Shrewd Stewardship - A Sermon for Sunday September 18, 2022

GOSPEL: Luke 16:1-13

The holy gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus tells the curious story of a dishonest manager who cheats his employer and then is commended by him for having acted so shrewdly. Jesus wonders why his own followers are less creative and diligent in their stewardship given that they are managers of a far more valuable household.

1Then Jesus 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. 2So 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.’ 3Then 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. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7Then 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.’ 8And 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. 9And 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.

 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. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No 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.”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ

This is a confusing one.

Biblical scholars are not of one mind.

It sounds like Jesus,

but it also does not sound like Jesus.

I believe faith is more about living in the question mark

rather than jumping to the exclamation point.

Yes, Jesus is the answer,

but faith grows in the questions.

Faith grows when we, like Jacob, wrestle with God.

So, if you are confused,

if you don’t know what this parable means,

then join the club!

It’s okay!

Some parts aren’t so confusing.

“A slave cannot serve two masters.

You cannot serve God and wealth.”

That part is pretty black or white.

“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.”

That part is confusing.

For us today,

As I seek to serve the Gospel in this congregation

I’m hearing two main questions:

First: How might we be shrewd,

in the best sense of the word,

for the sake of the Gospel?

Second: How might we steward what God has given us,

how might we be faithful managers

amidst competing obligations?

I came across an article on CBC news this week,

that touches on both obligations and shrewdness…

There is a new trend in employment,

particularly in the technology sector,

and it has employees acting shrewdly.

(https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/two-jobs-pandemic-1.6577522)

I don’t have to tell you about the cost of living going up,

groceries cost more,

rents go up,

mortgage interest rates go up,

Debt in Canada is close to its all-time high

(https://www.macleans.ca/economy/canadian-economy-guide-2022-debt/)

and people need to get creative to make ends meet.

Some people might take on a side hustle,

drive for Uber or Skip-the-Dishes,

maybe even take on a part time job.

But here’s the new trend:

Some tech workers are working two full-time jobs on the sly,

without their employers knowing.

Some of this is thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic

and employees being able to work from home.

A common story is that someone might see their job coming to an end,

and so they go looking for a new full-time job,

they start the new job,

at home,

and find they can manage working both jobs

at the same time.

So they juggle both jobs,

earning two incomes

putting in the bare minimum of work

until they are found out or fired.

Like the dishonest manager in the parable,

they are acting shrewdly for their own self interest.

But they’re not making friends,

in fact they don’t have time for friends.

A slave cannot serve two masters,

the tech worker can’t really devote themselves

to two employers full time,

let alone being available for their family,

their friends,

their Netflix queue,

or their God.

You cannot serve God and wealth.

I attended Georges P. Vanier Junior High School

and we had a cafeteria.

For $5 you could get a cheeseburger

and an ice cream sandwich.

A classmate of mine worked the cash register

because he was trusted in that position.

I remember him being really good in math class,

but his math seemed to fail him at the cash register.

I would give him a $5 bill

for my $5 cheeseburger and ice cream sandwich.

Sometimes I would get $4 change.

Sometimes I’d get $7.

If he was at the cash register,

all my friends were buying.

Like me, he wanted to be popular.

He used the cash register to make friends

by means of dishonest wealth.

What a shrewd kid.

He claimed that he never got caught either,

but if he was dismissed as cashier

at least he had his new friends.

So I hear the parable of the Rich Man,

and I hear Jesus commend the dishonest manager,

and I think - does Jesus commend the tech worker

working two full-time jobs on the sly,

managing dishonest wealth?

Does Jesus commend my friend at the cafeteria,

helping out us poor students,

and making friends with dishonest wealth?

It’s not so black and white, is it?

Life is often lived in the grey areas.

We can’t always  jump to the exclamation point,

often we need to sit in the question mark.

Maybe you’re trying to make ends meet,

maybe you’re overworked,

maybe you’re under-employed,

maybe you’re on a fixed income in retirement,

and you’re thinking about how to get creative financially,

how to increase income or decrease spending,

how to get out of debt,

and asking how much income is enough?

What does it look like to be faithful to God

with our time and our income

when it gets hard to make ends meet?

I think the question goes beyond economics,

beyond paying our debts of money,

and to think about social and relational debts;

to think about all that we are entrusted with.

The dishonest manager was shrewd,

cutting down the debts owed to the master,

so that the social relationships with the debtors

might be strengthened.

I scratch their back,

they might scratch mine.

I think the key lies in who is owed the debt in the parable,

It’s about what is owed to the Rich Man,

and Jesus uses the words dishonest wealth.

In the parable, God is the Rich Man.

I think.

You could make a case for God being the dishonest manager,

But in the parables, the subject of the parable

- God - is often named first,

so I say God is the Rich Man,

who doesn’t act like the average wealthy landlord.

2000 years ago, much like today,

people relied upon debt to get by.

They didn’t go to the bank for a credit card,

people sought out rich landlords and rulers.

Unable to pay back their debts,

family lands were lost.

It was common knowledge that these poor peasants,

pardon the pun,

just wouldn't know any better

when they took on impossible loans with high hidden interest.

(https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2982 Barbara Rossing. Commentary on Luke 16:1-13)

It would be shocking that the Rich Man is not upset with the returns,

Olive Oil debt reduced from 100 jugs to 50;

Wheat debt reduced from 100 containers to 80;

that’s a significant loss.

Perhaps it matters more to Jesus

that the poor and vulnerable enjoy some forgiveness

compared to the wealthy being repaid

for their dishonest lending.

Maybe the master is glad to have any of the debt paid back.

The manager could have charged additional interest

and the debt would become unplayable.

Cutting the debt

might just help with the social and economic relationships.

Perhaps God, the Rich Man,

knows that the debtors owe a debt that cannot be repaid.

The manager is commended for being faithful with the dishonest wealth.

I believe he is called faithful

because the faithful response to debt is forgiveness.

Consider for a moment Jesus’ mission statement

found back in Luke 4,

as Jesus reads from the Isaiah scroll in Synagogue:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor,

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”

That’s how Jesus will be faithful,

and good news to the poor is found in

the year of the Lord’s favour,

the year of Jubilee,

the year in which debts are forgiven.

Morality says debts need to be repaid.

Faithfulness proclaims forgiveness.

It’s in Jesus’ prayer in Luke 11,

  literally translated:

“Forgive us our sins

as we forgive everyone indebted to us.”

I believe God’s faithful are called to take debt forgiveness seriously.

Could you imagine if debts were forgiven?

Students and millennials would rejoice,

Banks and baby boomers would grumble.

Yet the one who is faithful in a very little,

is faithful also in much.

We all owe a debt to our God.

God has given us life,

abundant life,

a grand and majestic creation,

and we tend to squander.

We take more than we deserve,

we take on more than we can handle,

we choose sin,

we choose violence,

we choose to hurt.

We have a debt to our God

that is only paid by the cross of Jesus Christ.

God chooses to forgive us our debts

knowing we can never repay them ourselves.

By the cross of Christ,

By your baptism into Christ,

you are forgiven and your debt to God is paid.

Even with our frailty,

our dishonesty,

our tendencies for both goodness and evil,

God sees fit to entrust us as managers,

as stewards,

of God’s creation.

We have been called by our God

into evangelism,

into witnessing our faith,

into welcoming others to join the Wedding Feast.

And you catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.

The way we - followers of Jesus - interact with others

has a direct reflection on their view of God.

There is no greater feeling of freedom

than when a great debt has been forgiven.

Are we quick to forgive debts;

economic, social, relational, any debt;

or do we demand high interest?

Do our practices

liberate people to continue in relationship with God,

or do they keep people in bondage?

Consider what you have been entrusted with in this life:

that includes family, children,

work, vocation,

service in the church,

and utmost, a call to follow Jesus.

Be shrewd,

Be wise,

Be prudent,

be clever

for the sake of the Gospel.

Yet like the tech worker burning the candle at both ends

working two jobs on the sly,

we need be careful with our shrewdness

that we don’t find ourselves serving wealth,

instead of serving our God.

Perhaps like the dishonest manager

and shrewd cafeteria worker,

we can make friends by means of dishonest wealth

in a way that helps those who are poor.

I am convinced that the way you and I view money

is nothing like how God views money.

Some theologians argue that humanity creating money

is humans seeking to be God in God’s place:

God is the Creator of all,

all God creates is good,

and humans create money

and God thinks “Aww, Isn’t that cute!”

Consider the time that Jesus was asked if it is lawful to pay taxes,

and Jesus asks for a coin, saying “Who’s face is on it?”

“It is Caesar’s”

Jesus says “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,

and give to God what belongs to God.”

This answer led in part to Jesus being crucified,

because all wealth, all coin, all creation belongs to God,

so some understood Jesus saying not to pay taxes.

Don’t store up treasures on earth,

like olive oil,

like wheat,

like money,

where rust and moth consume,

because in God’s time,

rust and moth consume just about everything.

As Jesus says, the dishonest wealth will one day be gone.

Store up instead treasures in heaven.

If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,

who will entrust to you the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another,

who will give you what is your own?

I read faithfulness here as practicing forgiveness of debts,

any kind of debt.

You and I are not owners of creation,

rather we are managers,

we are stewards.

How might our stewardship of God’s creation

bring a commendation

from the One to whom we all owe a great debt?

How might we, as stewards,

join God’s work of forgiving debts?

So I leave you with this thought:

I believe Jesus is calling us into Shrewd Stewardship.

To take debt forgiveness seriously,

to be faithful in what we have been given to steward.

Sometimes life is black and white:

We cannot serve God and wealth,

so serve God,

store riches in heaven.

More often than not,

black and white fade to grey,

and life is lived in the grey areas.

Faith is found in the question marks,

not just the exclamation points.

With competing obligations,

with rising costs of living,

with concerns for climate

and COVID

and Culture

and Christ’s Church,

The owner is speaking to us managers, stewards,

calling us to account,

inviting us to be faithful in a little,

and so be faithful in much.

I believe Jesus is calling us into Shrewd Stewardship.

May we be found faithful

with what God has entrusted to steward.

May we be shrewd in dealing with this generation,

liberating those in bondage to debt.

May we grow in faith

as we navigate the grey areas and question marks of life.

Thanks be to God. Amen.