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In the name of Jesus. Amen.
The account of Joseph forgiving his brothers of selling him into slavery at the age of 17 is a remarkable and dramatic example of forgiveness. But in our day there doesn’t seem to be an abundance of forgiveness. In our day, you can get shot for flashing your headlights. In our day, a grandmother can be killed over a cell phone bill.
Harry Emerson Fosdick’s classic hymn text, “God of Grace and God of Glory,” (LSB 850) was written just a short distance from the New York Stock Exchange. Stanza 3 includes an excellent summary of our focus in today’s worship:
Cure your children’s warring madness;
Bend our pride to your control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.Grant us wisdom, Grant us courage,
Lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.
In today’s appointed Gospel Jesus tells a parable about stewardship. An owner gets word that his steward, or manager, was wasting his possessions and proceeds to remove the steward from his employ. The steward is obviously not used to manual labor and unlike The Temptations 1966 hit he is “too proud beg.” In an “aha” moment he contrives a clever scheme so that after he is fired he may still find a welcome from his associates by putting them into his debt.
Apparently, the owner was the first century equivalent of a wholesaler. The Steward tells his creditors to reduce the amount of their bills. His goal is to do something for them, so that they will do something for him when he’s unemployed. It’s simply a bribe. And Jesus tells us that “8The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.”
The parable is not a simple one. Jesus seems to commend unethical business practices. A superficial reading of the text has led some to conclude that God is impressed by clever trickery. Others even quote, out of context by the way, St. Matthew 10:16b – “be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves” … suggesting that it’s quite all right to try to trick and fool people for holy purposes. Then there are those who try to explain it all away by saying that the steward only forfeited his commission, so no harm, no foul.
We’ve heard it said that money talks. That was not news to the Unrighteous Steward who knew the power of money to influence others. And while we must agree that his methods were unrighteous, can we not at least recognize his shrewdness? … bribing his master’s creditors, creating “financial friends,” insuring his survival? However, bribery is neither efficacious nor to be commended. Its core is deceitfulness.
This parable has been called the “The Parable of the Shrewd Manager,” (NIV) “The Parable of the Dishonest Manager,” (ESV) “The Parable of the Unjust Steward,” (KJV & NKJV) & “The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward” (RSV) in five of the most popular Bible translations. I mention this because words are important. And they are especially important when they are spoken by Jesus. Jesus’ words, then, help us with a proper interpretation of the text – and that proper interpretation does not include any of the ones I’ve previously mentioned. In the Greek the word translated dishonest in the ESV (unjust/unrighteous in other translations) is not an adjective, it’s a noun, and the grammatical construction would render it “steward of unrighteousness” – it’s similar to “unrighteous steward” but it’s stronger – it stresses his wickedness.
And though we condemn his methods, the parable applauds the Steward of Unrighteousness’ shrewdness for his own worldly gain. Our question this morning is this: do we see a principle that Christ’s followers can use for their lives lived within God’s Kingdom and Christ’s Lordship? And so we consider the theme “A Sanctified Shrewdness.”
This parable obviously deals with money (or for those of who grew up in the KJV, mammon), as does our Old Testament reading from Amos. Here, money is viewed as a symbol of the false idol to which many people are slaves. In the OT reading, the divinely-inspired prophet Amos scolds people who worship at the altar of mammon seven days a week, and who then become angry when religious obligations get in the way of earning more money … when it intrudes on their idolatry. Of course, we know that money has always had the power to seduce souls. Voltaire (an 18TH century writer, historian, and philosopher) once cynically suggested that “when it comes to money, everyone is of the same religion.”
Jesus reprimands his listeners for their casualness and lack of shrewdness in the practice of true religion. And so he reprimands us. Whether we have wasted our Lord’s gifts … or been selfish, greedy or unethical in the use of money … or withheld financial support for the Lord’s church. … we too are stewards of unrighteousness … as wicked as the steward in the parable.
Jesus confronts us and our priorities, asking, “what have you done with the material riches and the spiritual riches that my Father has given you? Aside from your money, what are you doing with my gifts of faith, forgiveness and love? Are you aware of what it means to abide in the Kingdom, taking up your cross and following me? In your desire to abide with me forever, do you have the same zeal this steward had in his desire for worldly gain? Are you wise and prudent in the use of God’s gifts? Your stewardship will also be called into account; and one day all will be revealed as to where your heart really is – are you serving God or mammon? You can’t serve both. And we will all be found guilty. And because of our actual sins and our sinful nature we deserve both physical death and eternal punishment in hell.
But God does not want us to perish temporally or eternally, so He calls us to repent. And when we do repent it is because God Himself who enables us to do so. The Holy Spirit leads us to have sorrow for our wicked high treason against the Lord of Heaven and earth … and to believe “that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ” (AC XII.3-6) … and with that faith we desire to do better than to keep on sinning.
When we repent then God forgives us of our sinful nature and all our actual sins. He forgives us for Jesus’ sake. Christ carried all of our sin and the sin of all humankind in His body at the cross. There, Jesus is your substitute … the innocent for the guilty. He suffered and died in your place to pay the penalty for your sins. He rose then from the dead – victorious over sin, Satan and death. And now forgiveness, life and salvation are available through faith in Him.
And in order to strengthen this faith Jesus’ Word is read, and spoken, and expounded, and prayed in the Divine Service. His Word connected to water in Holy Baptism brings us into the kingdom of God and creates faith. His Word of Holy Absolution comforts us and releases us from despair. His Word together with bread and wine nourishes us with the true body and the true blood of Christ given and shed for us.
Now, what does sanctified shrewdness look like? Jesus said, “9make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” While you and I are in this world we can take the unrighteous mammon – money – there is nothing wrong with money in and of itself, but people use it for all the unrighteous purposes you can name – Jesus says take that and make it serve others. Faith that is alive shows itself through good works. And these are indicators of how faithfully we manage what we have been given.
As our lives are transformed by the Gospel, and now we begin to see the possibility that shrewd usage of money can be employed by the people of God in their respective vocations to challenge and to minister to the world. Would this not include the care of widows, orphans and others who are vulnerable to the exploitation of our culture?
Faith in Christ and the new life given to us by the Spirit compels us to see the world differently. The parable of the Steward of Unrighteousness teaches that the way we respond to God’s love – evident in our ethical use of money, time, and abilities – shows others how the Kingdom of God has come to a sin-sick world through the church as the church proclaims the Word of Christ. We not only have the ability to find new ways to present God’s love to the loveless, we also have the knowledge to confront all the voices which drown out God’s Word. We can join in proclaiming the truth that any system built on greed thwarts just distribution of daily bread. In our personal relationships, we love our neighbors as ourselves – shown not only by our good works – but also by extending the very forgiveness, mercy and grace we have been granted by a merciful, gracious, and forgiving God.
Fosdick’s hymn petitions God to “Grant us wisdom, Grant us courage, Lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.” In Christ, the kingdom’s goal is realized – in time and for eternity!
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.