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| The Unjust Steward, by Nelly Bube, Kazakhstan |
Finally, he thought that he was going to die so he decided to return home and ask to be taken on as a servant in his father's house. He carefully rehearsed his crafty speech, testing how he could weasel his way at least into steady employment.
But as the young man approached his father's estate, and while he was still a great way off, his father saw the dust of his travel, and ran to him, with his servants. Before his son had gotten six words out the father embraced him, and cut off his son's carefully planned speech, weeping for joy and relief. Through his tears, the father ordered the servants to dress him in finery, and ordered a great feast to be prepared, because his son who had been lost was now found.....
Oh wait. That's the wrong story for this weekend, isn't it? Let me start over....
Once there was a man who had a manager he suspected of being dishonest. So he called the manager before him, and tells him he will lose his job, and demands from him an accounting of all his dealings in his employer's name. The dishonest manager panics once he was out of his employers presence, and realized he had nothing to show his employer-- except for his dishonesty.
So the cheat called in his boss's biggest debtors. He cuts deals with his master’s debtors, accepting 50-80% of what they owe in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the debtors. He does this so that he will be welcome in their homes since they are now in his debt for doing them this favor and could perhaps be convinced to take him in. He rehearses his speech carefully to the debtors, and and the debtors, being no fools, take that deal. By the next morning, the payments are in hand. The manager goes in front of his boss expecting to be fired. But instead his boss interrupts him, and congratulates him on his shrewdness and on clearing those old debts off the books-- kind of like when a company sells its unpaid bills to a collection agency.
Two stories about debts and money both touching on the ways of this world in which we live-- at least outside these doors. Two stories with absolute parallels in their structure. Both of the wasters of money never seem to show any real remorse-- they're so used to manipulating to get what they want. Both remorselessly pursue their own gain-- until it catches up with them. But the funny thing is, one of these stories is far more likely to be the subject of a stained glass window than the other. It's hard to imagine having a church window with the motto saying something like "Buy yourself false friends to help cover up your theft," or "Do unto others BEFORE they get a chance to do unto you." Not exactly the golden rule in action.
Only one of these stories reflects grace, and love, and forgiveness. Only one of these stories reflects the kingdom of God we call for every time we pray the Lord's Prayer.
We already spend too much time living in a dog-eat-dog world like this every day of our lives. Why in the world would we want to import that into our lives as followers of Jesus?
At first glance, Jesus seems to praise the actions of the dishonest manager. "The children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light..." Jesus says. Can Jesus be praising the philosophy of "if you can't beat them join them" that unfortunately governs all too much of our relationships with each other? Or is Jesus actually condemning this kind of double-dealing?
Perhaps what Jesus is saying is that wealth is so corrupting that we just need to examine its crippling power in our lives: after all, we hear, “No slave can serve two masters…. You cannot serve God and wealth.” The thing is, it seems that great wealth NEVER satisfies. No matter how many zeroes are used to describe a person, which shouldn't be a way to describe a person at all, really. In the last 200 years, we have had our first multi-millionaire in 1812, our first billionaire a century after that, and last week it was announced that perhaps in two years the world will soon have its first trillionaire.
And yet, it seems like very few of these people know true peace. Despite all they have, they consume away. Enough is never enough. Imagine being able to spend a million dollars a day for the rest of your life. What would you do with such great wealth? Here's a sobering fact: if the world's richest man right now spent one million dollars a day of his fortune, without making any more money, it would still take him 1300 years to spend it all-- one THOUSAND, three HUNDRED years. Make it ten million dollars a day, and it would still take 130 years. And yet we are socialized to chase after them, despite the fact that the goalposts keep being moved in that rarified air, leaving more and more behind in anxiety, if not abject destitution.
Is that what Jesus advises us to try to do too? Or maybe we are missing a key point. Jesus doesn't call us to be children or students of this world. Jesus calls us to be children of the light. We, as followers of Jesus, are called to be prodigal, or extravagant, in love, in faith, in trust, and in compassion in all aspects of our lives. Not in the art of the deal.
What does being a child of the light mean? Is manipulation, double-dealing, selfishness, and greed at the heart of the kingdom of God? Or is it about being wealthy in soul, generous in spirit, and grateful for knowing the love of God and each other in our lives?
Isn't living our lives rooted in faith, and its mirror image, trust, the basis of the kingdom of God? Aren't we called to live by a covenant with God, a sacred pact, that places love of God and love of each other, at the center of our lives?
As we look at our candidate for baptism, we see someone whose life centers on trust. On security. On knowing that she is loved and cared for and treasured, exactly as she is. Even when squirmy. Even when grumpy. Even when hangry. At her stage in life, she lives by faith-- faith in those around her to love and care for her, faith in yummy snacks, and a desire for a good long nap. The dream of us all, am I right?
The covenant we make with God in baptism, and that we will all re-affirm in just a few moments, calls us to act in opposition to the calculus of this world, that creates winners only by creating hundreds of times more losers. It moves from general renunciations of the corrupting influences of this world, to promises about what we believe, through faith, and how specifically we live out that faith as children of the light. Not by trying to maximize our profits, as Amos condemned, but by living as prophets of Jesus, as witnesses and emulators of his example.
It means taking seriously the collect we prayed just a few minutes ago, in this Season of Creation: Grant us, Creator God, to put wealth to use in relieving the suffering of others; so that we might hold fast to the love that endures; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
Preached at the 505 on September 20, and the 10:30 Eucharist on September 21, 2025, at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Ellisville.
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