Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 and Luke 16:1-13
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Our Bible Study group has been reading a book called ‘The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.’ Today’s story from this controversial rabbi is… definitely enigmatic. There is so much we don’t know about this parable!
Briefly, a rich man hears his manager is wasting his property. So the rich boss tells the manager to essentially clean out his office – he’s fired. Show me the books, tell me about the accounts, and you’re going to not work here anymore.
The manager says to himself he is too ashamed to beg, and he is too weak to do physical work – so he’s going to arrange to be welcomed in and employed by others.
He calls in each person on the debt record, and slashes their debt.
When he then hands the books over to his boss, (the rich man), the rich man commends his worker. Says he is shrewd.
Now comes all the enigma. The wonder. The confusion. Parables are to make us think… and so we think. Did the rich man commend him as in, “Wow… you made all our neighbors want to hire you and make me out to be a fool. Kudos. You outwitted me.” Or does he commend him as in, “You made all the neighbors like me, and my reputation is better. Kudos. Please keep managing the property.”
Is this rich man a master and the manager a slave? Slaves let go were often left to beg on the streets or go labor in the fields. Is the slave hoping to be brought on as a slave or indentured servant to another household?
Whose wealth is forgiven? Was this forgiven amount interest that was charged on the debt – and so money was returned to the poor who had to borrow. Was it the cut of interest that the manager would have taken as his own? Was it interest or principle owed to the rich man? We don’t know!
Luke has Jesus explain the parable – not something Jesus normally does, so it may be this was explained later or it may be this is how Luke interpreted the parable: Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”
AKA – steal from the rich and give to the poor.
That sounds like the Jesus I know. A rebel. All about upsetting the social order and dreaming, teaching, of a time when no one has too much or too little.
But then… verse 10 begins with whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much… if you have not been faithful with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true riches? If you’re not faithful with what belongs to another, who would give you what is your own?
Wait! I thought Jesus just told us a story to steal from the rich and give to the poor. NOW we’re told that if we can’t handle other’s wealth, we can’t possibly handle our own… and we’re told if we are dishonest with little things, we’re dishonest with large things.
This sounds like the reverse of the parable. The manager is not faithful with the rich man’s property. He is not honest with the dealings. And yet – he’s commended. Is Jesus telling us to be like the manager, or not? Is he telling us that the entire system of economics – from the rich to the middle men – is dishonest and they like it like that. Only the poor and the children of light are honest. And they get the short stick for this.
AKA – The good guy always comes in last.
What in the world is Jesus trying to communicate? Clearly it is something to do with economics. And community. And honesty. But what?
So much of this parable is lost in the movement of time. Jesus’ audience would have understood the unspoken rules and heard some controversial message here. We… are 2000 years later into this game of telephone and the unspoken rules didn’t get passed along.
Thankfully we have the last line: You cannot serve God and wealth.” THAT I understand. And before it is the phrase, “You cannot serve two masters” meaning you can’t have two number 1 priorities. It’s either God, or its wealth. Both can’t be number 1 in your life.
That I understand.
And if I’m supposed to steal from the rich, give to the poor, and accept I’ll come in last for this – I’ll accept it. And if that’s not the meaning of the parable… well, I’m glad eventually I can ask Jesus face to face to explain it to me, please.
In the meantime – I can understand and live by the words “You cannot serve God and wealth.” They’re incompatible.
Martin Luther lived at the transition between feudal economics and capitalism. He hated both. Both implied or outright stated that evidence of God’s love is seen in how wealthy or successful a person or enterprise is.
A good church? One with fine windows and rich art. A good king? One with a high trading surplus and a gold crown. A good person? Someone with a nice home and family, who dresses well and speaks well. A good business? One that brings in a healthy profit and the shareholders are amply rewarded. What is God’s blessing? Providence. Money. Provision of more than enough for today.
“Luther found the calculating entrepreneur extremely distasteful. He was convinced that the capitalist spirit divorced money from use for human needs and necessitated an economy of acquisition. From his brief “Sermon on Usury” (1519) to his “Admonition to the Clergy that they Preach against Usury” (1540), Luther consistently preached and wrote against the expanding money and credit economy as a great sin. [He wrote] “After the devil there is no greater human enemy on earth than a miser and usurer, for he desires to be above everyone… soldiers, and tyrants are also evil men, yet they must allow the people to live . . . ; indeed, they must now and then be somewhat merciful. But a usurer and miser—belly desires that the entire world be ruined in order that there be hunger, thirst, misery, and need so that he can have everything and so that everyone must depend upon him and be his slave as if he were God.” “Daily the poor are defrauded. New burdens and high prices are imposed. Everyone misuses the market in his own willful, conceited, arrogant way, as if it were his right and privilege to sell his goods as dearly as he pleases without a word of criticism.” ((https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/luther-on-the-use-of-money)) He claimed the whole world was made of thieves eating smaller thieves – what we call today a dog-eat-dog world. And abhorred the idea of a impersonal market, with prices set by availability and demand… because this hurts communities, hurts people, and makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.
While he was listened to in many ways… he was ignored on this aspect. Even today, the “protestant spirit” is linked to the “spirit of capitalism.” Freedom, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, free markets, divine providence, God’s promised land, rugged individualism – all these concepts and core beliefs of who we are in North America come out of the 15 and 1600s rebellions.
And you’ll find just as many people arguing they are concepts that truly are the way of follow Christ. Argue that closing churches means God’s disfavor and full churches mean God’s favor. You’ll hear pastors preach God blesses the faithful with better jobs, better income, better wealth. And therefore, if someone is poor, is without work, is dependent on others for aid they are not favored by God, they are sinful, they are cursed.
When our ancestors marched across this land and claimed it as their own, taking it from the peoples who already lived here, they saw it as a divine mandate. Catholic or Protestant – it was God’s will that God would give blessings to God’s own Christians and destroy the non-Christian. It was God’s own desire that wealth, health, and peace belong to Christians and only Christians.
And yet, in the very books we carried then and we carry now are the words, “Ye cannot serve both God and Mammon.” “You cannot love both God and money.” “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Wealth of gold, of time, of resources, of land, of education, of food, of water, of energy.
We are in this environmental mess we’re in because of what began in Martin Luther’s time. We are in this mess because we forgot we cannot serve two main priorities. We will do hate to one and love the other. Either we prioritize the health of the community, the wholeness of the least, the thriving of land, water, air, people and animals together – or we prioritize GDP, profit margins, and financial return for investments. If we love money, we do hate to the Earth and all life on it. If we love all life on Earth, we do hate to our economies.
This is heretical. I know it. This is anti-Western. I know it. It sounds like Marxist lies. I know it. This sounds like communism. I know it. This sounds dangerous. It is dangerous. Is it any wonder why Jesus was killed? Why multiple attempts were made on Martin Luther’s life and he was kicked out of the church?
To serve God, to love neighbor, to follow Jesus, is to not serve wealth, to not love the idea we are individual islands aloof from each other, and to not follow the wisdom of this time.
It’s to be a heretic. To own it. To say yeah – I’m marching to the beat of a different drum – and wherever this drummer called Christ leads, I’ll march along.
I don’t understand most of this parable. But I do understand the creation of wealth has destroyed the very earth we depend upon for not just wealth, but all life. I do understand the love of money is the root of great evils. I do understand I cannot serve both God and wealth. I do understand Dr. Guy McPherson’s quote, “If you think the economy is more important than the environment, try holding your breath while counting your money.” (https://guymcpherson.com/time-for-a-revolution/)
Amen.
Pastor Whitney Bruno Sermons 