[Money is Persuasive]
Money is a remarkably persuasive false god. Money sits on your shoulder and whispers into your ear: “Now listen to me! I’ll give you a little freedom to do some things, but in the end, you will make all of your important decisions in life on the basis of me. You will decide when to get married because of me. You will decide when to have children because of me. Remember, when push comes to shove, I call the shots! Understand?”
You have in this parable the story of a man who had been accumulating wealth for himself. He was trusting that the needs of his life and his future would be secured through his savings account, his business dealings, and so forth. Now, he was, we’re told, cooking the books, skimming money off the top, but like those who break the Seventh Commandment and steal money, he’s figured out a way in his mind to justify it. “I’m overworked and underpaid.” “I’ll pay it back.” “I need it more.” Whatever the reason, for this man, he believes his master’s money is the solution. The master’s money is the thing in which he trusts.
And whatever we end up trusting becomes our god. As Luther says in his Large Catechism: “Anything in which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your god.” Popular false gods are celebrities, athletes, politicians, and even doctors. But the most common false god is money.
But the thing is, we can’t trust in false gods. And money is a false god. You see, it doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t love you. And it will leave you. That is what happens in this parable. Everything this manager – this steward – had been lying awake at night afraid would happen, happens. His money abandons him, and he is left now to figure out something different to put his trust. But, what will it be?
“There was a rich man who had a manger, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg” (Luke 16:1-3).
Now, pay attention to the manager’s desperation: He’s stuck. He’s hopeless. That’s why Jesus includes His comment, “I can’t dig; I can’t beg.” His ship is sinking and he does not even have a lifeboat. Everything he had worked for – a lifetime’s worth of careful effort and planning, even if it was crooked – was gone. Even if you have not been in his shoes, I trust you can understand his frustration.
[Trusting in the Master’s Generosity]
Well, the manager has been fired. From this point, he is no longer legally authorized to conduct any business in the name of his master. And if he would, it would not be legally binding. But take a moment to notice that the master does not immediately throw him in jail. He surely could have for cooking the books, but he didn’t.
We have all heard of – or have been involved in – companies that have downsized. Now, when this happens, the boss often says something like this: “Sorry, due to downsizing, we are letting you go. We need you to leave the premises immediately.” These companies do this because they recognized that angry or desperate employees can do a lot of damage if they are not cut off immediately. Notice, that is not what the master does. Instead, he let the fired manager go home, get the books, and return back.
So, what does the fired manager do? He uses the very, very small amount of time to take advantage of his master’s reputation for being generous. Now, this manager could have done a number of things, but he doesn’t do them. Instead, he figures that his best shot at survival is to bank on his master’s reputation for being exceedingly generous. He had been trusting in his master’s money, but that’s now all gone. He’s fired. Now he begins to trust in the thing he should have trusted in the first place: his master’s generosity.
So, during this time, he quickly calls in each of his master’s clients. From this, we can tell how much clout this man has. We see how quickly people come to him when he sends for them! Now, here’s the key: the manager is fired, and he knows that, the master knows that, but no one else does. The clients don’t know it.
So, one at a time, the fired manager calls in the clients. And here is how he does it: “He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ 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?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty’” (Luke 16:5-7).
Through these couple transactions, he cancels about 18 months of wages with each account. But did you notice that he has them change the amount? It happens in their handwriting, not his. This is an important detail, and the reason is this: the next thing the manager will do is take all these changed contracts back to the master. And when he places the books on his master’s desk to review, the master slowly realizes two things: first, these debts have been lowered, and second, my debtors know about it, because it’s in their handwriting. If it had been merely in the manager’s handwriting, he would just change them all back and there wouldn’t be any harm; no one would have known.
But now the master sits back in his chair. Just outside, he can hear the sound of celebration thrown in his honor – in honor of the most generous landowner that country has ever known. They have already begun to post on social media about how good and kind their landlord is. After all, they all assume that the manager just did what the master asked him to do.
Now, many of us have been tenants in an apartment or leased a building for a business, so what would a normal landlord do? A normal landlord would walk right into that party and announce, “Turn down the music. The party is over! Everything that happened today was illegal. I didn’t authorize this. That man is a crook. And so, I am still expecting your regular payments at the beginning of the month.”Yes, that is what any ordinary landlord would do. Is that what you would do? And if that’s what the master did, this man’s plan would collapse. But the master doesn’t do it. Not this master. Not this landlord. This master has a reputation for being generous. Because, he is generous.
He looks up at his fired manager and says, “Well played. You knew me. You knew that I would let this stand. You’re a crook and a scoundrel, but you are really smart.” Jesus says this: “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness” (Luke 16:8a). He commended him not because of his character or his ethics, but because of his shrewdness. When his ship was sinking, he knew which way to jump.
[Our Master is Unusually Generous]
So, what’s the moral of this story – this parable? Jesus says: “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails [your money, which it will] they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).
We all have money. Many of us have significant amounts of money. Or, you may have little money. But we all have money. Jesus says, “Use this money however great or small to get people into heaven.”
You see, our money, however great or small, can have eternal returns. Our tithes and offerings go to paying the bills of the church so we can have a comfortable and dry place to receive God’s gifts of His Word and His Sacrament. Our tithes and offerings also go to missions outside these church walls, such as those learning to be church workers at our seminaries, and those in financial need through the Good Samaritan fund.
We all have heard of people who came into a bunch of money all of a sudden – from the lottery, from inheritance, or from a sports contract. What usually happens? Before that person knows it, the money is gone. Now, what if this person gave 10 percent of his money to church missions? As every cent of his money is gone, a person asks him, “Don’t you wish you had that 10 percent back?” He would reply, “No, that’s the only part that is still doing any good.”
You see, God has made it so our money could be a false god to you, and it likely is, but he made it so that your money can be used for eternal purposes. So, for whatever else you use your money, this parable teaches that we have a Christian responsibility to support – shrewdly and enthusiastically – the preaching of the Gospel.
But there is, as you can see, a backstory to this. It’s not as through you labor under a master who is hard and cruel, but rather one who is unusually generous. And whether you have been faithful in your use of His money or have been less than faithful – have squandered it, have wasted it, been selfish or greedy – your Master is still generous. He continues to love you and sees you through. By grace through faith in Jesus alone, we will receive an eternal dwelling. We are saved because of the generosity of your Master.
Your Master is Jesus Christ. He loves and forgives sinners. He gives all who trust in Him more than just earthly wealth and goods. He gives us His Body and Blood on the cross to save us. And this is for free! We don’t have to do a thing. We don’t have to make back payments or make up for your sins or try to impress anyone. We don’t have to do anything, but trust in Him. He’s accomplished everything for us.
So, if you are stuck and don’t know what do to or where to go – if you’re too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg – cling to Jesus for He is always generous. So, grab a hold of the generosity of God. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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