September 22, 2013 – Luke 16:1-13
Luke 16:1-13
Squandering for a Purpose
18th Sunday after Pentecost [Lectionary 25] – September 22, 2013
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
In Winnipeg Jets News, this just in:
Mark Chipman – owner of the Winnipeg Jets – signed the Jets General Manager
Kevin Cheveldayoff to a 2-year contract extension this past week.
At a press conference after the signing, Chipman had this to say:
Kevin is such a rascal.
He can’t be trusted at all.
He made off with company funds.
And he put his own self-interest above the interest of our business.
You can see right away why we wanted to lock Chevy up for several more years.
No! That’s not what Mark Chipman said.
What he actually said was this:
I hold Chevy in very high regard; I cannot tell you how much confidence I have in Kevin’s abilities; I learned a long time ago that it doesn’t matter how much you want to achieve something – in this case, winning hockey games – you’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with, but in this case I think I’ve learned that I couldn’t have a more capable guy leading our hockey team for the long term.
See: that makes sense.
Commending a person you can trust.
What doesn’t make sense is commending someone you can’t trust at all.
Someone like the manager in the parable Jesus tells today.
What happens in the parable is clear enough.
A rich man discovers that the manager of his business has not been doing a very good job.
In fact, he’s lost a lot of company money.
It’s one of those things where nobody is quite sure where the money has gone.
It’s been “squandered.”
So, the owner summons the manager and says,
“You’re fired! Before you go, show me the books!”
And the manager thinks, “Hmmm. The jig is up! I have to act quickly, and shrewdly.”
So he takes all his clients out to lunch and says,
All that stuff you owe us? Just make it half and then you can consider us even!
That way, see, he’ll have some friends when he’s looking for a new job, and, as a bonus,
he’ll have gotten one last good one in on his boss who has fire him.
And you can hear all the underdogs in the crowd Jesus is addressing whooping and
hollering, as the little guy gets one over on the big guy:
Ha! Good one, Jesus!
But then, you get to the very end of the story and it’s not quite so funny anymore.
We expect Jesus to say, “Now, you all know this is a very good example of how not to behave.”
You maybe expect Jesus to finish the story by saying, “And the rich man was furious and
sent the manager packing with his ears ringing because the manager had
squandered even more of the rich man’s money.”
But no: that’s not even close to what Jesus says.
Instead, the rich man commends the dishonest manager! Can you believe it?
He commends him for squandering his property!
He commends him for acting shrewdly!
So: what gives?
It seems as if Jesus is commending dishonesty,
the squandering of property that does not belong to you, and shrewdness.
Where’s the bit about love in this story?
Where’s the bit about justice?
Where’s the bit about trust?
Would Mark Chipman have extended the dishonest manager’s contract at this point?
Probably not.
This is truly one of the most puzzling and difficult stories Jesus ever tells.
Saint Augustine stated flat out that he did not believe Jesus ever told this story.
So what gives?
Jesus is a close observer of people. He observes all kinds of people.
He closely observes a woman putting her last little coin into the temple treasury.
He observes shepherds and Pharisees and tax collectors and men of violence.
He watches them all and . . . he thinks about them.
He observes business people – and he wonders what he and his followers can learn from them.
In the manager he first sees a person who
squanders his master’s property for no discernible purpose.
We don’t know how he wastes the rich man’s money: we just know he wastes it.
Apparently he has nothing to show for it.
Apparently he doesn’t have a nest egg squirreled away somewhere that
he can live on for the rest of his life.
There’s no Swiss Bank account, no off-shore tax shelters, no private jet.
And he hasn’t purchased himself a Caribbean island to retire to.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. He’s been fired. He has no future.
So then, he gets to business.
He begins to take action to secure his future.
Once he had no future, but now, suddenly, decisively, and shrewdly he
takes steps to secure his future.
He squanders his master’s property once again but this time he does it
marking down the debts of his master’s clients.
And what you need to know is that these are not small amounts:
we’re talking about huge, vast sums here:
1000 gallons of olive oil, and over 1000 bushels of wheat:
and this is just for two clients!
So, yes: he’s squandering the master’s money once again, but the difference this time is
he’s squandering with a purpose!
He’s a got plan: he’s squandering in order to secure his future.
He’s squandering shrewdly, prudently, wisely.
And that, surely, is why the rich man commends him.
We don’t know if the rich man decided to offer him a contract extension after this:
probably not!
After all, he is still a “dishonest manager,” or, as it might be more exactly translated,
he is still a “steward of unrighteousness.”
But he’s a wise and prudent steward of unrighteousness.
And somehow, the rich man – and maybe even Jesus himself – admires something about that.
So then you can sort of imagine Jesus looking at his disciples after he tells the story.
And he wonders: can they be as decisive and as shrewd and as wise in securing God’s future?
Jesus has come to usher in God’s future of manna-sharing and mercy-giving and
justice-doing and peace-making.
Jesus has come to usher in God’s future of the reconciliation of all peoples.
Jesus has come to usher in God’s future of love.
And he wonders: can the people I’ve surrounded myself with help usher in that future?
Can they be “honest managers” of all that God has given them?
Can they be “stewards of righteousness”?
Can they too squander with a purpose?
Can they squander God’s riches in order to secure God’s future?
And as he wonders, he wonders about himself too.
He’s given himself to his people without reserve.
He’s given his food, he’s given his forgiveness, he’s given his wisdom.
He’s going to Jerusalem and he knows he’s going to give his life.
He’s going to Jerusalem and he’s going to squander what God has given him.
He’s going to squander his life.
He’s going to squander it for the sake of the righteous as well as the unrighteous.
He’s going to squander it on the deserving and for the underserving.
He’s going to squander it on his disciples and on those who oppose him.
He’s going to give it lavishly and generously and prodigally.
And then God is going to raise him from death so he can squander it some more,
And squander even his spirit on us.
In worship gatherings and at communion tables across the globe this morning,
Jesus is going to give himself away again – in order to secure God’s future: through you.
Jesus looks at you this morning and wonders: can my squandering spirit in them?
The last time I preached this sermon was six years ago,
and for those of you who remember, that was a very difficult time.
I spoke of the manager’s ability to act decisively and shrewdly in the face of disaster.
And then I prayed this:
Help us to know that the future belongs to you and you alone. You face us now in a moment of crisis as we face difficult financial decisions. Help those of us who continue to love this congregation and its ministry to simply give more. Help us to act shrewdly and decisively and confidently, knowing that all will be well because we are in your good, graceful, and abundant hands, for we ask it in Jesus’ name.
God answered this prayer. God answered it through you.
Your prodigality, your generous, lavish squandering generosity of your time and talent and
treasure have enabled God’s future to come into the present, in a ministry that is
flourishing:
this is the common mission young Ethan has been invited into this morning..
It turns out God can be trusted, and that God’s confidence in you is not misplaced:
now that’s tremendous and amazing good news: God can be trusted.
Jesus is inviting us this morning to squander what we have been given for a purpose,
for a much higher purpose than the dishonest manager’s who was, after all,
just trying to secure his own future.
Jesus is inviting us this morning to give generously of our wealth, and our talents, and
our commitment, and our hospitality, and our forgiveness for something much grander:
to secure God’s future of harmony and justice and mercy.
And so that we can do that, Jesus will squander himself once again this morning, on us,
poured out in wine, broken in bread, given and shared through one another.
Squandering himself for us.
Squandering himself for God’s future.
Squandering himself for a purpose. And he invites you to do the same.
So together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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