Luke 16:1-9
The Parable of the Dishonest
Manager
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 account 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignored Parables: The Unjust Manager
November 23. 2014
The Rev. Connie Frierson
Welcome
to one more sermon in our series on ignored parables. Last week Graham taught about a string of tiny parables
about the Kingdom of God. But this
week I have chosen a parable that is quite simply mystifying. As you listened to the scripture, did it make any
sense? Was the meaning clear?
Jesus tells the story of a manager about to get fired. The big boss man tells him, “Your
fired.” So the manager goes out
and forgives large portions of debts owed to the boss, so that someone will
like the fired manager when he is out on his can in the street.
This
reminds me the reality show that was wildly popular for a few years called “The Apprentice.” The gist of the show
is this; there would be some business transaction and several managers would
have to start a storefront shop or build something or sell something. These
were all business entrepreneur hopefuls under the vague and powerful tutelage
of Donald Trump. At the end of the
show was the big accounting for the success or failure of the business. The
scene would include an imposing corporate boardroom on the pinnacle of the
Trump Tower. Donald Trump would sit in judgment, listening to the groveling
explanations of his underlings. At the end one manager would hear “You have won
the challenge.” But some other
poor unsuccessful slob would hear Trump bark out “YOUR FIRED!”
Can you see how the biblical story
reminds me of “The Apprentice”? This biblical manager has messed up or
squandered the boss’s property.
But the manager has a crazy plan.
There is no way to repair the botched job. He is sooooo FIRED. The manager isn’t strong enough to dig
and too proud to beg. So the
manager calls in the rich man’s debtors and cooks the books. The guy who owes 100 jugs of olive oil,
now only owes 50. The guy who owes 100 containers of wheat now only owes
80. And then in the final scene
instead of an angry boss, the big man doesn’t shout “Your Fired and your going to jail and your going to hell” but unaccountably commends
the manager for acting shrewdly. What in the world is going on here? What kind of topsy, turvy world is
Jesus teaching about?
This
view of the world makes no sense to us. But if you think about it, Jesus was so
often describing a world that was startlingly different than our ordinary
reactions. Jesus was always setting things askew. Instead of an eye for an eye, Jesus commanded forgiveness of
enemies, and even more crazy, love of enemies. Instead of looking at the rich
as those that are especially favored by God, Jesus pitied the rich as love of
money made following God so difficult.
Jesus is always changing the way we look at the world. Here Jesus is changing the way we look
at the world with this dishonest manager.
The parable reminds me of a Picasso
painting, particularly a painting from Picasso’s modernist period. I have put on the front of the bulletin
a painting by Picasso from 1932 entitled 'Girl Before a Mirror.' This shows a
little of what Picasso was famous for. As you look at the painting we can tell
there is a girl, we can tell there is a mirror. But the image is disturbing,
even ugly. What Picasso was doing
was changing perspective. What I
mean by a changing perspective that is to look at this we see a girl from a
side view, profile, but at the same time we see that girl looking straight on. One of the ideas Picasso played with
was trying to understand that the straight on view and the profile are
different sides of the same person. In 'Girl Before a Mirror' the perspective is
changed again in dark reflection in the mirror. We look at this and we are
confused unless we stop and think.
We are confused until we stop and look at this picture from different
perspectives. It is often the same
way with scripture. God is trying to make us look harder and dig deeper,
perhaps even startle us into a new thought about ourselves and about God.
Our
problem with this scripture is that everyone in it seems like a bit of a rogue
or a trickster. The manager is
inept and then a cheat. The debtors are in collusion cheating the master. And
the Master seems the funniest rogue of all praising the manager for playing
fast and loose with his assets, for giving away the store. How shall we make
sense of this mish mash of perspective?
Perhaps it will help if we try to identify who is does each character
represent.
Let’s
start with the rich man. Often
Jesus has used the rich landowner as an image for God. You remember the story of the
Prodigal Son? Well the prodigal
son’s father was a rich landowner. He was rich enough to divide his property
and give it to his rebellious son to do with as he pleases. Then when he makes a muck of it to
welcome that wayward child back with open arms. The rich welcoming and forgiving dad is God. Jesus also
tells a story about an absent landowner whose tenants are running wild. So the
landowner sends agents to warn and correct them, to tell them how to live
better and they kill them. Then
finally the landowner sends his son, his only son, to deal with the evil
tenants. The landowner says surely
they will pay attention to my son, my only son. But they kill his only son. Again the landowner is like God. Jesus also tells a story about a rich man who invites all
sorts of people to a banquet but they don’t come, because they are too
busy. So he invites everyone in
from the street, the poor and the beggars. Here God is the rich man again. So
in our story today, God says to the manager, “Give me an account of what you
have done.” God would be justified in saying “You’re fired.”
So
who is the bad manager, the manager who squandered away God’s gifts? Oh Golly! We are the dishonest managers. Who here hasn’t mismanaged God’s gifts? Have we used the
gift of time well? Have we used
the gift of smarts and a mind to promote our own interests or Gods? Have we used our creativity to praise
God or to reap praise ourselves? Have we used our time? Have we used the
precious breath inside us for anything more than hot air? How about your money and material
wealth? If we examine ourselves we
do find that we are like the manager in the story.
So
I have a little Thanksgiving reflection for you. It is traditional at Thanksgiving to think of all our
blessings. So this week let’s
think of any gifts and strengths you have. As I look out at this congregation, I see so many gifts. Some have the gift of teaching, others of organization,
others of welcome and hospitality, others music, others business sense and
others prayer. Here is the Thanksgiving homework for you.
Make a list of
your gifts and blessings then ask two questions. 1) Have I used this gift well? 2) Have I used this gift for myself or for God? The answer for most of us, myself
included, is that sometimes I haven’t developed and worked at my gifts. And when I have, it was for my own
benefit not Gods. So we are all in
the position of the dishonest manager. If we were running the local McDonalds
and God were corporate headquarters, God would fire us.
So
now we know who the rich landowner represents, (God) and now we know who the
manager is, (us.) Now we turn to what the manager did. To our eyes, we figure the manager cooked the books. We look at this like modern day
accountants. But there is another explanation that the people of Jerusalem and
Galilee would have understood.
Managers often weren’t paid in money. They were paid in kind. They took
a portion of the goods owed to the landowner and that was there commission. So
as the manager is making this last ditch effort to appeal to the tenants, he might well have been cutting off his share of the profit.
He may have been giving up his commission. Sometimes his commission was
unconscionably high, an exorbitant 50%, sometimes it was more moderate 20%. But in this last act as manager he is
giving up what he thought of as his share of the pie. He is offering a sacrifice that he had not offered before. He is doing a fire sale.
And it is his portion that he is giving away.
In
this desperate and pragmatic way, the manager had at last realized the
important lesson. He realizes that radical generosity builds community. That sacrificial giving says I care
about you more than words. That if he is to have a place, a home, an eternal
home, he needs to give and not to take. This is as pragmatic as cold hard cash. There is no Hallmark card that can
substitute for generosity. No symbolic gesture that can mean as much as honest
sacrifice. The rabbi’s had a
saying. “The rich help the poor in this world, but the poor help the rich in
the world to come.” Ambrose, a 4th
century bishop, when he was preaching on the guy who built bigger and bigger
barns to hold his stuff, said “the bosoms of the poor, the houses of the widow
and the mouths of children are the barns that last forever.”
Jesus
parables were often gritty things, made of common life and common things,
people we recognize, maybe even people like us. So in our parable today run the risk of making this teaching
spiritual and not pragmatic. We can spiritualize it to mean we can give away
goodwill to our neighbors, kind thoughts to the poor and best wishes to
ministry. Or we can follow Christ’s teaching with a pragmatic shrewdness,
understanding the needs of this world and meeting them with concrete love and
generosity.
Returning to our musing about that silly show "The Apprentice." In
our house, when the boys were small, probably about 7 and 8 years old, Allen and the boys would play a game based on “The
Apprentice.” Allen, my husband, would play the part of Donald Trump. He would have the boys
help him look the part by smooshing his face into a rich boy pout and narrow
his eyes and then finger comb his hair into the terrible Donald Trump comb
over. March and Nate would play
the hopeful or pitiful apprentices, vainly trying to please Donald with their
business ideas. The boys would make up original toys to sell and promote. Or propose new farming techniques to grow candy on trees. In the end they
would grovel and then end up wrestling Pretend Donald to the floor with silly
kisses and outrageous pleading. After the wrestling matches and the tickling,
when they were all laughed out and Daddy would bark, “Well since I love you so
much your not fired.” I think this scene is what
might be going on in this incredible parable.
Amen.
