Sermon prepared for Epiphany Lutheran Church in the Bronx for September 18, 2022.,
“And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Luke 16:8.
Commended him?
Doesn’t that strike you as odd?
Here is a manager (Luke 16:1-13) who has been stealing his master’s property for years and, when caught, goes on to steal even more by telling his master’s creditors they can pay less than they owe.
What, from the master’s point of view, is commendable about that?
And what is the point of this story that Jesus is telling this crowd of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and scribes?
Moments earlier, Jesus told the tale of the prodigal son.
The contrast in the lead personalities could not be greater: One is a foolish young man who loses all his fortune in profligate living but repents and returns to his father, who immediately forgives him. The other is a cheat and a scoundrel who tries to make allies by cheating his master out of more goods that are owed to him.
Moreover, we love to hear about the prodigal because we know Jesus is talking about God’s unconditional love for each of us, no matter how far we stray. It’s a story most of us could repeat by heart.
But the story of the dishonest manager is much less familiar to us. I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon about this character, probably because it’s so hard to figure out the point Jesus is using him to make. There is no comment about the dishonest manager in the Lutheran Study Bible, and many commentaries are prefaced with the observation, “This is a difficult passage to understand.”
Still, the dishonest manager himself is oddly familiar to us. We’ve all known this man.
He’s the smarmy guy in the office who embellishes his expense account and seeks a promotion by undermining the boss and creating cliques among the staff who grumble that the boss should be replaced.
He is, as my wife and five daughters would point out, the mansplainer in staff meetings who listens to women’s ideas and presents the same ideas to the boss as his own.
The church version of this guy is the layman who disdains the preaching of a woman pastor, and corrects her scholarly exegesis of scripture when it doesn’t agree with his own prejudices.
He’s the politician who promises to represent the voters but accepts thousands of dollars from powerful lobbies to support the interests of the very rich.
He’s the racist governor of a red state seeking to look tough to his far-right minions by shipping undocumented immigrants of color to Washington or Cape Cod so northern liberals will be forced to take care of them.
He’s the pharmaceutical executive who claims to be developing much needed medicines to treat the sick but makes millions through the over-prescribing of opioids, or by raising the cost of EpiPens and insulin beyond the ability of sick people to afford them.
He’s the business owner who presents a warm and generous face to his customers but obscures the fact that he is underpaying his employees, or that he has been paying women workers less than male workers who are doing the same job.
He’s the realtor who advertises comfortable houses, condos, and apartments to the general public but claims to have no vacancies when persons of color, Muslims, or Sikhs come looking for a place to live.
To be honest, we’ve all known far more dishonest managers than we have known repentant prodigals.
And the one thing these dishonest managers have in common is, to use Jesus’ own words, they are acting “shrewdly.” They have all figured out how to improve their own lot in life by diminishing the lot of others.
But why would this kind of self-serving shrewdness be something the dishonest manager’s master would commend?
I think the first thing to note is that in this particular parable, the master is not a stand-in for God. Certainly the prodigal’s father is a god-figure and he reminds us that God’s love is ever present and unconditional.
The dishonest manager’s master is no such thing. He is simply a crass human character made up by Jesus and we needn’t worry that God or Jesus find the manager’s reprehensible behavior to be commendable in any way.
I sat with a group of Lutheran pastors in a bible study recently. One of the pastors suggested the master may have been impressed by the nerve, the gall, the naked temerity, the chutzpah of this guy. “Got to hand it to you, Dude! Unbelievable. No – commendable!”
But that’s as far as it went. There’s no suggestion the manager got his old job back – just a rueful slap on the shoulder by his former boss.
Keeping in mind that Jesus is addressing a group of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and scribes, what is his point?
For one thing, Jesus seems to be wondering aloud why his own followers are less creative and less shrewd in their own stewardship given that they are managers of a far greater household.
And perhaps this tale of rich people and shrewd managers is to illustrate the futility of focusing your life on money or your economic survival rather than on God.
In the end, what have the master or the dishonest manager actually accomplished? The manager’s loyalty to his own economic survival has made him disloyal to his master because, obviously, he can’t be loyal to both.
Jesus put it this way:
“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.” (Luke 16:13a)
But it was Jesus’ final statement that aroused the Pharisees in the crowd:
“You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13b)
Reading beyond this morning’s text, to Luke 16:14-15, we get a clearer picture of the point Jesus is making:
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.”
In these passages, Jesus is addressing a diverse crowd composed of people who can’t stand each other: tax collectors and other sinners, who are known to be dishonest; and Pharisees, who regard themselves as paragons of honesty and virtue. The tax collectors and sinners hate the Pharisees, who they regard as insufferable posturers; and the Pharisees despise the tax collectors and sinners because they live sinful and despicable lives.
Only Jesus sees them for what they really are. The tax collectors do not deny they skim off the top of their collected gains for their own use, and Jesus has already assured them in the parable of the prodigal that God loves them anyway.
But so, too, do the Pharisees welcome the gifts and support of the poor and common people who seek to assure their salvation by supporting these religious leaders. This unmerited collection of riches, Jesus says, makes them no different than the tax collectors. And to prize wealth is to prize what is an abomination to God.
Reading on, Jesus drives the point home with his parable about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).
But as we wrestle with the issues of shrewdness and choosing God’s realm over money, perhaps the best way to conclude our meditation this morning is to read again the passage from Paul’s letter to Timothy (I Timothy 2:1-7)
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.
God’s message to us this Sunday is this:
Love God more than money.
Work creatively, resolutely, and shrewdly for the advancement of God’s realm in all the world.
And never forget that Jesus is our faithful mediator with God;
And God loves us unconditionally and for all time.
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