September 19, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Amos 8: 4-7 + Psalm 113 + 1 timothy 2: 1-8 + Luke 16: 1-13
If we were reading chapter 15 and 16 together, two connecting ideas would pull together this parable and one from last week.
But we don’t hear that so easily with seven days in between so let me point them out to you. In both parables, the verb “squander” is used. Wasteful and extravagant behavior is seen in both the younger of two sons and then again in this steward. Then, both the squandering son and the squandering servant have moments of clarity when they come to their senses and ask the same question:
“What shall I do?”
In a nation and at a time in history when “squandering” has become a national pastime,
almost an art, and even the subject of entertainment made perfectly obvious by a television show called: “Greed”; this parable might be a bit timely. Say the word: “Squander” these days, and all kinds of people are going to start hollering about “Washington.” It’s today’s great political game: blame someone else, accuse them of squandering. If they would stop it everything would be fine. It is a really effective diversion, perfectly distracting.
If I keep attention on someone else’s squandering, no one will notice my own.
If I can convince myself that squandering in Washington is the problem, no one will ever notice what I’m doing, and neither will I.
This is a tough parable if you take if personally. Of course, if you hear it and think it’s about someone else, it is a lot easier. But it isn’t about someone else. It is about a Steward; and that point, the parable is about us, because stewards is what we are.
Whether we are one of the two sons from last week: the older who is in a great snit because he thinks his privilege is being lost
or the younger who squanders what he has no right to possess or this steward who squanders what he has been asked to manage,
there is no getting away from the big question: What am I to do? Unless you just turn this into a Bible Study course and fiddle around with the many odd little details we have to ask that question.
What shall I do? is the question this Gospel puts in our face. What shall I do with all the stuff I have? What shall I do with the time that I have? What shall I do with the opportunities I have? What shall I do with the life I have?
Jesus is inviting us to a radical change of outlook. He is not urging us to be service-oriented people out to help others. Boy Scouts and the Rotary Club can teach you that. You don’t need to learn that in church.
Jesus is not counseling unselfishness or service as a way to be happy. Doing things for others because it makes us feel good is sick business that never address the cause of another’s need. It always feels good to throw some money at a cause or a problem
but that never addresses the cause of the problem and so it’s always there. It never feels good to deal with the cause of the problem, because that might mean some change in our own behavior or our values. It feels good to build a house for a poor person. It does not feel good to change the comfortable system that keeps them poor.
This is where the 16th Chapter of Luke’s Gospel comes alive. Jesus proposes that we look at everything we have in a radically new way; to see every skill, talent, opportunity and possession as something given to us to manage, to use, to invest for one single purpose: the forging of an unbreakable bond between ourselves, God and other people. What lasts, Jesus suggests is people. When there is no more work because you’re too old; or no more money because you’ve squandered it all there will still be people around us. This is the wisdom of the steward in this parable. It’s not that he is buying friends, but that he knows what will last. He is asking the question: “What will my life be like in the future?” His response is to build up relationships because he knows that those relationships are a greater prize than all the master’s wealth. To be a disciple of Jesus we must renounce all use of material goods that does not have God and love of others as its goal. We must dedicate ourselves to serving others in everything we do. Ask the question: “What shall I do?”