clearly breaks the law? So now what? This crooked manager, this one who welcomes sinners and tax collectors, what does he do now that he is caught? Well he does what he has already been doing. The welcomer of sinners will write off their debt. He literally re-writes the relationship between the Lord and the Lord’s debtors. “Reduce your bill by half! Reduce it by a quarter! Do it quickly. This legal-beagle Lord wants to see the books. We’ll cook them.” Why would he do this? He does this so that those whom he welcomed will welcome him. And who are they that welcome this crook? Well they are the ones whose debt was reduced and forgiven; they are crooked manager’s accomplices. You know, people like Mary who sang about bearing the Messiah in spite of her lowly estate. There’s Peter sitting in a boat full of fish he didn’t work for and all after denying the one he said he’d follow to the grave. There’s the midget tax collector Zachaeus who welcomed Jesus to lunch that day. Let’s not forget about the thief on the cross. “Remember me Lord when you come into your kingdom,” is how he said it. And so the Lord is unmasked. There he is again doing crazy stuff to get the ones he loves, the ones who don’t deserve his love, the ones who betray him. So what in the world does all this have to do with you? Well at the font he rewrote and rewrites your story and settles your debts, nailing them to himself on the cross. There at the communion rail he feeds none other than his betrayers with his body and blood for the forgiveness of their sin. And the crazy Lord who saves with a promise that isn’t conditioned by what we do and don’t do has sent me to give you that promise. That is why I say to you that you are forgiven unconditionally by the Father for the sake of the crooked manager Jesus Christ who became sin so that you can become the righteousness of God. So the Lord welcomes all you broken and frightened people certain that you will have no choice but to welcome him. After all, “Lord to whom can we go? You cooked the books,” or better “you have the words of eternal life.” Amen.