Proper 20 C
Thieving Manager Gets Grace
St. Luke 16:1-15
18 September 2016 – Redeemer
His managing days were over. He had had a good run, enjoyed his lifestyle, but now his boss called him in. Evidently he had cooked the books one time too many and now his scheme had boiled over. His boss knew. He had stolen, been negligent, wasted the goods he had been given to manage.
“What is this that I hear about you?” His boss asked. “What’s the point of confession?” thought the manager. “I know what I’ve done. The boss likely knows what I’ve done. I’ll plead the fifth. It seems the thing to do. It works for everyone in government.”
Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. Here we have the first hint of grace in this parable of Jesus. The manager is fired, but he is not jailed. He is let go, but is not sued for damages. The rich man does not know the full extent of his losses, yet he simply dismisses the manager from his position. Go get the books and turn them in, and from the rest of the parable it appears this wasn’t expected immediately. He had a little time, a two week notice.
His life was over. “I’m 54 years old. Who’s going to hire me now? I’m too old to do manual labor and I’m too well known to be humiliated by begging.” Everything he has done in his life has led him to death. He’s old, fired, broke, helpless. That sort of sounds like the sheep in last Sunday’s gospel reading. He got himself into this mess – by his fault, by his own fault, by his own most grievous fault.
Who is that manager? Well, isn’t he you? You are, in reality, all managers of the Rich Man’s goods. For what do you have that God in His richness has not given you? Remember that long list Luther teaches us in the catechism – 1st article goods from our heavenly Father,
I believe that God has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
How have you managed the Lord’s gifts? The treasures He entrusted to you? Husbands, have you loved your wife as your own body? Wives, have you submitted in reverence to your husband? Parents, have you taught your children they needed Jesus more than anything or have you taught them that anything is more important than Jesus? Have you prayed for the government or cursed them? Have you used your earthly wealth to serve the Lord or yourself? If God called you in and said, “What is this I hear about you?” would you take the fifth? Well, there’s no point in doing that. He knows. He’s seen it all. Your life is over, in case you haven’t noticed. And everything you have been given and acquired – it’s going to be taken from you. You’ll leave this place in a nice set of clothes and a medium priced casket.
What will you do? Well, like the manager of the story, you can do nothing about your sin. You know the Commandments which set the rules for what God has given you. You know the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer which proclaim that everything you have is the Daily Bread He has given you. God’s Word makes clear – your days are numbered because of your sin. The day of reckoning is coming. What will you do?
Here is where this parable gets interesting. The manager in the parable steals even more from his boss. No one knows he’s been fired. The end is coming. He needs to be quick. He calls in his bosses’ creditors – one at a time so no one can figure out his plan. The first guy comes in with a contract of 800 gallons of olive oil. He has him cut his contract in half – write it down. You owe 400 gallons. The next guy owes a thousand bushels of wheat. He cuts his contract to 800 bushels – write it down, quickly.
Now you and I see this man as a thieving thief. But, like every parable we hear there is a surprise, and that surprise usually points us to the good news of Jesus. “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. What? A commendation? For shrewdness? But what about his stealing?
Here is the best explanation of this parable that I read (both Ken Bailey and R.C.H. Lenski). The manager knew his master, the rich man, was a gracious man. That was evident in the initial confrontation when his boss did not jail or punish the manager. So the manager, a dead man by his own reckoning, based his whole scheme on his master’s generosity. He gave away his master’s goods. He banked on his boss not declaring all these transactions null and void, but going along with the scheme. One commentator said, “When the Master received the books back and examined them, he simply chuckled, and said, ‘You got me. You pegged me perfectly. You knew my generosity and you banked on it. Good one!”
This isn’t an easy parable. We want justice for that thieving manager, but instead he gets off. Therein we hear the Gospel. For what do you count on when you are dead in your sins? When your best efforts at life and peace and security are nothing? Do we not, as the baptized children on God, bank on God’s generosity because we know Him. He has revealed Himself to us. He is generous beyond understanding. He is generous with Adam the coward and Eve the usurper, with Noah the drunk and Abraham the liar and Sarah the doubter. He bears with Jacob the cheat and Judah the rapist. He is generous – He sends prophet after prophet to give His gifts to His people. Finally He sends His Son – for doubters, and cowards, and cheaters, and usurpers, and rapists and perverts. He sends His Son for you. In Christ He lets you off – oh it’s not free. Remember the parable – it cost the rich man deeply to secure the future of that thieving manager. So also your life and future – your resurrection from the dead is not free. God the Father pays the price of your sins by shedding the blood of His Son. It costs Him to let you off, but He delights to do so. When you depend on His generosity, when you trust in Him being gracious, He chuckles and says, “Well you got me – pegged me perfectly. I’m gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” That is exactly what God wants – He wants you to get Him, know Him, to have faith in His forgiveness in Christ.
When you have no future. When your troubles have brought you to the end. When your sin has earned you certain death. When life is over for you He wants you to be like that shrewd manager of the parable, “I know what I’ll do” – I’ll trust in God’s mercy. I’ll cling to His Son. I’ll stake my whole life on the hope that He is generous enough to forgive even one like me.” And God is generous enough to forgive you, to grant you eternal life, to raise you from the dead. You know it. We know it – in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
17 September 2016 anno Domini