[“I did not see that coming” story]
Jesus throws us a curve ball today. “I did not see that coming!” What would you do if you had someone working under you canceling debts, cooking the books, and overspending for personal gain? You’d fire ‘em, right? And yet Jesus tells a story where the crooked manager gets commended, where the reckless and selfish son gets a party thrown for him (just before this story).
Jesus is a flip-flopper. He sucks us in—we’re rooting for the owner to deal justly with this scoundrel—and then he flips everything on us...in this curious story about wealth and poverty. How can you be trusted, how can you deal with heavenly things, if you can’t even deal with a little dirty money, with a little street ball? [whiny] “Ow, foul!”
Jesus, for some reason favors the poor, the dishonest, and the outcast…(but especially the poor) in the gospel of Luke. And this is one more instance where mercy wins the day. Mercy even over fairness. Mercy...and shrewdness!
I was trying to think up a modern-day parable to match this one. And we’ve got Quinn here today—[sophomore?] student at State—so I’m thinking about the president of SDSU, Dr. Elliot Hirshman. He’s not exactly the owner, but let’s just say… And some clever woman over in the business office, collecting tuition from students, gets caught embezzling funds.
By the way, did you know that SDSU has an increasing number of homeless students? Darin tells me...~400. One of the issues they’re dealing with over at Agape House. I looked up this morning a year at SDSU with room and board: almost $26,000!
And so this woman in the business, financial aid office gets canned. But they make the mistake, unlike most businesses, of not making her collect her things and leave immediately. And before the school can catch up with her, she starts forgiving student tuitions and loans. She cuts this guy’s tuition in half, that one she drops 20%, another one she cuts 40…
Messed up, right?!
In Jesus‘ story, she is commended. Why? Because she acted shrewdly and made friends (with the poor). Maybe those students will end up being rich doctors and take her in one day. She didn’t burn bridges at the end of her job with SDSU, she built new ones. And the President Hirshman, in Jesus’ story, praises her for it.
This story ought to have us scratching our heads and squirming. What in the world is Jesus up to?!
Is he saying we should be dishonest in our business practices? We should steal and lie and cheat? I think that’s what we want to see. I think we all have that urge to cut corners, and if a story Jesus tells gives us license, that all the better for us.
I don’t think this is what Jesus is saying at all. And I don’t believe Luke’s first hearers thought that either. Jesus was a master of storytelling, and he had the people on the edge of their seats, laughing, catching all the irony and nuance. If you walk away thinking Jesus is telling us to be dishonest in business (to “keep on keeping on”, “that’s the way the world works”), than, I think, you’re missing the point completely.
That’s why I wanted to use Eugene Petersen’s translation today, he helps us understand: “Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. Constantly alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way — but for what is right — using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, not just complacently getting by on good behavior.”
Jesus is saying be clever and take care of the poor. Do what you can with whatever you have. Use what you have...use the contacts or connections that you have...to make the world better. Don’t just robotically go through the motions on the straight and narrow, under the radar; take risks, build community, forgive debts, call people on their stuff, and make friends with the poor. Jesus is obsessed with talking about wealth and poverty. Today he says, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” Give it away, he says. The poor are going to have to vouch for you in the great hereafter. How are we doing at taking care of the poor? If we’re not squirming now, we’ll be squirming next week when we hear about the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus does another flip-flop.
So the dishonest manager in the story, forgives massive amounts of debts owed to his former company, right? He forgives the olive farmer and the wheat farmer. Do you know how that slashing of debt would affected those farmers‘ communities and families? Cultural anthropologists and archeologists read this story and tell us that those farmers would have gone back home and thrown a huge party to celebrate that kind of debt reduction...kind of like if your college debt was cut in half — $50,000 you don’t have to pay!
This is our God: Crazy. Bad with money. Bad at business. But rich in love and mercy and forgiveness. Many say this is Jesus— this dishonest manager — cutting our debts, forgiving our sins. Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke: we’ve sanitized with our translation, but the Lord’s Prayer is about finances… “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
Give forgiveness of debt a try again this week. Maybe it’s not financial forgiveness that you’re in a position to give. (Maybe it is.) But maybe someone owe’s you an apology. And you’re waiting for it. It would be appropriate, but they’re not coming forward. Give forgiveness a try this week. Just let it go — not by going up to them and telling them, “You owe me an apology, but I’m going to let it slide.” Just let it go. Forgive them.
This is what our God has done for us. Slashed our debts, forgiven our sins, and commended us. Our God is bad at business but rich in love, overflowing with faithfulness. And fun. “I did not see that coming.”
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