Proper 20 C
Commending Injustice
St. Luke 16:1-8
22 September 2013—Redeemer
So what do you make of this parable? Is the rich man wise or foolish? Is the manager despicable or commendable? And what in the world is the parable about – is it about stewardship or planning for the future or eternal life and the Kingdom of God? If you’re a little confused, don’t worry. You’re in good company, for it has been said that this is the toughest parable of Jesus to understand. Which seems all the more reason to listen to this Word of God and learn from Him.
The parable begins with sin and death. The manager has been wasting his master’s possessions. He was using what his master gave him for his own pleasure instead of the master’s purpose. In this, the parable is preaching to you – for what has the Lord given you – He has given you eyes to see the beauty of His creation and to behold people to love, but how do you use your eyes? to gawk at perversion, to lust after women, to covet your neighbor’s life. He has given you a mouth to sing His praise and confess His goodness to you, but you waste your words on gossip and slander. OMG is on your lips more than Our Father who art in heaven. Instead of praying for the politicians you pummel them. He has given you hands to work for a living and to serve your neighbor and you waste your strength grabbing all you can. You are the wasteful steward – for the Lord has given you all that you have and instead of regarding, your body, your life, your home, family and work as His you use it for your own purpose.
There’s only one thing to do with an accountant who thinks the money is his or a manager who thinks he owns the store – Donald Trump him. You’re fired. That’s justice. “I’m taking back everything I’ve entrusted to your care.” If God takes back everything He has given to you what is left? He made you. He gave you body and soul, eyes, ears, all your members. He breathed life into you. If He takes it all back that’s death, that’s hell – that’s the wages a thieving steward gets paid. And the manager in the story knows he’s dead – “what will I do now? I’m not strong enough to dig. And I’m ashamed to beg.”
It is precisely at the moment of death that this story changes. First it seems that the Master displays a little bit of grace. He doesn’t immediately slam the door, change the locks, and take the books away from the manager. He gives him a little time, a period of grace. And in that grace the manager gets totally reckless. He throws out every bookkeeping rule he learned at the tech college. Forget accounting—let’s try some forgiveness.
He starts calling in the debtors and canceling their debt. He rewrites the books. No rhyme or reason – just forgiveness – 50 here, 20 there. Who’s counting? Maybe he even canceled the whole debt for some folks. If the master was upset about the manger wasting his possessions before, what would He think now? If one person stealing from the company wasn’t bad enough – what do you do with an employee who calls clients to the loading docks and starts giving out goods free of charge? Well the master doesn’t do as you think. You would call the cops. He gives a commendation. You would be angry. He laughs. You would think this was a waste, but He somehow regards this as wisdom.
So what is this parable about? Well, it certainly isn’t about the economy and if you are an accountant don’t take your cues from the manager in this story. I believe (and please hear that) I believe that the thieving manager points us to ourselves in the beginning of the story – wasting what the Lord has given us for our own gain and at the turning point of the parable the forgiving manager points us to Jesus.
For where else but in Christ is the foolishness of forgiveness awarded and even commended? This is what Christ Jesus does. He calls you in through baptism and He cancels your debts. He gives you a new document signed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and which declares your debts are paid and you are free and clear.
This is the foolishness of God’s wisdom. This is the folly of what we preach – Christ and Him crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. Don’t miss the point of the parable either. This wasn’t free stuff the manager gave away. The debtors had real debts and the master was owed a real return – real gallons of oil, real bushels of wheat. It was free to the debtors, but the master paid and he rejoiced to do so.
God’s foolishness toward us is free. There is no cost to you for your forgiveness. You are not asked if you are going to try harder next time or if you’re really, really sorry, or if you are going to make up for it. “I forgive you in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That’s free to you, but your heavenly Father paid the price for that forgiveness. St. Paul writes of the cost to the Colossians, God canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (2:14) Your debt came out of His own pocket. He gave up His Son. He nailed your debt to the cross by nailing His Son to the cross. He threw His Son into the debtor’s prison of hell, death, and grave. God Himself died for your sin, so do not think forgiveness is cheap or free. Forgiveness was purchased by the blood and life of God in the flesh, by Jesus Himself. That is not justice. That’s unjust. That’s mercy.
Don’t be sad at the cost for that isn’t the message of the parable either. The master chuckled at the wisdom of his manager. This master doesn’t run his business like you run yours. Sure he was mad when the manager used his goods for his own glory, but when the manager started giving it away to others, when he was free and loose with the master’s goods he thought that was pretty wise. It probably made the master appear gracious. Of course everyone else in the Chamber of Commerce thought he was crazy and would soon be out of business because His mercy made no sense.
It made no sense to the Pharisees that Jesus sat with tax collectors and sinners. It makes no sense for a Shepherd to leave 99 sheep and search for one or for a woman to celebrate finding a $100 with a party that costs $1000. It makes no sense for a master to commend a manager for giving away freebies off the loading dock. Just as it makes no sense that God would become a man, or shed His blood and die. It makes no sense that a splash of water could cleanse your soul or that a weekly sip of wine and a wafer of bread could be the risen body and blood of Jesus feeding you for all eternity. Thanks be to God it makes no sense, because if God was reasonable He wouldn’t have sent Jesus and we would still be in our sins. Yes this is a hard parable, as hard to understand as God giving His Son for us. We will never understand that, but we’ll gladly believe and rejoice in it – in the name of Jesus. Amen.