The Gospel lesson for this morning is one you might not have ever heard. It is unusual and when you first hear it, your initial reaction might be… Is that OUR Jesus telling the story as it seems absolutely counter to what we would expect Jesus to say. It seems as though God does not call into account the rich and powerful who abuse their wealth and authority for personal gain but instead might reward them. But like all good parables, they are meant to engage the listener and have us wrestle with what we hear. And I promise you this one sure does that.
Listen now to the story of the Dishonest Manager.
Then Jesus[a] 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[b] so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.[c] 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,[d] 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.”[e] (The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.)
This is a story about moral ambiguity. In fact one commentary I read in Christian Century magazine on this passage starts off with the minister telling the story that a drug dealer in an effort to ease his guilt over how he made his money offered to tithe his earnings to the church and write a check to the church for $40,000. Let that sink in for a moment. $40,000. The article asks, ‘what would we do in that situation?’ I know it would be a very real temptation for me to take it …. I could put it right into our organ fund …. but would that be right? Particularly when you knew the only reason the gift was given was for in hopes of gaining some forgiveness for the actions he was making to get the money in the first place.
But we also live in a society where money and morality are confusing. Truth and honesty used to be… well… truths, but now there is so much grey areas about it. Donating money or paying back money is seen as redemption for past ill deeds. Isn’t that one of the purposes of the civil courts? Just this past week in our courts the manufacturers of OxyContin were fined after it was proven that they knew the highly addictive drug would make a huge profit; parents who bought their children’s place in selective colleges were also fined; and Trump’s tax returns were subpoenaed again to see if the hush money used to quiet his affair came from his business or personal funds. Money and morality are indeed very confusing.
In the parable the manager of a rich person’s business gets caught in some actions of incompetence or total corruption. We are not sure exactly what he has done, but he has indeed wasted the rich person’s resources. And not being a good steward of resources being bad is a reoccurring theme in the Gospels. Often we are shown how we do not steward well what has been put into our care. So, the manager recognizes that his lucrative gig is up and that he can not undo or deny the charges against him. So he does a last ditch effort to ease the punishment he knows he deserves. The manager goes around to all the people who owe his boss money and slashes the amount owed if they pay back the debt immediately. All this is done, not for the people who benefitted from the forgiveness on a part of their loans, but with the hopes that the manager will gain good will and mercy from his boss and cushion the punishment he knows he is about to receive. And it works!!!! The dishonest manager receives no rebuke but praise. He is actually is commended for his work instead of being punished. WOW!
And this is where it is good to think of the placement of this parable within the Gospel of Luke and to whom Jesus is talking and on what subject. He has just finished the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son or prodigal son. The stories were not addressed for the benefit of the righteous and saved, but for the sinners. Jesus is not even talking here to the poor and the powerless but to those who possess the money and the control and are seen as sinners. And Jill Duffield, the editor of Presbyterian Outlook magazine says in her commentary that ‘Just like the prodigal, the dishonest manager needs the grace of others in order to avoid the disastrous outcome of his actions.’ And, what makes us uncomfortable is that in both stories, the undeserving figures get a reprieve and a second chance.
This story is a story of a dishonest person. The person is not praised for their actions which got them into the situation they are in. It is a story of a dishonest manager who finally figures out how to do some good for his or her boss. It is a story about someone who decides to make a change. Jesus is talking to sinners, to people who up until now have gained at the expense of honesty and integrity, and Jesus is saying that in spite of your previous behavior, it’s not too late for you to do some good. The message in the story is that if the dishonest people…. even those who actively exploit and take advantage of others, would just do some good, they can get back on track.
And that is indeed good news for us as sinners (and God knows we need it) but to me the challenge is that if God is able to forgive people like that, we must try as well. The good person isn’t the dishonest manager…. he is us. The hero is the business owner. AND, we must be like the owner of the business, and look at the positive and offer care and concern even to the people we think are bad. And the reason we must care for and invite the dishonest manager in to our midst is not that the manager’s actions and dishonesty are condoned. It is because our God is merciful to all. Our God is abounding in steadfast love even to and especially to the people who are sinners and immoral and unjust in how they treat others. God offers redemption and is continually asking us to model that same behavior. God calls us to loyalty and service by scattering grace on the people who need it the most.
This is hard. I like the God of justice and righteousness who smites the unjust sinners who take advantage of the powerless and voiceless. This year, with issues of morality and personal gain and power coming from the elite and rich, it is difficult to listen to lessons which offer redemption. It feels good when the bad guys don’t win. It feels good when they get their comeuppance. But, following our Lord is not an easy road. Like Michelle Obama’s famous quote, “When they go low, we go high “the message here is that we always, always love and offer love. Amen.
