We may have a tendency to divide our view of what is spiritual from what is material.  In this case, I’m using material in the same way that Madonna did so many years ago.  I’m talking about money, goods, possessions, property.  I have made the distinction myself, thinking that talk about money is somehow “indelicate.”  Literally, I was regularly seeing a spiritual director some years ago, and as we were starting out, I said, “I hate to be indelicate, but I am wondering about the matter of your fee.”  At our annual meeting not long ago, a brother said, “Pastor David does not like to talk about money,” and this is not a reputation that I want to have (nor should any pastor).  Another brother said not long ago that he remembered how, in the church of his youth, money was often talked about but never sex.  Now it seems to be the opposite.

Why is this?  Is it because we do not want to be associated with tv preachers who want us to send them donations so that they can buy airplanes or celebrity pastors who purchase Manhattan apartments?  Do we leave talk of money with them?  Do we not do ourselves and our churches a disservice if we ignore it, in the same way, we do ourselves a disservice if we leave talk of healing to charlatans and con artists? Whose money is it anyway?  Jesus does not shy away from talking about money.  What we do with money affects us and those around us every day.  In the Jewish tradition in which Jesus lived, mammon was not inherently good or evil.  There was a neutrality to it, and many will point out that 1 Timothy 6:10 states that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil – not simply money.  What an easy thing to love, though.  What an easy thing to worship.  Do we call anything else “Almighty” other than the dollar?  The Almighty Dollar.  We, followers of Jesus, are not exempt from this, and it’s important to note here that Jesus is addressing his disciples.  Money may have a neutrality, but there is absolutely no neutrality when it comes to where we stand in our relationship to it.  Wealth may be used faithfully in service to something else (in our case, the Kingdom of God) in solidarity and on behalf of those who are in need, or it may take on a godlike status in which it becomes the thing that we serve.  The consequences of the rule of wealth are all around us.  Theft.  Graft.  Exploitation.  Murder.  Hoarding.   Conspicuous consumption.  “Stealth wealth” these days, and people want to copy it.  Disregard for people we consider low-status who are in need.

What is the thing that we ultimately value?  Do we live seeing money as something we use in service of, or do we live in service to it?  Usually, we’re a mixture of the two, aren’t we – and we thank God for grace and forgiveness and transformation.  We thank God for words such as these from Jesus that we hear today, which make us question our values.  We thank God for parables that fire our imaginations and help us live into a dream of who God might enable us to be in God’s kingdom.  Let’s ask for God’s help as we listen to Jesus’ words this morning.

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager is known as one of the more difficult of Jesus’ parables.  If we’re particularly delicate, we might think, “How could Jesus use a story about such an unscrupulous person?”  Some believe that the debt which the dishonest manager wiped off the books represented either interest that his boss charged or a cut that he himself had been skimming – so the cooking of the books was actually a righteous act.  You can think that if you want.  It’s not in the story, and I don’t think it really has much of an effect on how we are to view the story.  The star of the story is not the dishonest manager in any case.  You can guess who the star of the story is, as I’ve already said it about 27 times!  In any case, God has been known to use rather unscrupulous characters in God’s purpose.  Jesus has been known to tell a story about an unjust judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.  In the city in which this judge lived, there was a widow who kept coming to him saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.”  The judge eventually gives in because he’s tired of hearing the woman pleading.”  This does not mean that God is like a judge who has no fear of God or regard for people (although God’s justice might not align with what we think of justice, so there is that).  The question is, “How much more?”  How much more will God, out of God’s eternal loving heart, help his children who call out to him?

How much more?  Remember this as the key to our understanding of what’s going on here.  What is going on here?  Our cast of characters includes a manager.  He’s in the employ of a rich man.  We hear of two debtors – business associates, really, as the amounts we’re talking about represent several years' wages.  Charges are brought against the manager.  He is summarily dismissed and asked to hand over the financial accounts.  The manager is torn.  If he does nothing, he’ll be forced to work or beg.  He can’t work, and he’s too proud to beg.  The other option is to use his boss’ money so that he will be welcomed into others’ homes.   The first debtor is told to make his debt of 100 jugs of olive oil 50 (making this debtor complicit in the scheme note – shrewd!).  The second debtor is told to make his debt of 100 containers of wheat 80.  Reductions in debt of 50% and 20%!  Who wouldn’t welcome that? 

“And his master commended the dishonest manager…”  Why?  In a world where you use money for personal gain, why wouldn’t the manager be commended?  It’s a kind of “Well played, sir” on the part of his ex-boss.  The manager has secured a future for himself.  The rich man won’t be able to seek any recompense.  It would make him look miserly.  As it is, the boss looks pretty good now.  He’s a big debt forgiver, and this can’t hurt future business.  Well played, well played!  Most shrewd!

What is the lesson here?  We said last week that parables aren’t simply analogies or moral tales.  Be unscrupulous in your business dealings!  Don’t feel badly about effectively bribing people in order to make things easier on yourself!  Others will applaud you!  This is not simply a “this is the moral of the story” tale, though it does have to do with our morals; it has to do with our values.  The question is, “How much more…?”  The children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.  The children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation.  The children of this age, whose god is money, are pretty single-minded in their pursuit of it.  The children of this age whose focus is turned in on themselves are pretty single-minded, buying/collecting/accumulating for their own good, aren’t they?

Children of light, how much more shrewd should we be with everything?  Not for the purpose of self-gain/self-reward/self-aggrandizement – but for the purposes of the kingdom of God.  This life of discipleship is an all-of-life call.  It’s not simply a call to give 10% of our earnings away, and it’s free-rein time with the other 90% (I earned it, after all!).  It’s an all-of-life call that encompasses all that we are, all that we have, all that has been given by God.  It’s an all-of-life call that recognizes that a time is coming when all the money/accumulation/stuff will be as rusty relics or moth-eaten clothes.  The question that this parable asks us is, “What do we value above all else?”  “What is the fundamental underlying underpinning value for our lives?”  We absolutely need to talk about money.  Someone has said:

“Wealth is one of the biggest hindrances to a life of committed discipleship, regardless of one’s position on the economic spectrum. The rich hoard what they have, and the poor covet what they have not. No one is exempt from the lure of possession, be the motivation, greed or insecurity. Although money in itself is neutral, the potential power and pitfalls of one’s dealings with wealth make it a revealing barometer of one’s true attitude toward God, life on earth, and life beyond.”

“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.” (16:9)  The good thing about what the dishonest manager did – the commendable thing – is that he did something.  Use money/goods/property in the service of the kingdom of God.  You can’t serve God and wealth.  The Pharisees scoffed at this.  Of course, you can!  No, you can’t, actually.  You’ll love one and despise the other, and which one do you think is going to end up on the short end of that stick?  Make friends for yourself by means of dishonest wealth means pursue the values of the kingdom with every transaction/investment. It means pursue the values of the kingdom in giving things and money away.  It means pursuing love, mercy, justice, grace, unmerited favour with everything – not to gain something for ourselves or to look for reciprocity but because such acts have consequences that stretch into eternity in the goodness and grace and love of God.

What might happen if we were to take Jesus’ words seriously? “Strive for his kingdom” is how Jesus put it in an earlier passage about endlessly chasing after what we will eat and what we will wear (Luke 12:31).  “Sell your possessions and give alms” is the call. (Luke 12:33)  Give your money away; give your stuff away without expecting to get it back. (Luke 6:30).  At a bbq I was at over the weekend, I heard someone ask, “What if anything is counter-culture today?”  Surely this is counter-cultural in a day we are taught that self-indulgence is a good thing,  Go on, you’re worth it.  In a day in which we’re taught that we have the right to spend all our money on ourselves and we’re actually helping the economy when we do.  Consumer spending was once touted as patriotic duty in our neighbour to the south.  Every year, as someone has said, the definition of what we need expands.  How much do we need?  What must we do??

Selling everything is a high bar.  That’s not to say we won’t ever reach it or be called to it as individuals or as a church, for that matter.  John the Baptist laid some stuff out as he prepared the way for his cousin.  If you have more than you need, give it away.  Two coats?  Give one away.  Too much food?  Give it away.  Jesus has already spoken some thoughts on what we should do.  We heard them during Lent, and here they are again.  Invite those who can’t reciprocate to your tables.  Turn the tables on the whole notion of “What can I get out of this?” when it comes to hospitality.  On the other side, accept invitations from people who have less than you.  When Jesus sent his followers out ahead of him in Luke 10, the only stipulation about being hosted was that people in the house share in peace.  “Remain there, Jesus says, eating and drinking whatever they provide.”  Doesn’t have to be fancy.  If there is one place where socio-economic differences should be broken down and deeply loving relationships be nurtured which erase socio-economic lines, is it not the church?  If you’re seeing this in your church, know that God is at work.  If you’re not, then listen to what Jesus is saying.  “Let anyone with ears listen!”

Last week I talked about parables being like poetry in that they help us to imagine what might be.  American novelist/poet/essayist Wendell Berry wrote a poem which describes the position of the children of the world and the children of light:

And then…

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

After all, it’s only money. May all we do with it be in service to resurrection – new life in the kingdom of God both now and to come.

Amen