He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.' So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' So 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?' So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home."- Luke 16:1-9
On Wednesday, we read that all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him.
And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives
sinners and eats with them." Jesus told three parables in response, illustrating God's desire to find and save those who are lost. (See the parable of the Lost Sheep, and the parable of the Lost Coin in Wednesday's reading.) Yesterday, we read the third parable Jesus gave, that of the Prodigal Son. He said: "A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to
his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'
So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there
wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent
all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in
want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and
he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have
filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him
anything. But
when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired
servants have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger! I
will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have
sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be
called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."' And he
arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off,
his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and
kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against
heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your
son.' But
the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on
him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the
fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my
son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they
began to be merry. Now
his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the
house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and
asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has
come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has
killed the fatted calf.' But he was angry and would not go in.
Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and
said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I
never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave
me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon
as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with
harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' And he said to him, 'Son,
you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'"
He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a
steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting
his goods. So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear
about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer
be steward.' Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do?
For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I
am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out
of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.' So he
called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first,
'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of
oil.' So 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?' So
he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said to him, 'Take your
bill, and write eighty.' So the master commended the unjust steward
because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more
shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you,
make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail,
they may receive you into an everlasting home." My study bible explains that a steward is responsible for managing his master's property and for looking after the welfare of his servants. It says that the point of this parable is that the unrighteous are better at using money to make friends in the world than believers are at using money to make friends for the Kingdom of God -- which is accomplished by spending it on the needy. At death (when you fail) the needy will welcome those who have helped them into the everlasting home.
Jesus teaches us to "make friends by unrighteous mammon." Well, first of all, the unrighteous mammon already tells us something. Why would Jesus even want us to commerce in something unrighteous in the first place? In this parable, Jesus teaches us that it is possible to live in this world, even with its unrighteousness, and yet use the goods of the world for righteousness. The way that this happens is to consider those who are "less than," who are in need in some sense, and to consider using what we have -- even if it's used by others in sinful ways -- to act in righteousness, to help, to act the God does, graciously. This is what it is to be righteous, to act as a just person. So often we think of justice as that which is exactly and precisely measured: "an eye for an eye," for example (Exodus 21:24). (We often forget that this aspect of the Law was a way to set a limit on vengeance in the context of the stories of the Bible.) In terms of bookkeeping and numbers and money, we expect that there is a precise debt which also must be paid precisely. But every good money manager knows and understands that in order to keep good relations with clients, there must be flexibility involved. That keeps clients in good stead, and returning. But Jesus takes all of this understanding one step further. Essentially He adds in the understanding that there is life that is beyond this world, a life in which what is measured up about us isn't whether or not we traded well, or even about how exact and scrupulous we were about our debts. There's another step, and another dimension involved, and that is the aspect of how we are capable of grace, and what that does to make friends in heaven, so to speak. Our ability to reconcile gracious help to others, not out of compunction or legalistic understanding but out of our own capacity to be like our Creator, connects us to another dimension of reciprocity. It connects us to a cosmos of the visible and invisible, and a communion of faithful that goes beyond what we see and what we know. Jesus is encouraging us to understand that life isn't limited to the accounting books that are right in front of us, and this can apply to life in so many dimensions. The kind gesture or act we do today for someone may never be repaid in kind, but we can be certain that it counts with God, and there is recognition where value is meaningful. The generosity we expend in any direction with the things of this world -- be that a gesture of kindness in the form of charity, goods, or goodwill -- is not lost simply because it is not repaid in worldly terms. Our goodwill may be extended also through advocacy for those who are helpless to protect and defend themselves -- and the political realm surely includes unrighteous mammon as something we may use for God's true justice through mercy and compassion. Christ encourages us to think in terms of a much broader perspective on the spectrum of life itself, and in terms of our own communion of friends. To include not merely that which is "on earth," but also that which is "in heaven," is indeed a broadening of our perspective on all the places our lives touch and will touch. But this is, in the eyes of Christ, the appropriate perspective, the right calculation in life. In broadening one's thinking to include this realm, one might also consider what it means to pray for others who have passed, maintaining a connection begun in this world and extending to the realm of heaven, in which we are still able to give something through our prayers. Let us consider all the ways that we may make an everlasting home -- even, through Christ's instruction, using unrighteous mammon to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment