Homily on Luke 16
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
“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. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
By any means necessary, do what you got to do, get yours before they get theirs, be about your business. Bottom line, be clever, or should I say be shrewd, or go home. It’s the “only” way to get what is rightfully yours in this world. And it is what we see in this parable directly demonstrated by the actions and words of both the enslaved manager, yes enslaved, and the master. It is what we see in this nation demonstrated by both the false sense of security and capitalism. The bondage of security ensnares us by wanting all we can have for ourselves, plus some. Nothing is ever enough. My children needs shoes, good shoes, better shoes, the best shoes. My wife deserves a good car, a better car, a luxury car. I work 12 hours a day, so I can play golf every Saturday with my friends at this fancy golf place.
When does it become excessive? When does enough become too much? The master of capitalism forces us to comply to its demands if we are to succeed in the eyes of the world. What kind of man can’t provide his children with the best shoes, his wife, the luxury car, and afford to dive into any hobby without regard to finances? A man whose wealth is in this world can do all of these things. Looking at this story, what more could this enslaved manager possibly want? He lives in a wealthy home with a wealthy master. Pretty much anything within reason which he desired, it was within reach... except his freedom.
Who is to be pitied? Who is to be praised here in this parable?
Here we have an enslaved manager working day in and day out in the house of a greedy and unjust master. But when push comes to shove, the manager gets even. The master’s most prized possession is being slowly depleted, his wealth. In the passage, we are exposed to two different kinds of wealth. The first being money or possessions that the master held so dearly. The second wealth of this passage comes to those who have come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord. When the manager wastes the wealth of the master, he is relieved of his obligation to his master. He becomes a free man, but with no home, no family, and no one. Considering this, he approaches each of his master’s debtors and marks their debt down 50% and sends them away. By doing so, this does not help him economically speaking, but he has gained something far richer, the possibility of friendship. You see, when he was relieved of his master, he was leaving the atmosphere of unrighteous wealth. He was able to turn from this and seek something much more.
That something more was to be dependent on the righteous One and His people. We can speculate that Jesus praises the enslaved manager, the sinner, who in some ways has repented by practicing the Jubilee of the Old Testament by reducing their debt. When Jesus told his disciples this parable, he did so to an audience filled with Pharisees, men who were lovers of money much like the men of today. We do not say that we love money, we say we want security. The rich get richer for the sake of security and are never satisfied with what has been entrusted to them. Jesus is calling us into something much deeper than being honest with one’s wealth; he is calling us to be honest and to be faithful to what has been given to us. Be honest and faithful with the true riches that are found in Him. The friendships, the community, and His children are included in the wealth that we find in our Lord. It is not our possessions, but knowing from which all things come, that we find this wealth.
*This homily was written and preached by Kiara Anderson at The Wesley Foundation's Friday Morning Eucharist service.