This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on September 22, 2019. It’s based on Luke 16:1-13. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Luke 16:1-13
1Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ 8And his master 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. 9And 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.
10“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
I’ve spent this week reading various interpretations of this so-called Parable of the Dishonest Manager. Scholars can’t seem to agree on the meaning of the parable. They can’t even agree on what it should be titled. Is the manager dishonest, shrewd, or clever? Should we be startled by his behavior—and especially by his master’s commendation? Or should we be admiring? Some scholars suggest you must know something about the setting of the parable—the Roman system by which the rich profited at the expense of the poor. Others suggest this same kind of oppression is at work today; we have only to look around at our own nation to see the rich getting richer at the expense of the working poor.
Some say the parable is by far the most difficult parable Jesus tells; it’s nearly impossible to understand. Others argue its meaning is plain; we just don’t want to hear it. You cannot serve God and wealth. That’s it. Period.
We make the parable more difficult than it is, because we don’t want to hear that basic truth. We don’t want our relationship with money to be observed and challenged. We want to keep living as though we can actually fear, love and trust God above all things while still giving ultimate allegiance to the pursuit of wealth.
Let’s assume, for a moment, that this closing line about not being able to serve God and wealth really is the point Jesus is driving home here. Looking at the parable through that lens, what do we see?
There was a rich man. Immediately, our ears perk up. Has he gained his wealth at the expense of the poor? Does he serve wealth rather than God? We don’t know yet. But we’re paying attention to see what happens next, to see what we can discover about this rich man.
The rich man has a manager that he employs. He also has debtors with whom the manager is in contact. When the manager thinks he might be fired he summons those debtors one by one and relieves some percentage of each one’s debt.
We could focus on the manager’s motive for relieving the debt of the debtors. But if the bottom line is about not being able to serve God and wealth, then perhaps what we’re asked to pay attention to here is the fact that the debt is being forgiven.
Imagine your credit card debt, or your student loan debt, or your vehicle loan, or your mortgage being cut in half. Imagine how that forgiveness of debt would feel, especially if your debt is crushing you, leaving you hopeless.
Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of Luke begins with his reading from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor (Luke 4:18).
Later, Jesus tells his disciples, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation (Luke 6:20, 24).
In the home of Simon the Pharisee, Jesus tells his host: “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly” (Luke 7:41-43).
And in the gospel of Luke, when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he says, forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us (Luke 11:4).
The lifting up of the poor, the forgiveness of debt, is central to the kingdom of God in Luke’s gospel. So what if what matters in this parable is not the manager’s motive for his actions, but the actions themselves? What if forgiveness of debt is a good thing—a thing to be commended—no matter how it happens?
Even though that forgiveness of debt cuts into the rich man’s bottom line, costs him money, he commends his manager. So maybe the rich man isn’t as problematic as we thought at the beginning of the story. Maybe he understands that you cannot serve God and wealth. Maybe he’s more beholden to his relationships, with his debtors and with his manager, than he is to his money.
This week, a story out of the Iowa-Iowa State football game has captured the imagination of many Iowans and actually people across the country. I think, in some ways, it might be a modern day telling of this parable.
There was a large brewing company—the largest brewing company in the United States, in fact—that made over $4 billion in 2018. This large brewing company had a customer who appeared on ESPN’s College Game Day with a sign inviting viewers to send money to his Venmo account so that his supply of the large brewing company’s beer could be replenished. Much to the customer’s surprise, the money started rolling in.
When he had collected over $1600, the clever, generous customer tweeted to the world: With all the donations my College Game Day sign for Busch Beer has received, I will be donating all but enough for a case of Busch Light to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
https://twitter.com/BuschBeer/status/1174000264598216707
The shrewd, generous brewing company offered to match the customer’s donation and throw in some of that Busch Light he was looking for. Shrewd, generous Venmo followed suit, also offering to match the customer’s donation.
As of this morning, more than $972,000 has been raised for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. (And at the time of this posting, the total raised has now surpassed $1 million!) The customer, when asked why he chose to donate the funds said, They do such great work with all the kids and all of their families…obviously, anything you can do to help the kids, you have to do.1
Now, there could be all sorts of reasons to dismiss this true life parable. It revolves around beer, perhaps not the most virtuous beverage in the eyes of some. Even the customer’s mom wasn’t thrilled her son would be begging for beer on national television.
The large brewing company’s donation could be seen as a publicity stunt, a relatively cheap advertising campaign for a company that makes billions of dollars every year. Venmo could be judged in the same way. So are these companies generous or shrewd?
Is the customer, who has now had national exposure, generous or clever?
There could even be concerns raised about where the money’s going. Why not, for example, share the money with Blank Children’s Hospital?
But in the end, money is being used for good. A young man, who could have kept over $1600 for himself, gave it away for the sake of helping others. Two large companies, who could have easily dismissed this story, made a commitment to matching donations instead. Refusing to keep a tight hold on their wealth, these companies and this customer and all those individuals and businesses that have donated along the way have shown they’re more beholden to relationships than to money. And as a result, close to a million dollars is being used for good.
Another powerful story has been part of our national, and global, conversation this week. It’s a story that actually began over a year ago, when then 15-year-old Greta Thunberg sat alone outside the Swedish parliament holding her first climate strike. On Friday, inspired by Greta’s leadership, millions of people worldwide participated in strikes staged by young people demanding urgent action on climate change. Homemade signs—around the world—called not for beer money but for awareness and action. In London, a young woman held a sign: You’ll die of old age. We’ll die of climate change.2
Addressing climate change will cost us, but what is the cost if we fail to act? Carson King, that clever, generous customer, says anything you can do to help the kids, you have to do. Will we do what we can, as a nation, as a global community, to help our kids have a future here? Will we serve God or will we serve wealth?
We cannot serve them both. We cannot serve God and wealth. But we can use our wealth to do God’s work in the world. Even when our motives are complicated and potentially even self-serving, the relief of debt, the offering of money to support those in need, the commitment of our resources to benefit the well-being of our planet, is always to be commended. May the Jesus who brought good news to the poor inspire and empower us to do the same. Amen.
1 https://www.foxnews.com/media/football-fan-beer-money-children-charity-fundraising