This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke 16:1-9)
For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our Gospel reading today is a very unusual one, so its important before we discuss it that we work out first what’s actually happening.
We have a rich man who has a manager. Today we might call him a financial planner. And the rich man hears some charges that this manager is wasting his possessions.
And so we read: He called him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.”
It’s as if the manager says, “OK! Show me your paperwork… I want to see you financial statements. I want you to have an audit. I want to know what you’ve been doing with my money.” And the rich man—the employer—threatens to sack his manager, his financial planner.
And now we read a little conversation that the manager has with himself. This is a little conversation that goes down in the deep recesses of his conscience. This is a very important part of the story, because Jesus lays this man’s heart before us, and before our judgment, so that we can understand what sort of a person he is.
We read: “And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses’.”
The manager knows that he’s done wrong. He knows that he’s embezzled funds and he knows that his books are not going to add up properly. He knows that his master’s threat to sack him will probably come about, because he’s been dishonest and dodgy.
But then what? he thinks. What am I going to do now? No-one’s ever going to hire him as a manager again—his whole career is ruined. No-one will ever trust him in managing money again. So what’s he going to do instead?
Well, some people would say to him, “Go and get yourself a job!” “Go and do some honest work!” “Go to a job network, and find yourself some employment!” “Go and wash some dishes in a restaurant, or help plant some trees on the new highway, or even start your own cottage industry. You could even set up your own business at home. It would be hard work—and you’d have to be a bit poor for a few years before you get your break, but in the end it would be worth it.”
But you see, here we see the idols of this man’s heart: this man has never done any honest work before! He has made all his money from sponging of his master. He has been shovelling his master’s money into his own pocket for years, and he doesn’t know how to do anything else. He’s been syphoning off his master’s funds into his own bank account.
And so even now, when the master threatens to sack him, he’s had a wake up call for his life. He’s being held to account for his dishonest and shoddy practices. But he doesn’t repent. He doesn’t realise that his whole life has been one of fraud.
So he says: “I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.”
He writhes and twists like a worm now under the thought of having to do something honest! He says, “Disability! Disability!” “Worker’s compensation!” “I’ve got a terrible bone in my leg, and the doctor says I can’t work for six months.”
And also, he doesn’t want to beg. He doesn’t want to have to ask anyone for money—he doesn’t want to have to ask anyone for a new job. He doesn’t want people to think that he’s poor.
Of course, back in Jesus’ day, there was no Centrelink and no social security, or welfare to come and bail this man out. He couldn’t claim disability and go into Centrelink and go to the job network. He also doesn’t have an insurance policy, or anything like that.
His situation is more like back in Africa, where people have to rely on their community to make a contribution. When something goes wrong, like this, the whole community and all a person’s friends pass around a bucket and everyone puts in some money and makes a contribution.
So we read, he says: I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.
He says: You know what I need? I need some friends. I’m need to go and make sure that I’ve got some people who can make a contribution for me, and feel sorry for me when I lose my job. These people can look after me and take me in to their houses, when my master takes me to court and takes away my house from me.
So now we read: So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He said, “A hundred measures of oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.” Then he said to another, “And how much do you owe?” He said, “A hundred measures of wheat.” He said to him, "Take your bill, and write eighty.” The master commanded the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
Do you understand what he has done? He has gone and embezzled his master’s funds some more. He has gone and cancelled some of his master’s debts, on his masters behalf. He’s gone and shown a bit of leniency to them. And then these people say, “Thank you! Thank you! I’ve been working so hard to pay off this debt. I’ve been digging for years, and I’ve been begging for years to pay off this debt. My family’s gone hungry—we’ve had to resort to eating all the family pets. Thank you so much for cancelling this debt!”
These people rightfully owe the master this wheat and oil, but the dishonest manager has called it a bit. Many former students in Australia (and also in America) have large debts from university. In Australia we call it the HECS debt. In America, many young people are having to work themselves to the bone, paying off their university student loans. Could you imagine if one day if someone powerful in government, like the minister for education, just decided to come along and cancel all the student loans, or reduce them by half? Could you imagine if our current Minister for Education, Chris Evans, decided to do this, just before the election, and then he lost his seat at the election? All the young people in the country would love him! The students would be throwing parties. It would be a bit dishonest, because now, the government would have to work out a new way to fund the universities, but the students would love him. As soon as he was out of a job, the students would all parade him through the streets, they would start up a Chris Evans fan club, they would build all kinds of religious shrines everywhere to this great minister of education, and they would tell their children about him, and their children’s children about him. When they are grand-parents, they would take them on their knee, and say, “Let me tell you about a great person in Australian history!”
That’s what the dishonest manager does in this story today. He makes friends by cancelling their debts. And we read: The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
And shakes his head and says, “Tsk! Tsk!” There’s no doubt about you! You’re a crook, but you’re a clever crook!
And now, Jesus says, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends the yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
Now Jesus brings us to the point of this little story! Jesus knows very well all the shifty dealings that people undertake just to make a few dollars. Jesus knows very well how people try to squeeze their insurance companies for every last cent, Jesus knows very well how people try to manipulate welfare so that they can have the most money, Jesus knows how people make a couple of cents here and couple of cents there every year until it grows up into a great fortune! He shines his light for us on all the greedy people in the world, all the crooks, all the hoarders, all the swindlers, all those who put in false claims to Centrelink, all those who manipulate their friends to get money off of them!
And now, Jesus turns the whole story around back on us. He says: “What about you?” What about my Christians? What about the sons of light? We read in Ephesians, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
So Jesus says: “The sons of the world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” Those who are walking in darkness are more clever than you!
After all, God has given you a management, a stewardship, he has given you a job, if you like! He has said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” We also read: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
God has given to each person who has ever lived a stewardship, a management, a little patch of ground to work and make a living from.
And God also knows that we’ve all been bad stewards of the good things that God has given us. We haven’t looked after our money properly, we haven’t taken care of our families as we should, we haven’t worked hard and enjoyed our work and given thanks to God for employment and work. We’ve taken our daily bread for granted.
So do you know what God is going to do about this? He’s going to sack you!
“The wages of sin is death.” Or as the thief on the cross says to Jesus, “We are receiving the just reward for our deeds.” We’re all crawling away to the grave, and there’s nothing that we can do about it.
And so, Jesus gives us the example of this dishonest manager. He says, “Look how diligent he is! Look how faithful he is in worshipping his golden calf, and his false god. Look how he bows down and worships his bank account. Look how faithful he is in coming to the church that serves his own back, his stomach. Look how clever he is!”
Could you imagine if you were as diligent trying to serve the true God, as this man is trying to serve his false god? Could you imagine if you were as faithful in guarding your faith, as this man is in guarding his bank account? Could you imagine if you were as diligent in avoiding the wrath and punishment of God and eternal death and hell, as this man is in trying to avoid hard work and begging? You can’t take your money to the grave with you!
God’s got all the welfare in the world to dish out to you! Go and claim disability with him! Line up and claim your payment! The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.
But Jesus states the facts as they are: The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Because of sin, our flesh, and the devil’s work, when the grace of God is on tap every Sunday, people are not flocking to our church here to fill up their hearts for the week with the comforting reminder of their baptism, people are not receiving for their strength and comfort and salvation the free absolution of all their sins, people are not receiving the Lord’s body and blood as the free gift for their forgiveness and as a down-payment of the resurrection of their bodies.
And so Jesus gives us a command: And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Jesus says, use your wealth, your possessions, all the things that the world worships, and bring all these things into the service of God. Make some friends so that when you die, you’ll have some friends waiting for you in heaven to celebrate with you and welcome you. Work out how much you can afford, and make a contribution to the church each week so that the word of God can continue to be preached in years to come. The whole church will thank you for it! If you see someone in need, give them what they ask for. They might be waiting for you when you go into heaven. Most importantly, tell people about the God’s grace, about his free forgiveness that our Lord Jesus has cancelled all our debts, and especially the debt of sin, which deserves God’s punishment, God’s wrath, and hell.
But what a friend we have in Jesus! Make friends with him. He has died for you, and has suffered and died for you. He has used flesh and blood—which everyone else uses to serve unrighteousness and money and wealth—and he has obediently laid his life down in the Father’s hands, all so that he could make friends with you.
What a faithful manager of our world, of our lives, Jesus is! What a faithful, suffering servant he is, what a wonderful obedient Lamb of God he is for us!
Amen.
Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Amen. (Psalm 149:1-4)
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