"Faithful with Little, Faithful with Much" - Sermon from 9/18/2016
Community UMC, Quincy
September 18, 2016
“Faithful with Little,
Faithful with Much”
Luke 16: 1-13
Pastor Andrew Davis
While I'm not very
comfortable the title or implications of this movie per se, I remember when the
movie “Dumb and Dumber” with Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels came out in 1994. Being
the typical thirteen-year old who found Jim Carey’s sick antics rather funny at
the time, I was quite drawn to this movie.
Now if you haven’t seen it, or it’s been awhile, “Dumb and Dumber” is
about two men in their late 30’s, maybe early 40’s named Lloyd (played by Jim
Carey), and Harry (played by Jeff Daniels) who engage in wild and silly antics
and can’t seem to hold a job either.
Before being fired as a limo driver, Lloyd’s passenger, Mary Swanson
(played by Lauren Holly) catches Lloyd’s interest as he drives her to the
airport, but leaves behind a briefcase which Lloyd then makes his mission to
return to her even though it’s part of a complicated ransom for her husband who
is being held hostage. However after a
few misadventures, Lloyd and Harry accidentally break open the briefcase in one
scene to find that there is an extravagant amount of cash in it. Predictably, the two recklessly spend all of
the cash on extravagant luxuries until the plot thickens and the captors find
the cash replaced with IOU slips. A
classic case of dishonest wealth at play, much less squandering that wealth or
showing a lack of faithfulness with much or with little.
As
we get into our Gospel lesson this morning, we come across a manager, who like
Lloyd and Harry, recklessly spend belongings that aren't his.
Now morning’s passage from Luke, and a
very difficult passage to say the least, comes right on the heels of a very
well-known passage, “The Prodigal Son” in which a son wants his inheritance
NOW, gets it, recklessly spends it, hits rock bottom, returns home, and is
shown grace and forgiveness by his father, but not his brother (Lk. 15:
11-32). In some ways, the “Parable of
the Dishonest Manager” (or Shrewd Manager in some translations) is a follow-up
and continuation of “The Prodigal Son.” See, the dishonest manager is placed in
charge of the estate of this rich man until the rich man/estate' owner gets
word that this manager has been “wasting away his employer’s money” and the
manager is basically called out on it by his boss (Lk. 16: 1, NLT). But instead of coming clean, knowing his fate
at the hands of his boss, the dishonest manager decides to go to each person
who owes his boss and reduce their debts which were comprised of olive oil and
wheat, not cash in this case.
However, in an ironic
twist, the rich man is actually impressed with how the manager goes about this,
even though it is out of dishonesty and with not necessarily the best of
intentions, whereas in Lloyd and Harry’s case, they just don’t make good
decisions. It’s
ironic enough that the estate owner praises the dishonest manager, but what’s
even more shocking is that Jesus essentially tells the disciples to do the same
when he says in verse 9 to “make friends for yourself by means of dishonest
wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes” (Lk.
16: 9, NRSV). Very perplexing that Jesus
would even say this, but we have no choice but to take this statement for what
it is. However, in The Message's translation of verses 8 and 9,
Jesus tells the disciples the following:
Now
here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he
knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard
than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant 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,
and not complacently just get by on good behavior (Lk. 16: 8-9, MSG).
That
sounds a little bit better, as Jesus is
saying to do what is right, but do it wisely.
In trying unpack a parable like this, Jesus is actually looking at
real-life examples from the time he was ministering in the Greco-Roman world
and this dishonest manager fits the bill of a real-life example.[i]
However, when we hear riches, in Aramaic it is translated as mammon, as Jesus
in this case is referring to unrighteous mammon which shows how Jesus “does not
have a very high view of money. Or,
better said, he does not have a very high view of the effect money has on most
fallen human beings.”[ii]
That's where the heart of this parable is this morning, as it's more
about the effect that wealth and money can have on us, and how faithful we are
with little, or with much. It's almost like stewardship 101 as we approach the
season of stewardship. The effect that money has on people is very timely to
today's context, especially in a secular culture that places such a high value
on the almighty dollar. And I believe that
we can see it everywhere in our current culture that “there is an alluring
quality to money that prompts humans, especially greedy ones, to act in
unrighteous ways” much in the same way that Lloyd and Harry act in the movie
when they discover the cash in the briefcase.[iii]
So when it comes to Jesus telling the disciples to be like the manager, New
Testament scholar Craig Evans explains that “Jesus is not recommending
compromise and he is certainly not recommending dishonesty, but he is urging
his followers not to overlook opportunities and resources that will sustain his
people and advance…the mission.”[iv]
Instead, Jesus is talking about how we can be faithful with much just as we can
be faithful with little, particularly in the long-run of things, but it takes
responsibility on our part.
How
many of us when given a sum of money find it tempting just to spend it
freely, not really giving a care? It’s
easy to do, especially when we are bombarded with the message of buy this, buy
that, just buy or you need this, you need that!! Even more so when the holidays roll around,
which feels like they're already starting.
Two years ago, I took a half-semester stewardship class with Dr. Ann
Michel of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary
and one of our books for the class was Ben Witherington III’s Jesus and
Money. In Jesus and Money,
Ben Witherington III explains in three main points that “most of us are living
beyond, and in some cases well beyond, our means,” that “we have been
conditioned to think, even by some preachers in the church, that we are
entitled to success, entitled to wealth, and entitled to a lifestyle of the
rich and famous” and that “we have learned to spend freely without thinking
about our obligations to those less fortunate than ourselves,” something we see
in Lloyd and Harry and the dishonest manager who show poor stewardship.[v]
Unlike the dishonest
manager, responsible stewardship is something to strive for as Jesus points out
when he says “whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and
whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much” (Lk. 16: 10,
NRSV). It’s basically putting our money
where our mouth is, in that we need to be honest, responsible, and faithful
with what we have, whether it is much, or little. As we will hear many times
throughout the Bible, everything belongs to God and in some ways the ideas in
our Gospel lesson this morning may “reflect Jesus’s
general view that all material creation belongs to God, so even what we might
count as our own is in fact given to us by God.
We are merely stewards of what properly belongs to God.”[vi]
More importantly, we
are called to be responsible in using what we have, whether it is a little or a
lot. My colleague Taylor Burton-Edwards
explains that
Disciples
of Jesus are called to be just as brilliant in the ways we use money and our
possessions and handle debts as this dishonest manager. It’s not just about
morality. It’s about finding ways to use money to reduce debt in every form and
increase joy and love. It means developing great savvy with both finances and
cultural norms. Do this, Jesus says, and you’ll be welcomed into the eternal
homes of all you release from debt into joy.
In
other words, don’t serve mammon. Serve God and master mammon,
putting it to use to reduce debts and increase joy and love.[vii]
So perhaps the good
news in all of this is that when we are called to be responsible stewards, we
are increasing our joy even with a little or a lot. I admit, I’m not wealthy by any means and I
have student loan debt, but I don’t need great wealth to be happy. I have God and I am happy to serve God and
not money or wealth. It’s like in the
movie when Lloyd and Harry spend all the money, it eventually catches up to
them and because they spent the ransom money that wasn't theirs, they lost all
the items they purchased, but were still happy in the end because they still
had each other and their goofy antics.
So perhaps when it comes to money, wealth, and riches, Jesus is trying
to show us that we still have a responsibility whether we have much or little,
yet we need to be faithful and honest with what we do have and not act like the
dishonest manager, even with the stuff that we possess. We need to do what is right. We can definitely still have great joy,
especially when we serve God because money does not necessarily buy
happiness. And perhaps, Jesus may even
be pointing us to something greater…we have great wealth through our faith
because we will have it in our “eternal home” (Lk.
16: 9).
As we really get into
this Fall season, I hope that we can reflect this week and in the coming weeks
on what’s really important in our own lives and in the life of our congregation
as we think about how we are stewards of what we are entrusted with, and how we
are faithful with little or much. What
are values you place on wealth, both monetary, but also on your wealth of
faith? And what are ways that we can be
faithful with little, or faithful with much, or how are we already faithful
with little or much? And how can we too “be
smart” like the manager, but do what is right?
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, Amen!
[i]
“Study Notes” in The New Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville:
Abingdon Pres, 2003), 1885.
[ii]
Ben Witherington III, Jesus and Money (Grand
Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010), 63.
[iii]
Ibid., 69
[iv]
Qtd. In Wittherington III, 69.
[v]
Ibid., 8.
[vi]
Ibid., 69.
[vii]
Taylor Burton-Edwards,
http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/eighteenth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c-2016
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