“The Best Policy”

A Sermon Based Upon Luke 16: 1-13

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

Sunday after Pentecost, September 22nd, 2013

“And I tell you make friends for yourself by means of dishonest wealth, so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes."  (Luke 16: 9, NRSV).

Today we worship on the mountain.   Are you ready for a climb?

I’m not talking about taking a long walk up a hill, not yet.  I’m talking about our text today from the gospel of Luke.  This is indeed a strange story in the Bible.  It is one of the most difficult of Jesus’ parables to interpret.   It is as challenging to understand as it is to climb a steep hill.  But there are rewards for those who take the climb.  Are you ready?

THE MYSTERY IN THIS STORY

The parables of Jesus are not just simple ‘short’ stories.  They are short, but they are seldom simple.   They are not simple for a reason; they are told to uncover the spiritual realities and mysteries of life.

Some of the parables are easy to understand but hard to swallow.  For example, the parable of the lost son is easy to understand; that God loves lost people; but loving lost people ourselves is not easy.   We struggle with in in the same way that the elder brother did.   We don’t struggle because the truth is hard to understand, but because Jesus is a hard man to follow; his teaching challenge us to our very being.

While some of Jesus’ teaching are easy to understand, others are not.  The parable of Jesus that is told in today’s text is not easy to understand.   Will it be as hard to follow?  Let’s take a look.

What is so hard to understand in today’s text is that Jesus tells us about a dishonest money manager.   Now, that’s not so hard to understand is it?   We can all imagine all kinds of people out there who are greedy and are dishonest with money so they can get ahead.   This guy seems to be much the same, with a couple of exceptions.   But what makes this parable so difficult to swallow is because Jesus lifts up this ‘dishonest money manager’ as an example of how to be a Christian.   It almost sounds as if Jesus is trying to say “dishonesty is the best policy.”  This just doesn’t sound like Jesus, at least the Jesus we imagine.  What we can also imagine is that stories like this got Jesus killed.

Again, let me say again that is ‘almost’ sounds as if Jesus is saying “dishonesty is the best policy”.  But the dishonesty of this clever money manager is not the point.   The point Jesus is making is much harder to understand and is part of the mystery of this story.  Jesus seems to be making this story hard on purpose---so that we will stop and appreciate it, that is, when we figure out its meaning.   To get to the meaning of this story is much like climbing a mountain to the top.  I’m not a climber myself, but I do love to be up on a mountain and catch the view.   Mountain climbers not only love the view, but they also love the thrill of the climb.  I’ll take their word on that.  When I think about mountain climbing I can’t help but think about the people who fall off.   About all I like to climb are stairs.  

A NECESSARY DIFFICULTY

So, as we think about this dishonest manager, a mysterious teaching, and climbing to the top of this difficult parable, let try to do what Jesus wants us to do, climb to the ‘top’ of this mountain of truth Jesus would have us climb.   Whatever we can say about this story, Jesus makes the climb to get to its meaning intentionally hard.  He wants us to exercise our spiritual muscles.   He wants us to use our minds.  More than anything, he wants us to join him on the climb.   In other words, in this story, Jesus is intentionally unclear.   We have to work at it to figure it out.  

I guess you could say that the truth Jesus wants to keep from being too easy is somewhat like the young 16 year old who was out on his first date.   He comes home to his parents and they ask how it went.  He tells them it was “fine”.  That’s what you always tell your parents about your first date.  Even if it was great, you only tell them it was “fine.”  Or if it was terrible, you also tell them it was “fine”.  This is what teenagers tell their parents to keep them from knowing too much about your date life.  In this story Jesus wants us to know that the truth in this story is “God’s truth”---not ours.  If it were ‘our’ truth, it would be easy to grasp.  But because it is God’s truth it is more challenging.  God still wants us to know this truth, and he wants to tell us more than ‘fine’, but it will not be easy to grasp because it is knowledge belonging to God.   

Since this story points toward divine ‘knowledge’, the meaning behind this parable about the dishonest manager will remain mysterious, even when we finally get to the point.  So, what is the point?  What is this story about and why is this dishonest money manager supposed to be an example for us to follow?   What is the meaning of this story that even when we ‘climb’ to the top of its summit of meaning, still leaves us scratching our heads in wonder and amazement?  Can we figure it out?   Can we figure out what this ‘dishonest manager’ did that was so commendable and clever?

AN UNFORGETTABLE TRUTH

Some say that when this money manager realized he was about to lose his job, that he made friends with those who would take him in and help him out.   But this was an awful lot of money to start tossing around.  He could have been put in jail for giving away his master’s money like this.   Of course his customers praise him for giving them discounts, but the master could have seen it for what it was, dishonest dealing to pad his fall.

Whatever Jesus is trying to tell us hear, it can’t be fully understood by giving a simple answer.  Jesus wants us to take this home with us, to mull it over and over, to reflect, wonder and finally to solve the story not by what we figure out, but by what we live, how we live, in our life as we follow Jesus.   “He who has ears, let him hear!”  But it will take more than ‘ears’, we will need our ‘hearts’ to believe that Jesus is telling us something that matters---something that makes all the difference in the world.   We must have ‘faith’ not only to move mountain, but to climb this mountain of truth all the way to the top.

As we near the top of the view of this story, we see that the master, who discovers his dishonest plot has a number of options.  He could have him put in jail, beaten, tortured, or demanded his money back.   But it is not what the master does that makes news in this story; it is about what this ‘manager’ did.   It is the ‘gamble’ of this dishonest manager that stand out the most.  He is willing to bet his life on the fact that his master will be as generous to him as he has been with his master’s money.  The dishonest manager has bet his whole future on the good graces of his master.   Will the master want to keep his reputation more than the values his money?  The answer is yes.  This master is not as good as his money, but his money is as good as he is.

We should not be surprised to discover that it is the generosity of the master that we find at the high point of this story.   Luke has just told us the story of the Prodigal son---how much more generous can a father be than forgiving his rebellious son?  He can also forgive a very dishonest money manager who has shortchanged him on a lot of money.   God is like that.  He is not only generous with his money, he is generous because he is generous.  This is what his manager has figured out.  It’s what Jesus wants us to figure out too.   Why is the “Father” and this “Master” so generous?  It is not because of the deeds of the rebellious son, nor it is because of the cleverness of this dishonest manager.   The Father and the Master are generous because this is how generous God is.  God’s nature is like this.  Even the children of this age, live in the grace of God.   The children of the ‘light’ need to figure this out too.   The cleverest person is not the one who figures everything out in life, but he is clever because he or she has figured God out.   Rebellious people, dishonest people, and also crippled, poor and hopeless people have God all figured out.  How?  They haven’t figured God out because they have been to the top of life, but they have God all figured out because they have been to the bottom.   Before you can climb the high mountain of God’s truth, you have to hit bottom.   The mountain of God’s truth is not seen most clearly from the top, but from the bottom.  

This reminds me of the first time I saw the Alps.  The biggest mountains I’d seen were the Appalachians.  I’ve been to Mount Mitchell, but even though it is a high mountain, you can’t get a good view of how high it is, because the climb is so gradual.  But when we were approaching the alps, it was partly cloudy.  I looked up and this mountain is peaking out above the clouds.  It overshadowed everything.  I’d never see anything like in my life.  The whole top was cover in ice and this was July.   It was the grandest, greatest, strongest, highest point on earth I’d ever seen.   It was a mountain over two times, and almost three times higher than Mount Mitchell.   I could not believe my eyes, and I had no trouble seeing just how big this mountain was, because here I was approaching it from the bottom.   It nearly filled up the entire skyline.  It was overwhelming, exciting and it was something I could have never appreciated if I only saw it from above in a plane.  I needed to see it from the bottom to appreciate just how great it really was.

God is like that too.   We don’t figure out God when we’ve done great things or we feel god-like in our own lives.  No, we see the grander and greatness of God when we are overshadowed by his mercy, love, and grace.  We see who God is when we know what we are not.  And when we know that he comes to us in mercy and grace anyway, this is when we learn that the best policy we could ever have, is the same policy this dishonest manager had---it was the policy of trusting.   The dishonest manager is to be commended because he does what we all need to do---we need to trust the goodness of the one who is much better than we could ever imagine.  We need to trust our own lives into his hands, and know that God is the one who stands ready to look out for us when we fail and when we fall.    It is not who we are, or who we aren’t that matters most, but it is who God is, and what God does for us.   This is the ‘truth’ Jesus wants us to climb to the top and see.  This is the view from the bottom.   God can be trusted to forgive, love and give us his grace.   We can bet our lives on him.   Will you do that?