|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Amos 8:4–7 |
Psalm 113 |
1 Timothy 2:1–7 |
Luke 16:1–13 |
The parable of the dishonest manager often becomes one of the more difficult parables of Jesus to interpret. One wonders if the collection of sayings after the actual parable were contributions by later preachers and interpreters who struggled with what Jesus really meant rather than being reflections from Jesus himself.
The original story appears to center around a dishonest farm manager who was caught embezzling his owner’s property. Jesus, following in time honored Biblical tradition, often used examples of people who were not saints, but were the type of people well known to his hearers and dishonest foremen and managers were likely well known to those in a farming economy oppressed by a foreign power.
After the owner of the farm discovered the embezzlement, he demanded the manager conduct a final audit of all the property before he was fired. Of course, the manager didn’t stop his pattern of behavior just because he had been caught; quite the contrary, he behaved even more dishonestly, for he knew the golden goose would soon be taken away. Dramatically and swiftly he reacted to what was in store for him, and tried to ensure his future security. The owner finally caught on and realized one could hardly expect an embezzler to conduct an honest audit of funds from which he was embezzling. The manager acted very predictably for the crook he was.
Perhaps Jesus uses this example with a wry sense of humor to contrast the image of an unscrupulous embezzler, with a person of faith. The embezzler had lived day by day with no real thought of future consequences and who totally forgot the past tabs he was running up, but when he realized that the game was finally up he reacted swiftly and shrewdly to the drastic change that was about to take place in his life. When a person of faith is confronted with the dramatic changes the Gospel calls for, how much more should one be swift and wise to act.If a petty crook, who had so little regard for either the past or the future, could recognize an imminent crisis and react to it, how much more should people of faith respond to the signs they perceive around them.
In his book Deep Change, Robert Quinn observes that so often both individuals and large corporations tend to want to make incremental changes, when usually it is deep change that is called for. They may realize that things are not well and that change needs to happen, However when people choose incremental change over deep, profound change, many times the choice is really between a slow painful and certain death and a frightening, but new future pregnant with possibilities.1 Jesus knew about such choices, and the urgency is reflected in his teaching. The Gospel continually calls for recognizing the signs of the times, and the necessity for a profound deep change.
A few chapters back in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus would tell the crowds, “When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is. You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?” Later after Jesus entered Jerusalem and right before his arrest, he added the parable of the fig tree. “When you see the fig tree and indeed every tree bud, you know that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near.” Perhaps at one time these sayings and the two parables were all linked together.
Discipleship may be pretty tough in the years ahead, and the spiritual resources and courage of the people of God may be sorely tested. Yet our society seems to be at a crucial crossroads, and the world needs the church to respond and witness to truth over power and fear.
People of faith are often called to provide balance and to get on the seesaw of a society that usually is wildly out of balance. Sometimes we need to get on one end of the seesaw, or in the middle. People of faith may well be called to say things the world would prefer to deny.
The signs of the times are all around us. Many are universal signs recognized by people in every country, on every continent. Some are more specific for American society. However, they all have deep moral implications containing both judgment and grace. They are not primarily problems that require more technology to solve. We are besieged with news of the flood of dangerous toys for our children, global warming from the north pole to the south pole, war, terrorism, Aids, government corruption, health care crisis, massive economic fraud and greed, the energy crisis and the list goes on and on. The signs may be denied, but they will not go away. Maybe the difficult parable of the dishonest manager really is a parable especially for our time, and meant to energize us for the difficult mission of the church in the years ahead.
1Cf. Deep Change, by Robert E. Quinn, Jossey-Bass 1996
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
