A Convoluted Way of Asking Who Are You?: a sermon Year C Proper 20 18 Sept 2016

“A Convoluted Way of Asking ‘Who Are You?’”

Year C Proper 19, September 18, 2016

St. David’s Episcopal, Aylett, VA

Luke 16:1-13
Then 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.
So 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.'Then 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. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.'So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then 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.'

And 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. And 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.

"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. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

“No 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 will be the first to  admit, this is a messy and convoluted text we are digging through this Sunday. But when we filter it through today’s collect, the reasoning becomes a bit more clear. Collect for today:

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We see the set-up for the story, there is a manager of a large estate, who has really messed up. He is getting fired, and there is nothing he can do to save his job. He is going to be out.

Please note, this is why people are told to leave the premises immediately after cleaning out their desk when they get fired. Sticking around for any length of time leads to problems.

But you have to give it up for the manager. Shrewd. There is no other word for it. The manager was about to get fired, but he not powerless. He had misused the owner’s money, so while still possible he abused his remaining power to his benefit. “You owe my boss, let’s reduce that while we can.” The unspoken part to those he was letting off the hook for the whole amount is: NOW YOU WILL OWE ME. And that social debt, just like a monetary one, gives him some power. He knew who he was and what he was willing to do (or not). He did not want to have to leave the world (and the lack of calluses) that a white-collar job allowed him. He did not want to end up on the street corner begging. He knew he was going to create a string of debts to him that he could milk for all it was worth for the rest of his life.

If you ever saw the movie Schindler’s List, you know that through the brave acts of Oskar Schindler hundreds of Jews were saved from the Holocaust. He is uplifted as one of the Righteous in Israel. The part of the story that was not told in the movie was that after the war when he was older, he actually lived off the graciousness of those he graciously saved. Like our manager in today’s Gospel reading, he took advantage of a debt owed.

We may see this as being snaky or shady, but psychologists repeatedly have shown that this type of social indebtedness is a very real thing. Next time you go to a restaurant and they offer you a sample of anything, know the intended outcome. We were in Oliver Garden last week. They offered us a sample of a wine that “paired” with our meal. I did not want a glass that night so I declined. My wife got a Pinot Grigio. I did not say anything, but just watched. After her taste, the waitress (who was very good at her job of taking care of us and up-selling for the restaurant) came back and asked my wife if she wanted a full glass. Of course my wife said yes. She felt obliged. Smart waitress at Olive Garden, smart manager in the story. I scratched your back, now you scratch mine.

Now we get to the part of the story where it gets really hard to understand exactly what Jesus is saying here in verses 8 and 9:

And 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. And 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.

Okay, admittedly, this is a hard and weird statement. Is Jesus saying he wants his followers to be crooked and shady? Many have had a hard time with Jesus saying this for centuries. Some of the most respected commentators in history have even questioned if our Lord even asked this. Some speculated there had been some type of scribal error.

You see, there are two types of parables, the ones where we should be like the people in them, and ones where we are shown how much better God or God’s way is. This is the second type. The manager is praised for his wits, not his actions. Christ’s followers are encouraged, not to be crooks, but to be shrewd and wise like the manager, for God’s Kingdom. We are to use what God has given us and use it well. Think of the Parable of the Talents. Each of the servants given a very sizable amount of money was expected to have something to show for it. The same here. Jesus expects us to do something with the blessings we have had showered upon us.

Wicked wealth only lasts so long. It runs out. What will we invest our lives in, things that last eternally, or things that run out? Also, I believe Jesus is saying that whatever we start with, even wicked wealth, it can be redeemed and transformed. God can make lemons lemonade, or junk into a masterpiece.

Yesterday, my daughters finished up their Arts and Crafts for the State Fair. We dropped it off. My youngest entered a category called Trash to Treasure. She is always finding stuff in the recycling bin and making, well, what she calls art. To her it is. I think Trash to Treasure is a more apt name. But is God any different? God can take us, even us, and make us saints. Grace.

Back to Jesus,  verses 10 to 12:

"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. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?”

What will you do with what you have? Will you cling to it, afraid to let anyone even see it? Or will you use it? If you have a hammer but always keep it in the toolbox, is it even still a hammer? If you own a Masterpiece painting that all the world knows, do you hang it in your closet to “keep it safe,” or do you loan it out to a museum so all can look on in awe? When the Church holds onto God’s love instead of giving it away, are we being the Church?

You see, you have been entrusted with a Masterpiece, created by the Master of the Universe. Go, look in a mirror, and see God’s handiwork. And God has empowered and enabled you to change the world, today. Really. A word today can change a life. A kind act can give someone hope. God believes in you, and entrusts you with this power and responsibility. What will you do today?

How will I use what God has given me? To quote the old Sunday School song: “Hide it under a bushel? NO, I’m gonna let it shine!” We have been blessed to be a blessing. William Temple, the 98th Archbishop of Canterbury, put it this way: “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.” We are not just told, we are commanded by Christ to give ourselves away, just like he did.

And now to the last hard bit in today’s Gospel passage, verse 13:

“No 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 used to have an app on my phone. I played it for hours. It was fun, but after a while, I noticed that the point of the game was to get a higher level so I could play more to get to a higher level, so I could play more… Once I came to that revelation I was angry, at myself and the stupid game, but then I laughed. I had been a slave to that app. I kept “feeding the monster” so that I could “keep feeding the monster.” Jesus confronts the primary fallacy of our culture, and his. We think that money will give us happiness and fulfillment. Nope. It won’t. You would think after 2,000 years we would have figured this out. Do we work for money, so that we can make more, so we can make more… Do we keep “feeding the monster,” or do we serve God? Do we use our money (and time and talents) to further God’s Kingdom or ours? Which one of those will last?

This season with the election and accusations flying the use and abuse of power and money seems to be more prevalent, and worrisome. What is a follower of Christ to do? What is our responsibility? These are hard questions, but if we see who we are in God’s eyes first then the what to do seems to fall into place. Franciscan Mystic Richard Rohr puts it this way: “When you get your,'Who am I?', question right, all of your,'What should I do?' questions tend to take care of themselves.”

So today as we come to Christ’s table, what are we to do? And coming back to Rohr’s quote, it all depends on who we are, or whose we are. When we get the ‘Who am I?’ question right, we know what to do.

Are we Republicans or Democrats first? I hope not. Are we our job or our role in our family first? That one is getting harder to answer. Or, are we a beloved Child of God first, a full member in the Kingdom of God first? How we answer that question makes all the difference. Amen.