15th Sunday After Pentecost, 09/22/2019

Sermon on Luke 16:1-13, by Carl A. Voges

The Passage

He (Jesus ) also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’

So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” [English Standard Version]

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” [1 Timothy 2.5-6]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord

While our conversations with one another during the week tend to fill up with the lingering impact of 09.11.01 or the latest information from the college admissions scandal or the foolishness of those who continue to focus exclusively on themselves, they get swept to the side on a Sunday when we come into the Lord’s presence. This morning, with the reading from Luke’s Gospel, our Lord would draw us into conversation with him and then enable it to spill over into our conversations with one another. Today he would teach us about the possessions we have in this world. This teaching, however, is not an easy one to absorb!

In the previous chapter, a portion of which was considered last Sunday, there were three

parables about a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son. Chapter 16 is one of three major

sections in Luke’s Gospel that discuss possessions as Jesus journeys to Jerusalem for his crucifixion and resurrection (the first one is Luke 12.13-34 and the third one is Luke 18.18-30).

As we dig into this parable, Jesus is detailing how his followers should understand and use the possessions given to them. The rich man first calls his manager to terminate his work with him but then commends him for his shrewdness! In between these circumstances, the manager wrestles with the reality that he has been fired, is out of work, has no place to stay and has no hope of future employment! He rules out physical labor and begging because he is not capable of either one! In the middle of his turmoil he has an insight into how he might solve his problem. He will lower the bills of the people who owe nearly nine hundred gallons of olive oil and about a thousand bushels of wheat to the rich man. These are significant amounts and, in the lowering, the manager hopes to gain their favor!

Apparently this dealing is shrewd and effective! It leads, first, to the rich man praising him for his quick thinking and, second, to our Lord’s observation that the world’s people, in dealing with one another, are more shrewd than his people (the sons of light)!

While we are only halfway through the parable, already it is becoming a tough passage to interpret. If we understand it from the world’s perspective, it would be a crisis that is cleverly met by the manager through dishonest actions that solve the problem. It would seem, then, that our Lord is commending dishonesty to his followers!

However, if one looks at the parable from the rich man’s perspective, then its focus is not on the manager’s dishonesty, but on the rich man’s mercy! It has been noted that the rich man most likely owns the property on which these other people are growing their crops. When the rich man gets a report about wastefulness, he tells the manager he is fired, but he does not punish him in any way. The rich man is merciful! It is this mercy, then, that this manager is counting on when he decides how to solve his problem!

This merciful attitude also explains why the rich man commends the manager for shrewdly managing his personal crisis. The manager trusted the character of the rich man and staked everything on his mercy. The manager cleverly uses the resources available to him in a wicked world in the trust that the rich man will treat him mercifully. Jesus goes on to state that the sons of this generation are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Thus, the sons of light are to be shrewd in noticing where the mercy of the Lord God resides.

In the verses that follow (9-13), Jesus addresses his disciples on the proper use of possessions. He instructs them on how they might be used them for the sake of his kingdom. Possessions can distract the Lord’s people from the main focus of their salvation. Rather than looking to a merciful Lord in whom they can put their trust, they may see in their possessions a secure foundation that gives them some certainty in an uncertain world.

As we step into these concluding verses, we need to remember that the parable is focusing on rich man’s mercy, not on manager’s dishonesty! Our Lord gives us three sayings. In the first one he points out that one can make friends in this world through a

skillful use of the world’s possessions. In a mysterious way, this reflects Jesus’ urging to his followers that they sell their possessions and give alms. Historically, alms are money or food that is given to those who do not have them. Those who receive the alms become your friends because you are merciful to them in times of need, even as our Father in eternity is merciful to us, his baptized people.

Jesus’ second saying has to do with faithfulness. If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in big things. If you are unfaithful in little things, you will be unfaithful in big things. The manager was faithful in the rich man’s mercy (the big reality). The manager also trusted that his re-working of the accounts (the little reality) was a reflection of the rich man’s mercy.

Eternal treasures are those realities that draw us into the Lord’s Life. Remember the Greek word for “joy” last Sunday that tumbled out from the finding of what had been lost? To be rich toward the Lord God, then, is to participate in his holy places. Classic Lutheran tradition has identified those places as the Scriptures and the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Eucharist. It is from those places where our Lord pours his mercy into our lives. In this second saying our Lord is clearly telling his followers that how one carries out the realities of this world is parallel to how one will carry out the realities of the eternal Life into which we are baptized.

The third saying concludes the passage with a question – Are we trusting in the money and possessions of the world or in the realities of the Lord’s Life? Or, under the creative yet destructive suggestions of the unholy trio – sin, Satan, death – are we attempting to serve both of them? In themselves, the money and possessions of this world are not evil. They become evil, though, when we turn them into our gods and insist that they must continually provide for our wants and needs!

Jesus observes that anyone who tries to have the realities of the world’s life and the realities of the Lord’s Life in a balanced fashion will either hate the one and love the other or will be committed to one while despising the other. The manager in this parable was commended because he was shrewd, he chose to serve the rich man, trusting that he would continue to be merciful. He used the possessions of this world to achieve his goal while trusting less in those possessions and trusting more in the rich man’s mercy.

Because we are born into the world’s life, it is natural for us to pick up on the ways in which the world thinks and does. Our Lord notices that some of the world’s people are quite good at exercising those ways. But he is encouraging his followers today to be just as good at noticing the mysterious, yet enormous, impact of his Scriptures and Sacraments on their lives.

His impact on us from those places is overflowing with his mercy and he wants us to be shrewd about that reality. Consider the life given us at birth – it has a beginning, a continuing and an end. That’s it! Consider the Life given us at Baptism – it has a beginning, a continuing and it runs on into eternity! The possessions of the birthed life cannot make that happen.

Consider the writings of this world – there are many excellent examples scattered throughout its history. But that’s it! Consider the Lord’s Holy Writings – they emerge from eternity, they push into the world’s life, addressing its people individually, and they run on into eternity! The possessions of this world cannot duplicate that reality.

Consider the relationships given us by world at our births – they revolve around ourselves, sometimes they harmonize with others, sometimes they clash, often they leave us in character-building episodes and they conclude! Consider the Lord’s Forgiveness – it centers our lives in his, it frees us to let go of ourselves so we can give to others, it carries us through the character-building episodes we often encounter. The possessions of the birthed life cannot make that happen.

Consider the food of this world – when it is good it nourishes and sustains our lives, when it is bad or shoddy, it hampers our lives, threatening us with illness and death. Consider the Lord’s Eucharist – it is the Meal from eternity, it is the Meal at the center of our parish communities, nourishing and sustaining those who are baptized, it is the Meal that continues into eternity. The possessions of this world cannot duplicate that reality.

So let us be shrewd about the holy places with which our Lord has surrounded our lives. They are the places from where his mercy is continually streaming. And they are the only places where the Lord’s people can maintain contact with his rescuing, sustaining and creating activity. The world’s possessions ache to imitate what the Lord does for this world’s people but they cannot. May the Son’s Spirit make it possible for us to be shrewd about the Lord’s Life – its reality, thankfully, looms much larger than the world’s possessions!

Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts

and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord.

[The biblical detail in this sermon emerges from the commentary by Arthur A. Just Jr,

Concordia Commentary, Luke 9.51-24.53, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, MO, 1997, pages 610-621.]

Pr. Carl A. Voges
Columbia, South Carolina, USA
E-Mail: carl.voges4@icloud.com

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