Ordinary XXV: The shrewd-dishonest manager

Sermon given at St Peter’s Eastern Hill on Sunday 22 September 2019, Giving Sunday

Stephen Duckett, Vicar’s Warden

Luke 16: 1-13

Deuteronomy 6: 4-5; Matthew 22: 37; Mark 12: 29-30; Luke 10: 27

Luke 6: 24

Imagine you are living in Galilee and have heard about the itinerant teacher called Jesus, who is creating quite a stir. He turns up in your little town with his band of disciples and so you gather around him and he tells a story about a steward. Jesus stops the story somewhere around verse 7 or 8 of our Gospel reading today.

There’s a babble of discussion. People are asking what on earth this story means? Is he saying that this is behaviour that we should follow? The steward ripped off his master by forgiving those debts. He should be condemned. No, said someone else. Maybe the steward was just giving up some of his own share of the debt and he wasn't stealing from the rich man at all.

The debate continued for half an hour, maybe an hour, back and forth, maybe even longer because this story is regarded as hard to interpret. Was the steward shrewd or dishonest or even both? Was this good behaviour or bad?

The Jesus we see in our Gospel reading today is the wonderful story-teller, the teaching Jesus. What Jesus was doing with this little story was the same thing he did time and time again in what we now call parables. Jesus was asking his audience back then to reflect on the behaviour of the people in the story, much the same way as we are reflecting today. Jesus’ parables were often meant to challenge his audience – and they still do that for us today. Maybe the audience discussion back then became heated, maybe they reached a consensus. Maybe when he told slightly different versions of the story in different towns he got different reactions. Anyway, Jesus probably then called the audience back together and drew his lessons, which form the latter part of today’s reading.

At one level the story is about trust, he says: if you can't be trusted with small things, you can't be trusted with big things. More interestingly, reversing the ordering of Jesus’ teaching in verse 11, if you are to be a true follower of Jesus, we should also see that in how you manage earthly gifts.

At another level, the parable is about being resourceful, about managing what you have wisely. At yet another level the story is about power. At first glance the rich man might seem to have lost something, but all the debtors now think he is a wonderfully generous person: the rich always win.

But for me the key part of Jesus’ teaching about the parable is in its final verse. There is a reason Jesus ends up where he does. He says it clearly in that very last verse - you can't serve two masters. You can't serve both God and wealth.

In one sense, this parable is just giving his audience yet another example of the teaching of the Shema

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Deut 6:4-5, Jewish Study Bible translation).

The Shema, prayed every day by observant Jews became for us the First and Great Commandment (Matthew 22: 37; Mark 12: 29-30; Luke 10: 27). We are to have one God, not serving self as well, not serving money as well, not serving sex, drugs or rock 'n' roll either.

Like all the parables, this one can be thought of as Jesus giving us an insight into the reign of God. The parables are not about some magical faraway kingdom of God, but are about what the reign of God would look like for us, today.

And the teaching Jesus in this instance is causing us to reflect on our stewardship. Certainly a consistent theme of the Lukan Jesus is about money and possessions. They can so easily be a barrier. ‘Woe to you who are rich’ shouts Jesus in the Beatitudes (Luke 6: 24).

What Luke is telling us here it is that wealth and possessions may stand in the way of fully serving God.

Today is giving Sunday. Luckily for us the lesson for this week is not a few chapters later in Luke where Jesus calls his people to give up everything (Luke 14: 33). But rather the lesson from this parable for today is this: if you are a steward, what of your own might you give up for your master? Is it your time? Are you able to volunteer more in the Guild of St Benedict and help out more in our very important hospitality program? Can you be a welcomer or sides-person making new people welcome here? Can you help out with the breakfast program, either giving your time or supporting the Foundation?

Can you be trained and volunteer as an emergency psychological first aider as Brenda talked to us about last week?

Can you help financially with the ongoing needs of the parish? Our wonderful choir cost us about $56,000 last year, but we got in $20,000 in terms of special donations. It would be really good to close that gap. A donation to the choir is tax deductible for those of us who pay tax.

We've just developed a planned maintenance program which will cost $200,000 a year for the next decade to keep our physical fabric in good shape. Donations to the National Trust for that purpose are also tax deductible. Open giving is also what we need to keep the parish staffed and the lights on. It costs roughly $20,000 each week to keep this parish going, not including that planned maintenance program.

Details about all these giving options and more are in the brochure handed to you as you entered church today.

I'd like to finish where Jesus finished his teaching about the parable. You cannot serve God and wealth. You cannot serve two masters. But it's not all about money though. You cannot serve two masters of any kind - God and any other master. God should be our first and only priority.

Shema Yisrael! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.