17 Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 20
Lectionary 25
September 23
Luke 16:1-13
"How is your Effort?"
"He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, ’What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ And the steward said to himself, ’What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ’How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ’A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ’Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ’And how much do you owe?’ He said, ’A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ’Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."" Luke 16:1-13, RSV.
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Among the many parables of Soren Kiekegaard is the story of a wild pigeon. The pigeon lived contently from season to season enjoying its freedom to come and go as it pleased. One day, it perched itself on the roof of a farmhouse,observing some of the domestic pigeons sheltered within a cage the farmer had constructed for them. The wild pigeon watched the farmer returning home at the end of the day, stopping on his way to feed the pigeons.
As the pigeon flew away, it occurred to him for the first time that he did not know where this next meal would come from, or that he was no completely satisfied with the freedom he had. "How much better," he thought, "to have meals served to me in my own very house."
When no one was looking, he flew down from the roof of the farmhouse and squeezed his way into the pigeon pen. That evening as the farmer returned fro the fields, he reached into the pend and took the wild pigeon. Inside his house , he prepared his supper of pigeon stew."
The parable of our gospel lesson today speaks to this theme of easiness, lack of effort, discipleship, commitment or following through. As we look closely a the parable of the dishonest steward, we can see that Jesus is saying that people who do dishonest deed put a lot of effort into their deeds.
A steward was fired for not doing his job well. Then he thought ," what shall I do? I cannot dig ditches and an ashamed to beg."
So he calls in all the people who owe his master money and tells them to change their bill. He figures in this way, those people will be beholding to him and they will take care of him now that the has lost his job.
Pretty smart thinking, right?
The master then finds out about his shrewdness as the text says and commends the steward for his fast thinking.
Even today a lot of people put a lot of effort into doing wrong thing for their selfish ends.
For example " Two partner had a clothing store. One would stay in the back room while the other waited on the people. The one waiting on the people would pretend he was hard of hearing. When a customer would choose a suit he liked, he would ask the price. The clerk would call to his partner in the back room, "How much is the suit Harry/"
Harry would reply in a loud and clear voice so the customer would be sure to hear $149.00. The clerk wold then say it was $129.00. Many people would hurry and buy that suit for $129.00 thinking they were making a good deal because they thought the clerk heard the wrong price. Little did they know that the partners were pulling a fast one on them and in their own greed they jumped as the chance of making a killing.
Now the point Jesus is making with this parable is --- if the wicked people of his world go to so much trouble and effort to be wicked, to be dishonest, to cheat, and to be so selfish -- why can’t my disciple put as much or even more effort into being sons and daughter of the light..
Jesus is letting his disciples know with a great force, with a dry sense of humor, that the men of the world are outsmarting the men of light. This conniving rogue faced the facts, sized up a situation and acted in quick, cold logic. Jesus wished that his followers would do as much from nobler motives.
Jesus is saying in a humorous way, if only the Christian was as eager and ingenious in his attempt to attain goodness as the men of the world are in their attempts to attain money and comfort. Jesus wants us to act with the same intensity in our discipleship toward him as the rascals, cheats, and crooks act in their attempt to gain comfort and wealth.
In the context of this text, Jesus is heading for Jerusalem and He is sensing that those following, the disciple and the others who were always around him, do not realize what kind of life he is calling them to follow. He is sensing they are along for a joy ride. The are along to see the thrills of his miracles, to get a little free and bread and fish. They are coming along to a good argument between Jesus and the religious rulers.
They do not comprehend, or understand the seriousness, the dedication, the discipleship, he is calling to to live. So Jesus says from our text: "for the sons of the world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light"
This parable is not about money, it is not about dishonest stewardship, but this parable is about commitment, discipleship, of following Jesus with one’s whole life. Jesus want our lifestyle committed to Him. He want the way we act, the way we think, the way we make decisions, the way we work, the way we interact with others all to be influenced by our commitment to Him as Lord and master of our lives.
Jesus is saying if crooks and those who are only looking out for their own welfare are so ingenious and can act so decisively about things that really don’t matter, why does a Christian seem so casual about the care of his/her soul?
Do you see the point Jesus is making in this parable? He is saying that since the people of the world are so intense in their way of life, why aren’t my follower? If the crooks of the world will stop at nothing to make money, why aren’t we who are followers of Jesus as committed to him with such zeal, ambition, and dedication?
Jesus closes this parable with a statement which strikes to the heart of the matter as he says: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
He concludes with a sharp statement as a way to sum up what he had been trying to say all along. And if you are going to be for me, then give me all the effort you can . Give me your entire effort. He is saying he doesn’t want any half-hearted discipleship. He wants total effort on our part. If the dishonest people an put so much effort in their work, why, why can’t you try even harder to serve me, love me and love your neighbor?
The gentlemen in the following story is an example of the kind of person Jesus is talking about.
"This man was a retired farmer who was devoutly religious. Each day of his life, he would offer in prayer the names of his offspring, extending to those who were even in the 5th generation. Every day he would pray for these children, and many generations of great grandchildren. He would offer in prayer the needs, the joys, the heartache, the events of celebration that came into their lives and also into his life. He felt that if he prayed for them, if he communicated to God how indeed important all their souls and lives were to him, God would indeed be faithful and play an active part in their lives. But as these generations grew, some would feel awkward and ashamed at his open faith and his reminder that daily he was praying for them, because many of them did not have a relationship to this God that was so important in this man’s life.
When the old gentleman died, one member who was of the third generation finally realized what had been happening in his life.
Since the moment of his birth, this man had been daily saying his name in prayer. In his mind’s eye, he could now picture this man with his arms and hands uplifted in prayer, heavy with the weight of the entire family. Heavy with the weight of his life that needed that kind of prayer that he had not said on his own.
He approached the casket the reached out and touched his grandfather’s hands. a belated, but heartfelt act of gratitude and thanksgiving for all the prayers that had been offered."
This man knew of the effort it would take to live the lifestyle Jesus wants us to live and he was willing to put in that kind of effort.
But sadly many in the church are not willing to put forth even the tiniest effort at living the live Jesus wants us to live.
But too many of us are like the people in the following,
"A young pastor was called to a small town in Iowa. He had tried for several months to move the people to a more dedicated Christian life. He visited the membership faithfully. Worked diligently on his sermons. But to no available.
He felt his flock, his church was dead. So the pastor placed a notice in the local paper stating that since the church was dead, it was his duty to give it a decent Christian burial. The funeral would be held the following Sunday morning.
Morbidly curious, the whole town turned out for the funeral. In front of the church the people could see a large casket covered with flowers, he read an eulogy, delivered a sermon on how the church had suffered a slow and painful death.
Then he invited the congregation to step forward and pay their last respects to the departed. As they filed by, each one peeked into the casket and quickly turned away with a guilty sheepish look. For in the casket, titled at the correct angle, contained a large mirror. Everyone saw his/her own reflection as perhaps never before!!
The following Sunday, the congregation was in their pews and waiting for the pastor as they realized what indeed the church, the body of Christ was all about. It is about souls, and discipleship, commitment and surrendering one’s whole life over to Christ."
Jesus says "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
Can you put forth the effort to serve Jesus? That is what he is asking in the parable, where is your effort? Jesus is asking where do your priorities lie?
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale on September 17, 2007
