All This Talk About Money - Pentecocst 18C

In a lifetime, how much time is spent being shrewd and clever in acquiring, accumulating, and dispersing money? It is a lot, when one considers: working for money, paying rent and other bills, budgeting for groceries and other necessities, planning for retirement, paying taxes, borrowing money, investing, banking, worrying about finances, making ends meet, supporting causes and projects, considering garage sales and other ways to make just a little bit more…  We seriously have trouble with money, having too much or not enough, compounded with complicated systems, pensions, taxes, credits, investments, pay checks, debts – it is a topic that consumes a lot of our energy, takes vast amounts of time, and is in someway involved in almost every aspect of life as we know it.

No wonder, money and possessions are repeatedly front and centre in the Gospel of Luke. 

Of all the Gospels, Luke is the one that continually returns to teachings about wealth and possessions. He uses many styles and examples, -poetry, scripture, parables, snippets of this and that-  to stress the importance of looking at one’s relationship to money, wealth, and possessions.

The beginning of Luke’s telling of the Gospel, has the expectant Mary express in song the fulfillment of God’s promise through the child she carries.  It includes the words, and he has exalted the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.  From John the Baptist sermons, Luke records, if anyone has two coats he must share with anyone who has none’ and whoever has food must do likewise.

Luke recounts Jesus quoting the words of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth: the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

Jesus teachings, that we know as the Beatitudes from Luke chapter6: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God…Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Luke’s Jesus philosophizes, Take care and be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

And then there are countless parables: the parable of the rich fool and the building of barns - it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The parable of the shrewd steward.  We are told the story of the tax collector Zacchaeus.

Jesus teaches, 1. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  2. When giving a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or brothers or your relative or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return…invite the poor…you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Martin Luther said: The Gospel can not be truly preached without offense and tumult.

Perhaps this is the rub with the parable we are wrestling with.  It offends us, in that justice and fairness is not served. It offends because it sub-consciously hits so close to home that we miss the point – but, know there is a profound nugget buried therein. It throws us into tumult because we do not capture what exactly Jesus is trying to say.

We like it when the Gospel parable is easy enough to pick apart and fits within our sense of Western economic practices.  We come to the text with a Western capitalist view, perhaps wishing for other ideals… but all from a Western perspective. The problem with this is that the scripture was not written to us, but, rather, an ancient Mediterranean culture. This culture – the culture of Jesus’ time- had the economic principle that there were “limited goods.” The belief was that all goods and resources were already distributed, so wealth was ”limited” in the sense that to seek more, meant that someone else automatically received less; part of their share was stolen.  Everyone had been given goods – rich and poor came about because of people being greedy and taking more than their share. Seeking “more” in the Mediterranean culture was considered morally wrong.

To get around the conundrum of accumulating more, the rich, owners, CEOs, and elites, would have slaves and hired hands, managers to handle their affairs. This way the behaviour of making money at someone else’s expense, the guilt, the sin, the responsibility, and liability, fell on the shoulders of the managers, and not the masters. It meant the masters passed the blame so as to not get their hands dirty --- others laundered their money for them. In the culture, greedy behaviour was expected of managers and slaves for in them there was no honour, nor an expectation for there to be any honour.

And his manager 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. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

The great preacher, Fred Craddock, asks the question: “what is the lesson?  His answer: Like the steward in the parable, use possessions so as to gain, not lose, one’s future.”

Shrewd and clever are the typical words used to describe children of the light; the words are usually associated with self-serving practices. This makes it difficult for us to consider being a “shrewd saint.”

Over the years I have been part of countless church conversations about money. As money and markets and the management thereof, change in the world, the church is confronted with doing things the-way-they-have-always-been-done or embracing alternative ways to be good stewards of financial resources. Not once have I heard the word ”shrewd” used --- as in use possessions so as to gain, not lose, one’s future.

With all the dangers of wealth, there is still the ability for good “shrewd” management with eyes on bringing God’s kingdom.

Many interpretations of this passage of Luke have been offered through the years, and most break down in some part of the interpretation of the text. Preachers have done some amazing acrobatics to make this parable make sense – perhaps that is the point!  The parable is a plethora of convoluted layers, to simply get the disciples questioning: who is the rich man? Who are the slaves? What is going on? Questions that lead the disciples down the proverbial rabbit hole where discussion turns to reflection on their own practice of managing money, talking and debating with each other on issues of money and what is a “righteous” or faithful relationship to and use of possessions.  The conversation never ends.  Wrestling with wealth is a life long endeavor where the faithful try to figure out how best to be stewards of what is in their possession to bring the world closer to the equilibrium of kingdom living.

When I hear the parable from this morning, and you are free to disagree with me – or continue the conversation- I am struck by the doing of the manager. The manager makes a plan and acts on it.  In his shrewdness he gives away his master’s money by forgiving the debts of those owing the master. It may be self-serving, but, it also makes for good business.  When was the last time you lavishly, shrewdly, forgave debt – and here I am not just talking about money? When have you cleverly made a plan and acted on it?  Do we ever apply that to church life…taking risks, being shrewd or clever stewards? Do we plan and act as if all could be lost in the blink of an eye, as if this were our last few moments in the positions we are in?  Do we spend, share, re-distribute wealth now, so as to gain, not lose, the future?

There was a rich man who had a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. If this were only so.

If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, all of our money and possessions- who will entrust to you the true riches like forgiveness, grace, mercy, justice – the kingdom?  And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another by seeking and taking “more”, who will give you what is your own?

Times have changed and the Western practice of capitalism and economic systems have coloured who we are and how we hear scripture written to Mediterranean sensibilities. What we do learn is that throughout time and cross cultures, money consumes a lot of time.  It is our responsibility to always keep money in our conversations and reflections. Wrestling with what wealth means is part of the practice and discipline of being faithful with our time, talents, and possessions. Wresting with wealth and how to be good stewards of it helps us to be “shrewd saints,” who make a plan and act on it, in such a way as to “give ourselves away as bread for the hungry,” and in so doing bring justice, forgiveness, and wholeness to all.