Jesus: The Unjust Steward

           Luke 16:1-13

           Have you seen the story that is circulating about Joey Prusak?  He isn’t a big name or anything, but lately he has been pretty popular because of a choice he made.  Joey works at a Dairy Queen in Minnesota.  Recently one of his frequent guests came into the store, a man who is blind.  He took out his wallet to pay and dropped at $20 bill.  A woman behind him in line quickly picked it up and put it in her purse.  So, Joey asked her to return the money.  She wouldn’t and claimed it was hers.  Joey then refused to serve her.  That is not why the story has been circulating though.  The story is popular because of what happened next.  Since the lady would not return the money, Joey opened his wallet and gave the man a $20 bill.  Joey made a good choice.  A choice that has gotten him recognition he probably never expected to receive.

Life gives us many choices.  We make decisions all the time.  Should I go out to eat or go home and cook?  Should I watch this channel or this other one?  Should I go to this event or this other one?  Should I be a member in this group or this other one?  Should I pay this bill or this other one?  Should I stay at this job or should I take another one?

Our parable today includes two decisions.  The first one is made by the manager.  The manager, upon finding out that he is going to be fired, makes a decision to reduce the debts of the debtors so that when all is said and done he will not be rejected by the community.  In doing so, the debtors likely have respect and appreciation for the manager.  So, when he is out of a job, they might be willing to help him out.  The debtors also likely have some appreciation for the owner, too.  They don’t know that this gift of debt reduction has come only from the manager.  Both the manager and the owner are in good positions, because of the manager’s shrewd behavior.

So, is this parable saying that lying, cheating, and being dishonest are desirable characteristics to have?  No.  This point is actually much bigger than that.  Remember, Jesus, as is typical, is hanging out with all the wrong people in all the wrong places, according to the standards of the world.  He is eating with sinners, looking for lost things, and telling parables about celebrating when the prodigal son comes home after squandering the inheritance.  Jesus doesn’t fit the norm and he never will.  So Jesus uses this story to illustrate a point.  Part of his point is that in God’s economy people are more important than profits.  Jesus is willing to risk the stare and the gossip about who he is hanging out with, because he knows that people are most important, regardless of who they are.  The same is true of the manager.

Now for the second decision, which is up to us.  The text ends with “You cannot serve God and wealth.”  No, you can’t have two masters.  There cannot be two entities that have ultimate control and authority in your life.  So here we have another choice.  Serve God or serve money?  Remember in making this decision you are not choosing to never use money.  Let’s be honest we use money all the time.  We just can’t make it our “god.”  We cannot give money the ultimate authority in our lives.  We can use it for the good of others, though.  We can let our money be used in ways that would be pleasing and acceptable to God.  In doing so we will be giving back to God, what first belonged to God.  Really everything we have is on loan from God.

We can support Kids Against Hunger next Sunday as we use our hands to do God’s work, by packing meals that feed people both near and far.  We can sign up to adopt a family for the Christmas Servant Event.  We can bring Jello salad or bananas for the meal at Cornerstone.  We can support our congregation and the ministry partners we highlight each month.  Our money can be used to serve God.

If we dig deep in this parable we can also see that the manager is choosing to serve God.  So what can we learn from the manager’s choice?  Often in parables you can find one of the characters portraying Jesus.  The unjust steward or the shrewd manager in this parable could also be seen as a Christ-figure.  The manager enacts grace, by offering a reduction of debts.  Similarly to Jesus, the manager dies and rises, only in the case of the parable that death and resurrection is metaphorical-losing his job and finding a way to bounce back from unemployment.  Then in his dying and rising he raises others, like Jesus, giving new life to those around him-by reducing their debts.  One author puts it this way, Jesus “became sin for us sinners, weak for us weaklings, lost for us losers, and dead for us dead.”  That is true in this story and in the entire Jesus story.

Let me retell today’s parable with a few different words, a slant that will hopefully allow you to see the presence of a Christ figure, one that is a bit hidden at first glance.  There was an owner who had a manager.  That manager was entrusted with the responsibility to run the business on earth, because the owner lived far away.  The manager was the best and brightest.  He was the owner’s creation.  He had the owner’s best interests in mind.  One day the owner was alerted that the manager was squandering the property.  The manager was misusing his power.  This was going to get him in trouble.  So, the manager decided to be clever and reduce the debts owed to the master.  This would ensure that he had followers after he lost his job.  So the manager set out to meet with the debtors.  The manager said to the woman who had cheated on her husband several times, “You have sinned much and owe much to the owner, but I will forgive the debt.”  Then the manager said to the man who had lied to the governing authorities, “You have sinned much and owe much to the owner, but I will forgive the debt.”  The manager said to the kid who had stolen a candy bar, “You have sinned much and owe much to the owner, but I will forgive the debt.”  He continued in this manner, forgiving the debts of many sinners.  After offering forgiveness verbally, his generosity had him killed.  Soldiers nailed him to a cross, where he gave his very blood for the forgiveness of the debts of everyone.  “For there is one God, there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all.”  In giving his life as a ransom, he showed the world what is the most important choice to make – serving God by being in relationship with others, because the debts have already been paid through grace.  Choose God, because God already chose you.  Amen.

Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-10

            Like the lost sheep, I have been lost.  I have taken wrong turns and went the wrong way in a new place, but none of them were quite like the first time my mom and I traveled east for my first year of seminary.  Our goal for our first day of driving was to make it from Watertown to just outside of Chicago.  It was later in the evening when we arrived in the Chicago area.  This was the first big city driving I had ever done, and now we were doing it in the dark.  The car was loaded down and we were sick of driving.  This was before I owned a GPS, actually before they were very popular.  We had printed maps off of the computer to follow on our trip.  Somehow we took the wrong turn and instead of traveling around the city on a bypass road we went right through the heart of the city.  We were lost.  We were tired.  We were getting crabby.  We were hungry.  We just wanted to be at our hotel, but here we were lost in Chicago.  Unfortunately printed out maps are not very helpful in situations like this.  There is no “you are here” spot on the map.  Unlike a GPS they never recalculate.  I don’t really remember how or what got us out of this predicament, but I know there was much rejoicing when we arrived at the hotel for the night.

            Like the woman who lost a coin, I have on many occasions lost important items.  Last fall I had purchased a new headlamp.  I remembered taking my headlamp to Outlaw Ranch, where I had let Allen use it one evening.  I thought he had given it back, but months later I still couldn’t find it.  I asked him if he remembered giving it back to me or if it might still be at camp.  I was so frustrated with myself for losing my headlamp.  After months of searching I had finally decided it was lost forever.  Then, while I was at camp this summer I reached deep into a rarely used pocket of my suitcase and there was my headlamp.  The lost was found and there was much rejoicing.

            It is likely that you have been lost at one point or another in your life.  You have taken a wrong turn or traveled to a new place.  You have pulled out the map or asked for directions and found your way home.  And upon finding your way out of being lost you have rejoiced.  Or you have likely lost an important possession.  Misplaced your money or your keys.  You have searched high and low to find said possession.  And upon finding the item that was lost you have rejoiced.

            We see and hear announcements of lost things all the time.  There are announcements of lost children and parents at the grocery store.  There are signs for lost dogs stapled to light poles and street signs.  There are lost purses and lost keys.  Living in a tourist area there are often lost people.  In all of these situations of lost-ness there is often much rejoicing that happens when the lost is found.

            In these situations of lost-ness there is almost always someone doing the seeking.  If we look back at our parable in Luke we have a shepherd actively seeking the one lost sheep, from the herd of one hundred.  We also have a woman who is actively seeking the coin that she has lost, from the collection of ten.  Jesus is using metaphor here in the form of the shepherd and the woman.  Using these two common, everyday situations with normal, everyday people he intends to tell us about God.  God is like a shepherd who when he loses one sheep from the flock of one hundred, leaves behind the others to search for the one.  God is like a woman who when she loses one coin from the collection of ten, lights a lamp and sweeps the house until she finds the one.  Then upon finding the lost sheep or the lost coin God rejoices over what was once lost, but now has been found.

            The metaphor goes even further though.  It is not just about God being like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep or a woman searching for a lost coin.  The metaphor also includes us.  We are the lost sheep.  We are the lost coin.  We are that important to God.  God would leave behind the other ninety-nine to find us.  God would light a lamp and sweep the house in search of us.  God believes that each one of us that important.  So important that we are worth finding.  And so important that once God finds us we are worth rejoicing over.

            God’s way of rejoicing isn’t small and insignificant, either.  God is throwing a big party when the lost are found.  God is throwing a big celebration of rejoicing because we have been found.  If God is like the shepherd then upon finding one lost sheep he brings the whole herd of 100 back to the farm and invites over all the friends and relatives for a party.  If God is like the woman then upon finding one lost coin, a tenth of her wealth, she invites the neighbors over for a celebration, likely spending part of her money to have such a party.  I don’t think shepherds or women of low class usually acted like that.  It would be atypical for them to throw such a celebration to rejoice over what had been found.  That is how God is though.  God’s way of rejoicing is out of the ordinary and unusual. 

            So when we take the wrong turn in life and wander away from the flock, God will come searching.  When we are lost like a coin and need to be swept up, God will be there.  When we are lost and in need of being found, God will be actively looking for us.  And upon finding us God will invite the neighbors over and throw a celebration of rejoicing that is ridiculous and atypical, because the lost has been found.  Because, we, we are worth that much to God.  Amen.