| September 23, 2001 Amos 8:4-7 + 1 Timothy 2:1-8 + Luke 16:1-13 |
| The use of a shrewd and dishonest servant in the parable today demands some careful attention to words of Jesus who is more concerned with the wisdom of this shrewd servant than his behavior This is what he praises, the wisdom, not the self serving behavior The parable is addressed to the disciples – that is the first clue leading us to recognize that there is something here for us. What we have here is a Lukan instruction on the right use of money drawn out of parable by Jesus which suggests that disciples, if they are wise, use everything they have for the sake of their place in the kingdom. It further proposes that wise disciples will know what is of lasting value and what is fleeting. Finally, Jesus proposes that wise disciples will know that they can only serve one master, and everything they have must be used in that service. |
| Jesus does not commend dishonesty in this story He commends the wisdom of the servant who looks ahead. The dishonesty of this servant should not discolor everything else about him. We are sometimes led into a very anti cerebral bias in the church that leads us to be unwilling or unable to think or conceive of ourselves as being clever about kingdom activity That business of being “childlike” is often mistakenly translated into being naive, when in fact, Matthew’s gospel (10:16) alerts disciples to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” What we hear today is Luke’s version of the same proposal. a clever kind of wisdom is appropriate in the real disciple of Jesus; nothing naive or passive; but rather a kind of far-seeing, focused vision that can be trusted with little matters and big ones.The disciple can be trusted to use all things and all opportunities well for the sake of the future, which is of course the coming reign of God. |
| The Gospel proposes that for all the dangers in possessions, it is possible to manage goods in ways appropriate to life in the Kingdom of God. To do that takes a kind of Wisdom that is seen in faithful attention to frequent and familiar tasks of each day, however small and insignificant they may seem. The one faithful in today’s nickels and dimes is the one to be trusted with the big account. Yet it is easy to be indifferent toward small obligations while sincerely believing oneself fully trustworthy in major matters, but that isn’t “gospel wisdom.” |
| What Luke suggests is that life consists of a series of seemingly small opportunities. Most ofus will do nothing in the week to come that will bring reporters running and get media attention. More likely the week will present little more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to another meeting, choir practice, or give a compliment or two. Yet, “Whoever is faithful in little things is faithful in bigger ones” and disciples are wise enough to know that. They will use every little opportunity to root themselves more securely and more deeply into the Kingdom yet to come. They are looking ahead, looking beyond the present and immediate business of the day, and never forgetting for a moment that an accounting of one’s stewardship is going to be called for That awareness does not prompt fear nor anxiety nearly as much as it inspires wisdom and loyalty, and a trustworthy attitude that is responsible and consistent with a life that is Jerusalem bound and prepared for suffering and glory, death and resurrection. The disciple knows what is coming, and is wise enough to be prepared. |