Sunday, September 18, 2022
/Proper 20
Jeremiah 8: 18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2: 1-7; Luke 16: 1-13
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Imagine for a moment that you are the president of a large company. You have an employee who works for you whom you have just learned has been embezzling your company’s money in secret. You fire the employee immediately, but without you knowing it, the employee goes through the company ledger and finds all the people who owe you – the president – money. And then this now former employee of yours goes to all these other people and tells them that they only need to pay half of what is owed to you.
Turns out, this is great news for everyone who owes your company money. And because of your ex-employee’s actions, people start to have a very favorable opinion of you – you come out looking great, because you have forgiven 50% of debt owed to your business. It’s great PR. So what do you now do as president? Do you try to get back all the money owed to you, or are you content with receiving half? What, if anything, do you say to your former employee?
In the confusing parable Jesus tells this morning, the owner commends the employee for how shrewd or astute, or to use a word I can understand – “smart” this former employee was. This is a parable about an employee who was quick to react because they were wise. To elaborate in the parable, we are to the employee, not the president. We are the ones who are given talent, time, and financial resources. How clever are we in our use of them?
One of the central themes of this parable is money – a topic that we will by diving into more fully next month as we begin our annual stewardship campaign on Sunday, October 16th. I have been criticized in the past for talking too much about money from the pulpit, but I would say it would be a dereliction of duty not to discuss money today, seeing that it is central to the parable, and to Luke’s Gospel.
In the Gospel of Luke, one out of every seven verses specifically addresses money, more so than any other topic. But money alone is not at the heart of the parable. Ultimately this is a parable whose purpose is to instruct us to be clever and wise with what we both have and don’t have.
Years ago, I read a story about a woman who left her brand new bicycle unattended at a store while she went shopping. She forgot she left her bicycle until the next day, and rushed back to the store certain her bike was gone. Someone for sure had taken it. To her relief, the bicycle was exactly where she had left it the day before. No one had touched it. Overwhelmed with great joy, she pedaled her bicycle to a nearby church to give thanks to God for keeping her bicycle safe and sound. Upon leaving the church she discovered someone had stolen her bicycle.
As the familiar saying goes: “Trust God, but tie up your camel.” When I arrived at my first church out of seminary, the Rector of the parish said “you’d be a fool to trust me.” And I thought – well that’s a welcome to the church I had not yet heard. He was kidding, but what I believe he sought to teach me was to keep my eyes and ears open – to be wise, astute, aware. To make sure I neve left my camel untied to the post, which has turned to be good advice for church work. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and God – closest of all. AMEN.