Psalm 54; 2 Samuel 22:26-34; 2 Corinthians 10:6-13
St. Luke 16:1-13
In the name of the Father, and of the T Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It is tempting to read the parable
of the unjust steward as referring to the character of the steward himself.
Afterall, he is the primary character, and it is his actions which move the
parable along. Even the master commends the steward at the end of the parable.
A little cultural knowledge will go
a long way in helping to understand this parable. The master is a landowner. He
lends out his land for farmers to work it. They are sharecroppers. Each year,
they owe the master a certain percentage of their harvest. Their debt to the
master is the cost of working his land. The master has also hired a steward to
manage his financial accounts. The steward is responsible for collecting and
recording the debts and offerings in the name of the master. The activities of
the steward toward the farmers are considered the same as if the master himself
were dealing with them.
Certainly, the steward is important to
the parable but so is the master. A closer reading of the parable reveals much
about the character of the master. When the master hears the accusation that
the steward has been wasting his goods, the master is fully within his rights
to immediately have the steward cast into prison until the debt is paid. The
master does not exercise this right. Instead, he shows mercy by allowing the
steward to depart, collect the books, and return them to the master before he
is released from his duties.
The master knows this gives the steward
the opportunity to cook the books. He has already shown himself to be capable
of lying, cheating, and stealing, but the master is willing to be merciful to
the steward. At the same time, the
master has declared that for his transgression, the steward will be cast out of
the master’s house. This shows the master to be just, that is, to practice
justice.
When the steward reduces the debts of
the farmers, they do not act suspicious. They do not question the actions of
the steward. Their reaction reveals the master to be gracious. The farmers see
this act of generosity as being perfectly in line with the character of the
master. It is something he himself would do for them and likely has done in the
past. In fact, the reaction of the farmers probably indicates that the
steward’s crime was not being gracious to the farmers. Rather than reducing
their debts, according to the Word of the master, he charged the farmers higher
rates and kept the difference for himself. This is the wastefulness of which
the master accuses the steward. He wasted the grace and mercy of the master.
Finally, the master commends the steward for his shrewdness. This commendation reveals the master to be forgiving. He desires forgiveness and not punishment. He is just, willing to punish transgression, but he desires mercy and reconciliation.
The master is just, righteous,
merciful, gracious, forgiving, and loving. His gifts are abundant and he freely
bestows them. The master of the parable points us to God. In fact, you could
read the steward as a picture of mankind. The pinnacle of creation, God gave
man stewardship over all creation. When he was found wasteful, abusing that
which was given into his care, God cast him out of the garden, from the near
presence of the Trinity. When God called man to give an account of his life, he
must reflect the person of the Master, he must turn to the person of Christ. By
speaking forth the Word of God, by showing forth his union with Christ, man is
commended on the Last Day for his service.[1]
I admit, such an interpretation seems
to leave out the atonement of Christ on behalf of the steward. That is a fair
criticism. King David shows in our Old Testament lesson how our Heavenly Father
reveals himself to man: “with the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with
a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show
Yourself pure…For You are my lamp, O Lord; The Lord shall enlighten my
darkness.”[2]
God Himself enlightens the darkness of
the steward’s heart, even as he enlightens the darkest places of your heart. This
enlightenment is accomplished by the Light of the World rising on the third
day. The Light of Christ returns to the Church as he is raised from the dead, a
death which conquered death on your behalf. His blood has watered the soil
which you farmers now work. He has planted the faith in the hearts of man to be
illumined by the Word of God, spoken by the Holy Spirit through the lips of the
faithful.
Our Master, God the Father, has given
all authority in heaven and on earth to the Son, who now delivers the bountiful
harvest to you his people, that you might steward it on his behalf. “Be
fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that
moves on the earth.”[3]
I believe this to be a parable about
the church, those who have already been called to faith. The steward already
lives in the house of the master and is threatened to be cast out for
abandoning the Word of the master. Only by repenting of his waste and showing
the fruits of repentance is he restored and commended by the master.
This is true of all Christians. We are
called to repent of our sins and show forth the fruit of such repentance. What
does that look like? It looks like conforming yourself to the Word of God. Your
sin ought to disgust you because it disgusts God. You ought to love
righteousness because God loves righteousness. You cannot do this on your own.
The Holy Spirit must sustain you and strengthen your spirit to hold firm to the
certain Word of God.
Where do you turn for such strength? To
the Word of God. Read the Word in the morning and before you go to bed. Pray fervently
for the illumination of the Holy Ghost. Then come and receive the Word of God
bound to physical elements. Return to your Holy Baptism every day by crossing
yourself and drowning your sinful Adam. Receive the Holy Body and Precious
Blood of Christ into your mouth, drawing you ever closer to Christ your Lord.
Perhaps the most confusing sentence in
all of Scripture is verse 9 of today’s text. “Make friends for yourselves by
unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an
everlasting home.”[4] Christ out Lord is not commanding us
to seek money so that we can make friends. He is not encouraging us to flaunt
the wealth we’ve been given by wasteful spending in attempts to garner the
attention of man. This would be prodigal living. Prodigal, by the way, is the
same word we hear today as “wasteful.”
Such living not only endangers our own
salvation (by trusting in mammon) but it endangers the salvation of our
neighbors, those who would be called “friends” in the name of money. By
purchasing such friendship with money, we are encouraging our neighbor to fear,
love, and trust in money above God.
Jesus is warning us against such
living. He is warning us against wasteful living. By calling it “unrighteous
mammon,” our Lord is telling us that all mammon is dangerous. The heart of man
is easily tempted by temporal wealth and is therefore ripe for becoming an
idol. Therefore, it is unrighteous mammon.
But how shall we make friends with it?
The other side of Christ’s warning is against miserliness. Do not store up
treasures on earth.[5] Our Lord’s command is to use the
wealth we are given to serve our neighbor. Rather than storing your wealth, use
it in service to your neighbor. Wasteful spending and selfish saving are
equally damaging to your soul. Both place your greed above God. Hence, you
cannot serve God and mammon, these two masters.[6]
Be a good steward of the gifts of God
by serving your neighbors. Then, when your body fails in death, you will be
received by the whole company of heaven into your everlasting home. This
stewardship is not done according to the latest financial models nor whatever
financial gurus might say, even if they are Christians. This stewardship is
modeled after Christ our Lord, who gave everything of himself to save you. He
is the perfect steward who could even be called wasteful. He showed no concern
to withhold even his blood from being given to you. He gave you everything, so
that you would lack nothing in eternity.
Christ our Lord is just, merciful,
gracious, and forgiving. We have been called to be the same. Thanks be to God
our actions do not merit eternal life. Thanks be to God our stewardship does
not merit eternal life. Thanks be to God that he has set his glory above the
heavens. Thanks be to God he has prepared a mansion for you in our eternal
home. Finally, thanks be to God that we have been set free from sin, that we
would desire to imitate our Savior, Jesus Christ, in serving God and neighbor
with everything we have been given to steward.
In
T Jesus’ name. Amen.
[1]
Matthew 25:31-46 – The sheep and the goats.
[2]
2 Samuel 22:26-27, 29.
[3]
Genesis 1:28.
[4]
Luke 16:9.
[5]
Matthew 6:19-21 - “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”
[6]
Luke 16:13 - “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
No comments:
Post a Comment