Seasons Change, Hearts Open

PPLP Pentecost + 15 Proper / Lectionary 25

18 September 2022

Jeremiah 18:18-9:1

Psalm 79:1-9

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Luke 16:1-13

O God,

anoint us with the healing Spirit of consolation and joy,

so that we may rejoice in the richness of your love

and be faithful stewards of your many gifts. Amen.

_________________________________________

The days grow shorter. The mornings dawn a little colder, and the dew is on the rise.

In our reading from the gospel, for today, we find that Jesus senses such changes in the seasons of his life, as well.

He’s trying to get some important lessons across to us, to the disciples; and as we know from a lifetime of study of Jesus’ lessons, his teachings aren’t always the easiest to grasp. At the same time, how they impact our lives changes depending on our age, our circumstances, where we are and what we’re doing.

Today, Jesus tells us about a manager of someone else’s wealth who doesn’t always act in ways that would be approved by the Better Business Bureau. I mean really, after hearing of this man’s actions would you trust him to manage your affairs?

Today’s we hear of a man who is accused of squandering, of wasting his master’s property. We’re not told the specifics of the accusation, only how the man received such news; and the man is clearly in a panic.

He's panicked over the idea that right or wrong, he now stands in a position to be fired without a reference.

He’s in a position to be sold, based on the accusations of others and his next job will most likely not be in a similar position to what he now holds, and he knows this. So, it’s his thought process and his next actions that we need to take a close look at, today.

In today’s world we have elevated the role of the victim to ever increasing new heights. And then from such a self-made position of victimhood, like a child in a highchair, accusations are flung, like strained carrots, all around to cast blame on others for the position in which we find ourselves.

But that’s not where this man, this steward lives, and this leads us to such questions as: What does it mean to be a part of the Kingdom fo God? In today’s gospel we see that the manager shows mercy to be open to being shown mercy. Honesty and shrewdness don’t have to be opposites, but in all of this the heart needs to rule over the head, over any sense of greed.

So, with this in mind, we see that the manager, once faced with the prospect of losing his job, goes to those who are in debt to the household he serves and he reduces the amounts owed by each to, on the surface, save his own hide.

We’re told: “5summoning 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.”” (Lk 16:5-7)

But what does this look like from Jesus’ perspective? Jesus show sus that this ‘dishonest manager’ is sowing love and grace in all areas. He’s paving the road with good intentions, so that should he need a place to land, then it’s there.

At a casual glance, it looks like the steward, regardless of his actions up to now is freely embracing and distributing love and charity to all.

Now, it may have begun as a measure of self protection, but what is being realized is that such practices of generosity, of compassion, of benevolence has a positive impact on each of our lives.

It changes us from the heart to the mind, in ways that positively affect each of our lives, our blood pressure, even our brain chemistry.

It’s been shown that those who show compassion in their lives, even when it’s not asked for, expected, or needed have a brighter outlook on life.

And we can find many contemporary examples in our own live. From literature, to entertainment, to politics.

But looking back at the reading for today, we see that the steward, in his effort to create future favours finds himself being more graceful, more grace filled and benevolent than he has ever been, and it has its benefits.

I recently watched the miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, and in that the ten-year-old Leia discovers that being kind to all life is as important with oneself as it is with others and that in this way we are able to move bravely forward into the future, inspired by the positive examples we see all around us.

At the same time, Obi-Wan discovers that past mistakes, doubts, and errors bring a cost. They have the ability to hold us back, they make us choose paths that fail to help us to fully live into our skills, our abilities, our calling, and our love and compassion for each other and the world.

In the same way, each one of us, every day, has choices before us: we are able to, like the steward, keep on treating those around us as if we have power over absolutely every aspect of not only our lives, but also the lives of those who are around us, or to sow the love and grace of God in all directions putting the needs of our neighbour before our love of power.

But if we fall into such a perception of power as we see in the gospel, in the world, where does it stop?

How do we come back to earth?

Rather, if we treat each other as equals, as equally worthy of God’s love and grace, then the choices before us are vastly different.

As we collectively mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we learn that her approach to her 70-year reign was to walk alongside all with whom she worked, all who she met, throughout her life, and her work as Queen of the British Commonwealth.

It’s come to light that she approached her work as monarch from the point of view of Christian stewardship. She worked from the perspective of love over power, and duty played an enormous role in living out that from her position as Monarch, as Queen.

We are able to be easily confused by Jesus’ teaching, today. We see Jesus almost commending the behaviour of this steward of resources. But it’s not the dishonesty that it appears to be or that Jesus is commending.

The steward is already on rocky ground, accused of theft and mismanagement, and I don’t see a denial of this accusation.

Instead, we see him work to lessen the debts owed by others. We see him lightening the burden of those who also owe the steward’s master.

Perhaps here is where the theft was happening taking more than was honestly owed and keeping the difference? And in this action, then, not only does he set the record straight, but he unequivocally chooses his Lord, his master, over his dishonest acquisition of wealth.

In all of this we see that the steward remains faithful to the master who is about to deal harshly with him.

Where he might, at first glance, see self-preservation, instead, we see loyalty, not to the actions of dishonesty, but rather to the master.

In our lives, we too face such choices, every day.

Will we serve God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength?

Will we put God’s desire that we love God first and love our neighbours as we love ourselves?

Or will we be deluded to follow path; to choose another would be leader because they tell a pretty good yarn?

Jesus tells us we don’t do well being torn between living into our lives as Christians, into our baptismal vows, into our confirmation promises while at the same time, we strive to accumulate wealth and position, no matter what.

There’s a cost to this kind of behaviour, and it leaves us as so much less that we could ever imagine.

Jesus’ parable praises the steward, not for his dishonest actions in the first place, but for choosing to let go of the actions of his dishonesty and return to being a simple man in a position of trust.

“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.’” (Lk 16:10-13)

This is where our life, our society lives. This is the pull within each of our hearts, where we desire first and foremost to be good members of the body of Christ, and we fall of the wagon of ‘good stewardship’ from there, by the pull of the world.

God created each one of us, and in that, then, God loves us and desires only the best for each of our lives.

How will we love God in return?

Amen.