Sunday, September 22 -- Servants, Managers and Stewards -- Luke 16:1-13 Pastor Pam

If the audio is not clear, there was a fan near the microphone.  You can follow along with the transcript below.

 

The Holy gospel according to the 16th chapter of Luke

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

16 Then Jesus^[a] 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. ² So 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.’ ³ Then 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. ⁴ I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ ⁷ Then 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.’ ⁸ And 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. ⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth^[b] so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.^[c]

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. ¹¹ If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,^[d] who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³ 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. You cannot serve God and wealth.”^[e]

Footnotes:

1. Luke 16:1Gk he
2. Luke 16:9Gk mammon
3. Luke 16:9Gk tents
4. Luke 16:11Gk mammon
5. Luke 16:13Gk mammon

 

3:30 Dear siblings in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

Not gonna lie.  Today’s gospel reading has challenged preachers since the Gospel writer Luke put it into writing some 2000 years ago.  Some preachers in the congregation nodding their head? Yeah.

It’s a parable and sometimes we forget what a parable is.  A parable is a story that Jesus told to point to bigger stories, to point to bigger truths that were bigger than the story that was being told. So there were no literal managers here. No oil. No grain (4:23) But there is a story here.  It has a depth of truth to it.

 

There is an owner in this story here.  There is a manager.  A manager is a servant of the owner.  A manger is a steward.  Someone who takes care of something that is not his.  So maybe the first question we have to has of this story is this.  “What business is it of his to forgive a debt owed to someone else?

 

I’ve been sitting on that question this week.  What business is it of his to forgive a debt owed to someone else?  As I’ve been pondering that questions, I had a story come to mind. This is not a parable, this is a true story. There was an unscrupulous business man in one of the congregations I served.  I’m not tipping off any names because as an organist, I’ve served 8 congregations and as an intern or a pastor I’ve served 6 so there’s no way anybody could put names on this. 

But there was an unscrupulous business man in this congregation.  It was pretty well known.  But he was also wealthy and made significant donations to the church.

 

There was another community member who was a prospective member of this congregation.  He liked the ministries of the church,he felt like worship there was what he needed. But there was something holding him back from joining. In fact he came to worship quite frequently, but some Sundays he came to communion.  Some Sundays he would not.  I finally had a chance to ask him what that was about.  He made an appointment to see me during the week.

 

“Why do you sometimes take communion and sometimes not, friend?”  His response was “I’ve been cheated in business by one of your leaders and I just can’t take communion from his hand.”

/////

“Oh”  (7:22)

 

What do I even say?

 

What would you even say?

 

Do you know what we are doing on Sundays when we begin the service with confession and forgiveness? 

I am announcing the forgiveness of debts that are not my debts to forgive.

I am a servant, a manager, a steward.

 

When I make the announcement of welcome, (gesture to table) to communion. I am welcoming you to the table of forgiveness that is not mine.  I am a servant, a manager, a steward.

 

And so.  Are.  You

 

You are a steward, a manager of God’s love, God’s abundance.

 

So is Jesus – who started this whole business of forgiving on behalf of God.

 

9:08

 

We are not the owner, the master, the king, the almighty

 

We are servants, managers, and stewards of what belongs to the almighty

And we are recipients of the almighty’s forgiveness.

 

Will we extend that? On behalf of our Christian faith and the grace of God?  Will we extend that to others who are burdened by literal debt – or will we support oppression?

 

Our Psalm today talks about the poor how God does not forget the poor.

God will also not forget those who mistreat the poor.

 

Will we extend that graciousness to those who are not like us?  Instead of falling  into deceptive traps set by those who would divide us by fear, anger and hate. (10:25)

Will we extend that because God has extended it to us?

Have you heard that word yet, received that word?

Martin Luther said the one who is worthy to receive the sacrament is the one who believes the words “given For you, for the forgiveness of sin.” Do you believe that?  And do you believe that it is also a gift, for the person next to you, the person behind you, the person who doesn’t even know they ought to repent yet.

 

There is no one on this planet who has ever lived or ever will live that has earned God’s love.  No one that could pay our debt to God on our own.  As Paul writes “We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  It isn’t a matter of degree – ALL MEANS ALL.  We may owe the figurative 100 jugs of oil or a hundred containers of wheat.  Or we may literally owe or own up to our own stuff.

 

Ungrateful hearts

Nasty words

Not caring for the poor or the environment, or any of God’s creation other than us and ours.

I recently had a conversation with an evangelical Christian.  This person made an off the cuff comment that Lutherans just don’t take sin seriously.  “Y’know, doesn’t’ matter what you do in life.  Everybody gets a free pass to heaven.” That was their understanding of Lutheranism.

 

This is a terribly cheap mis-understanding about the Lutheran understanding of grace.  You have probably heard it too.  People will say we don’t take the Bible seriously.  What they really mean is we don’t pick and choose those verses that make us feel superior to others and allows us to point our fingers at others.

The fact is we take it deeply seriously.  And we live in the hope and gratitude of God’s grace. We are none of us on the prescreening committee for the kingdom of God.  But we do strive to live like God’s kingdom is coming on earth as it is in heaven because THAT’s what we pray for. It’s not as simple as proclaiming faith in Jesus.  Anyone can do that and still hate their neighbor.

No slave can serve two masters. For a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and wealth.

 

The good news of the gospel is that the gospel writers cut through all of our self denials. All of the stuff that we try to                     all of those terrible things that we hold on to that wont matter in the end

 

They clear the way for us to see Jesus.  Jesus.  Who forgives sin without having us have to pay him back.  Jesus pays the debt.  All of it.

So our response is to live gratefully.  What that means to each of us is something different.  What does it mean to you to live gratefully? That your sins are forgiven and that God has given you all that you need.

Some us make music to express that joy NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD (which Amber just played a stunning rendition at the organ Karg-Elert)  and when we are done we are just bursting with joy. Because thinking about how great God is. To give a composer all those notes in their head, to put them down on paper.  To have at this point in the history of creation having an organ, a digital organ, that can make sounds like this. for us for our edification, to lift us up to remind us how great God is.

 

God, whose song is everlasting.

 

We sing the Holy Holy Holy at Holy Communion.  The preface concludes with the word– “with angels and archangels and the whole host of heaven, we join their unending hymn.  And that’s when Amber pulls out all the stops because in order to accompany the angels and archangels and whole host of heaven you need a few extra stops

People of God you are not in this alone.  If you came here today feeling like you are alone in this world you are not. The angels, archangels, Gustavus Adolphus, Martin Luther (point windows) and whole host of heaven are singing with you. Because God is good.  And God’s mercy endures forever. 

 

There is nothing you could ever buy that could ever compete with that. The eternal love of God.

May the peace that passes understanding keep your hearts in praise of this one eternal, unchanging God who loves you so.  Amen.