That’s Not Right

David Orendorff · Luke 16:1-13 · September 23, 2007

This is an odd parable.  It certainly struck the first hearers as wrong.  No CEO would award his Chief Financial Officer for decreasing the accounts due; decreasing what was owed to the company.  Any CFO who did such a thing would be fired immediately, probably be charged as a criminal and spend time in the hoosegow.

There is wisdom to the kingdom of heaven that defies our conventional wisdom.  This wisdom makes its appearance in other parables as well.  In the parable about the father who had two sons (Luke 15:11-32) it seems “not right” for the father to welcome the younger son home with open arms and an open pocketbook.  This is the bad son, the one who spent his inheritance on “profligate living.”  We are more likely to side with the faithful older son who stayed home, worked hard, and is now angry with both his father and brother.

Then there is the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).  A farmer goes to the market and hirers some day laborers to work in his vineyard.  Now what strikes us “not right” is that he pays the laborers all the same, no matter that some came at dawn and worked through the hot midday and others only came at dusk putting in but an hour or so of work.  We are likely to side with those who worked a long day in complaining about the wage scale.

But getting the hearer to say, “That’s not right” is what Jesus intends in telling these parables.  It is at the point where we say “that’s not right” that the wisdom of the kingdom has a chance of breaking the back of our conventional wisdom and making us look again at the way and desire of God.

If in today’s parable the master had become angry with the unfaithful steward’s debt reduction program and had pressed charges then we could just move on to the next story and nothing in our wisdom or our lives would change.  But because we get caught in the “that’s not right” we have to go back and look to see how Jesus could possibly tell this parable as a description of the Kingdom of Heaven and the justice of God.

The parable about the unjust steward at first seems right.  The steward, the financial officer, is bad at his job and so the master, the owner of the company, fires him.  The master’s action is no surprise to us; it is the way of our world.  We assume that the master/owner must be interested in the efficiency and effectiveness of his employees for the sake of the company, its bottom-line and investors.

But as the parable develops it is not the usual bottom-line that truly interests the master.  What the master commends the steward for is his use of wealth (mammon) to strengthen the relationships the steward needs.  Let me repeat, it is not the money that is important here but the relationships.

The wisdom of the kingdom here is that money doesn’t really matter, what matters are the relationships of our lives.  When we serve wealth as if it were the reason to be alive then we serve not God and not love.  Money is only a tool, a means, to serve God and each other.

It is just as easy in our time to be seduced by the desire for money and stuff as it was in Jesus’ time.  To miss our children growing up because we are working hard so they can go to college (sacrificing the relationship for the thing) is all to common.  To carefully plan and worry over our retirement income and neglect our families is a trap that has sprung upon us for generations.  I know there are some of you even now who work long hours at tough jobs for the sake of a promised financial peace.  I know some of you, mostly men, who feel forced to neglect the primary relationships of their life and the soul commitments, of their hearts, because they worry about the financial bottom line.  It has happened in my family and to me, and probably in your family and to you.

But the kingdom of heaven functions by a whole different sense of “what is right.”  The kingdom of God doesn’t care about who has how much.  The Kingdom of heaven knows that wealth is a fickle god.  In the Kingdom of Heaven is better to be a so-so provider with great relationships than to be a great provider with lousy relationships. The kingdom of God cares about using whatever wealth or power there is for serving others, for making the relationships we have in our lives stronger and healthier.

I know this kingdom wisdom is true wisdom because I am a husband and a parent.  If Vickie were ill I would spend every penny I have for her health.  I need Vickie in my life more than I need the money.  If my children have genuine and desperate needs I will give them all that is mine.  I need them in my life more than I need the wealth.

I need love more than I need money; which is to say, in Wesleyan theology, I need God (who is love) more than I need to be rich, right, or anything else.  And what I believe is true for me I believe is true for all of us.

Jesus once said, “What does it profit someone to gain the whole world and forfeit their life (Mark 8:36).”  To paraphrase Paul, “Should I be the wealthiest man in the world and have not love, I am nothing (I Corinthians 13).”  The wisdom of the kingdom is for us to know that the loves of our lives, the relationships that sustain us and keep us safe even when we lose our jobs, are more important than the money we might have.

Donna Koster, a former parishioner, as one of her many ministries worked as a volunteer for Hospice.  During her training awhile back she sent me this e-mail.

I am doing some research for my Hospice Volunteer training class and came upon this quote - which I know that I will use-

“We are all here for a single purpose: to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better. We can do this through losing as well as through winning, by having and by not having, by succeeding or by failing. All we need to do is to show up openhearted for class.”1 Kitchen Table Wisdom - Stories that Heal, Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

The parable of the unjust steward and his boss forces us to make a choice about what is most important in our lives, our relationships or our money.  Are we here to grow wealthy or to learn to love better?

I have one last modern day parable for you.  I don’t know the source.

The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her 5 year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and said, “This is for you, Momma.”

The mother was embarrassed by her earlier over reaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty.

She spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner. “Don't you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?”

She had tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Momma, it's not empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full.“

The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, and she begged her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box by her bed for all the years of her life. Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, have been given a Golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

The wisdom of the Kingdom is that there is nothing more important, more valuable than the relationships we have in our lives.  And whatever wealth God has given us is for this purpose alone, to love deeper and more generously.  The master knows this and when we are wise we know it as well.

Your spiritual exercise for the week is to make an inventory of those who love you and decide whether your wealth is more important to you, or their love.  How does your money making serve your wife, your children, your church, the folks who have given up the bottom line of salary for the bottom line of service in the remarkable non-profit organizations that serve us and our creation.

Then having made this analysis, decide upon an action, no matter how simple, by which you can use your wealth to strengthen the love and relationships around you.

Shalom