Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost |
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Scripture |
Luke 16:1-1316 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. 2 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.’ 3 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. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 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.’ 8 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. 9 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. 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. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 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.” |
Devotional |
This week’s passage is confounding. Jesus advises his disciples: “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it’s gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes (Luke 16:9). What is going on here? Just when the disciples think they understand the kingdom of God, Jesus comes up with a new idea. Jesus challenges tem to listen for something new. Jesus prods us to be alert for the kingdom of God is close. Do you recognize God in small things as well as large? Do we consider the “very little’ with which we are interested as being most important? Jesus says we cannot serve two masters because you will love one and hate the other. “You cannot serve God and wealth.” We usually interpret the word as wealth or mammon but could Jesus have used the word ”money”? Mammon may be a good word for us. Reading these verses remind me of my community. The public water and sewer systems are in need of repair, many of the public school buildings are decaying and out of date but the administration building and football stadium are in good shape. The new buildings contain banks. I do not know of one bank in our community, which is housed in a dilapidated building. Does this tell us something about what we are faithful in? Jesus encourages us to be a faithful steward in small things. Fred Craddock reminds us: Most of us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. More likely the week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, and feed the neighbor’s cat. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.” 1 Being faithful to a little can be a challenge for us. A greater challenge may be money or to make it somewhat easier mammon. Is there hope for us? John Wesley reminds us: “’As money increases so does the love of it’ and always will, without a miracle of grace.” 2 1 Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation. Louisville: Westminister/John Knox Press, 1990. p. 192 |