Who Do You Serve?
Luke 16:1-13
September 23, 2007
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
What an odd story! What an unexpected ending! First we see, a manager or steward of an estate who is
either dishonest or simply so poor at what he does that eventually, when he is called to account by his master,
he cooks the books. Then when the landowner hears what his manager has done he commends his steward
because he had acted shrewdly. But, the real rub is that Jesus seems to point to this dishonest steward as an
example of how we ought to act!
It's one of those parables that I wish the disciples had forgotten! But perhaps its strangeness is the very
reason it was remembered. Even so, commentators and preachers through the centuries have struggled with
these words trying to find some word of God for those who seek to follow the way of Jesus. Douglas Wingeier
captures the difficulty of this passage when he writes in his book, Keeping Holy Time, "This has always been a
troubling parable. Why would Jesus praise such blatant dishonesty? What is going on here that we seem to
miss?"
Good questions! What is going on here? What is it that Jesus is actually praising? Let's see if we can get
inside the steward's head and see what we can see.
Perhaps disheartened for a heartbeat or two the steward in our story never-the-less seemed to know with
a certainty that might surprise most of us that he had what it took to get himself out of the mess in which he
suddenly found himself. No, "woe is me!" No, "why did this have to happen?" Just an honest assessment of the
situation, "What am I going to do? I've lost my job as manager. I'm not strong enough for a laboring job, and
I'm too proud to beg. . . ." Then focused, concentrated reflection: he thought and imagined; he contemplated
and figured. "Ah, I've got a plan. Here's what I'll do . . . then when I'm turned out into the street, people will
take me into their houses."
Yes, he came up with the perfect plan; a scheme that would help him win friends and influence people. It
was brilliant! He would gain for himself friends among the debtors by reducing what they owed by anywhere
from 20-50%. But he would also positively influence his boss by elevating his status and honor in the
community as a landowner who was generous and fair. It was a win-win situation. What we might call the
perfect golden parachute. The steward might still lose his job, but he would be set for life!
Commenting on his story Jesus says, "Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding
citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits." Or as the NIV translation puts it,
"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."
In a sermon on this passage, Rev. Richard J. Fairchild asserts, "The life issue in today's parable has
nothing to do with the manager's honesty or dishonesty. Rather the issue is: just how shrewd, clever, and
committed are the children of light when it comes to their faith?" I would add that a second issue is: just how
confident are people of faith that they have what it takes to transform the messes and heal the brokenness of
this world?"
There was a young missionary, working in the streets of Calcutta, who happened upon a half-dead,
destitute woman. The missionary took the woman in, fed her and nursed her back to health. During her
recovery, the woman asked why the missionary would waste her time and effort to help someone she didn't
even know. Whereupon the missionary began to tell the woman about Jesus and the way all Christians are
called to care for the needs of the broken, the hurting and the suffering no matter who they are. The woman
asked simply, "This Jesus, when did he live and when did he call you to do these wonderful things?"
The missionary responded, "Jesus lived almost 2,000 years ago."
"Well," said the woman, "where have you Christians been for the last 2,000 years?"
Some of us look at the world around us and lament the violence and the hatred, the poverty and the
prejudice, the injustice and the oppression, the destruction of the environment and the unrelenting consumption
that drives it, but feel powerless to make any significant changes. Some of us look at our congregation and
lament the shape of the building, the need for more space, the scarcity of resources, our failure to involve more
people in leadership, or the lack of vision for our future, but feel powerless to make any significant changes.
Some of us look at our own families or our own lives and lament our lack of time, our lack of meaningful
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interactions, the estrangement we experience, the debt we have accumulated or the joyless and unfulfilling
work we do, but feel powerless to make any significant changes.
But perhaps, just maybe it is not a matter of powerlessness, but rather a matter of confidence in the power
of God within us. Perhaps, just maybe it is not so much a matter of powerlessness as it is a matter of making
the commitment to, like the steward in our story, use everything we have and everything we are to transform
the situation, resolve the crisis or right the wrong.
To all who will hear Jesus says, "I want you to be smart in the same way [as the steward in this story] --
but for what is right--using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention
on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."
In the prologue to John's gospel we read "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave
power to become children of God." [John 1:12 NRSV] In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes, "...I remind
you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you... for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a
spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline." [II Timothy 1:6-7 NRSV] And in Genesis we read "So God
created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them."
[Genesis 1:27 NRSV]
If God is the generous Creator of all that is, then we too are endowed with the divine power of creativity. I
mean just look at what we humans have created! We've conquered space, landing people on the moon and
sending rockets to explore the farthest reaches of the galaxy. We've managed to create systems to access
volumes of information in nanoseconds. We've unlocked the secret of the human genome and learned to
sequence DNA. We've discovered the minute structures of the atom and developed ways to harness its
awesome power. We've created works of art that capture the imagination and stir the soul. We've developed
instruments written music and created symphonies that capture the musical vibrations of the universe. And that
doesn't even scratch the surface of all we have created.
Surely, if we humans are capable of all of that, we are capable of figuring out how fix the messes we have
also created finding ways to live in peace, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, shelter the homeless and save the
environment! Surely we have within us the creative potential to face any challenge and overcome any obstacle!
A number of years ago I studied with the contemporary theologian Mathew Fox at the Institute for
Creation Centered Spirituality. During my year at the Institute, time and time again I heard Matthew say, "It is
not a matter of whether or not we will create, but it is a matter of who or what our creation serves. Does it
serve life or death? Does it serve our own self-centered anxiousness or does it serve the God of compassion and
justice, mercy and love?"
On this day, in the year 2007, I believe the Spirit is using these words of Jesus to call us -no better yet to
challenge us- to claim the power of God within us and embrace the Divine creativity that is part of the very fiber
of who we are and to make the commitment to use it to bring healing and wholeness, compassion and love,
grace and forgiveness, hope and new life to a world that is hurting and broken and in need of God's healing
love. If we dare to use all that we have and all that we are to serve God we will live into the fullness of God's
vision for our lives, find our way into the fullness of God's dream for our world and discover the joy and the
abundance of life that Christ came and comes to bring. Who do you serve? Amen
