Luke 16:1-13
Jesus tells this little parable about a dishonest manager who…upon hearing that his boss was going to fire him…
- Goes to all his boss’s debtors and gives them a break on their debts.
- He forgives them much of what they owe.
- You know…so he could gain friends in the business before he’s cut from his job…
- In order to get another job from people he has now done favors for.
Now…his boss finds out about it and says:
- Well played…sir! He praises his shrewdness.
- And then…Jesus goes on to say:
- If you are dishonest in little you will be dishonest in much.
- Likewise…if you are honest in little you will be honest in much…
- And you cannot serve money and God.
- The end. The Lord be with you.
Now…wait a minute.
- Jesus tells a story about a manager who is dishonest…who then gets praised…
- And then Jesus says that dishonesty is something that applies to big and small things…
- And once you are dishonest you are always dishonest…
- And you cannot serve God and money and…wait…
- Are we supposed to be dishonest or supposed to be honest?
- It seems dishonesty gets praise at the beginning…but honesty gets praise at the end.
- Which is it?
So…here’s the thing: dishonesty is underrated in poisoned systems…it really is.
- Here’s an example of what I mean:
- You are in occupied Poland in the 1940’s.
- There are people hiding in your cellar.
- If they are caught…they will be sent to a camp…maybe Auschwitz or Stutthof.
The SS come to your door and ask you:
- Do you have anyone hiding in your cellar?
- What do you say? Do you tell the truth according to the system?
- If you say: Yes…they are dead.
- But if you say: No…the system in place considers your statement a lie.
- And yet…in another system…the community/Kingdom of God…it is the truth.
- Because the SS has no claim over their life.
So…is there anyone in the cellar that the Nazis’ can lay claim to?
- No…there is not.
- Honesty and dishonesty depend on systems of operation…
- And we often put our emphasis on the so-called fact of a matter instead of the system of operation.
Well…here’s another example…closer to home:
- My friend John is a Lutheran seminary student in St. Paul…
- In that liberal-progressive state of Minnesota…the year 1969.
- He works the counter at a drug store a block from the seminary.
- The poisoned system says that when black people come in and sit at the counter…the owner says he is not to serve them.
- Well…a black person comes in.
- John welcomes him to come in and sit down.
- John serves him.
- The Kingdom of God system says that no one is ever turned away from the table of grace.
- And guess what…no surprise…the owner fires John.
- Honesty and dishonesty depend on systems of operation…
In the world of the landowner…returning to Jesus’ story…the landowner controls the cogs and the wheels of the system…
- Because of the money and power…they hold.
- That is a poisonous system because it rewards the privileged on the backs of those who go without.
- The owners can fire without due cause.
- They can hold people in enormous amounts of debt because of the money and power they possess.
But in the system of God…where you serve God and not money…it is not so.
- In that system…forgiveness of debt is praised over due payment.
- The honesty of the system of Caesar and Empire and power is dishonesty.
- And being dishonest in the system of Empire is honesty.
- This is the system of God.
Somewhere along the line in Christian thought we have forgotten that.
- As Jesus says:
- The people of this generation are more shrewd than children of the light/Christians.
- So…Why are you not shrewd/clever in the opposite way that the system is shrewd?
- Why are you not shrewd/clever in your love and forgiveness?
- It is a good question for people who follow Jesus.
For instance…what would it mean if the church began offering no-interest loans to people struggling to pay their rent…
- And…oh…by the way…do not report that loan to child-care systems because they would then remove you from food stamps…so just keep it under your hat?
- It would mean the church is operating in a different system where dishonesty to the state is honesty toward God.
- I’m just the messenger here.
- Just saying…what Jesus is teaching here.
Seems a little too radical?
- I mean…there must be some rules for what is honest and dishonest…right?
- Yes…it’s radical.
- Jesus was killed for talking like this.
Let’s not get too crazy…let’s not throw everything out.
- We cannot just go around not expecting payment and forgiving all debt…
- And being dishonest with everything in this poisoned…but present system.
- But can we at least…just for a moment…ponder the system we are in?
- Jesus calls us to ask what is dishonest and honest in our current system…
- In relation to the system of God.
- Is our honesty serving systems that praise money?
- Is our system bending toward forgiveness?
- Are we a manager of a system of the community of God or the community of Money?
And…let’s not forget how the story ends.
- In the system of privilege and violence…
- The Empire and the powerful and the established bring Jesus…the manager of love…
- Up on charges without proof…
- Fire him from living…
- And on the cross he says:
- Forgive them their debts…they know not what they do…
Jesus was dishonest to their systems of power and privilege…
- He…the one we call the way the truth and life.
And yet…we still often hold honesty to our poisoned systems above the honesty toward…that way…that truth…that life…
- That honest life.