this is a parable of the kin-dom?

A parable of the kin-dom? 092213

Luke 16:1-13

This is probably one of the most outrageous parables Jesus tells!  And it falls on my Sunday!  All week, with everyone who talked about it, it evoked high energy and criticism!

So, I thought, this would be a good Sunday for a hymn sing.

Then I discovered that Theva has lots of thoughts on this text…let him preach.   That didn’t work either.

Every time this story comes around, people are appalled that dishonesty could be commended by Jesus.

Now any time a text evokes such energy in me, I have to ask why?  And I don’t usually like the answer, so I warn you now, this isn’t just a tough text for the preacher….

I am not going to deal with the last few verses, which are probably later additions that try to give some palatable ethical wisdom, but just with the parable, one of a series Luke strings together.  The one just before is commonly called the Prodigal Son,  and the one after (tune in next week) about a rich man and a poor man…..all three have to do with wealth, money – another reason maybe we don’t like the story, cos preachers aren’t supposed to talk about money! That’s messin’ with the sacred cow.

So back to the energy evoked by the parable, and what it raises for my life…..first,it confronts me with how two-faced I am.

Robin Hood is also a story about ill=gotten wealth.  But he’s a folk hero.   The CIA, the FBI, the NSA - maybe even the UMC all have questionable tactics, but we don’t get upset with them cos they’re supposedly on our side.  We turn a blind eye to all sorts of dishonesties, then get offended by this parable.    Wall Street bigwigs line their own pockets and get away with it.  In fact, this servant in the story might be called Bernie Madoff!

You see, we cannot stand outside any of Jesus’ parables.  We’re invited in to see what this story evokes deep within us, how it holds up a mirror for us.  And rather than ‘explain’ the parable, I invited myself, and now you, into its mystery….to ask questions that may not have answers, but which may raise more questions and thus challenge our faith journey, maybe even deepen it.  That’s all I’m going to do…ask questions, and give you some pause for thought.

First, some questions from the servant’s behavior…..although there is no mention of proof that he was in fact lining his own pockets at the householder’s expense, he doesn’t bother to deny it or justify it. Are there areas in my life where God is confronting me with a sin? With some misuse of God’s resources? …….think about it....

as in much of life today, reciprocal hospitality was the order of the day: you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours.  Do we only deal with people and situations who can do us a favor back?  Are we concerned only with what we can get out of something?.......think about it......

the servant’s next move is to give serious thought to his situation, and moves quickly to turn a bad situation into one that is better for everyone.   Wait a minute, better for everyone?   Yes.  The debtors get a deal, he gets security, and the business owner looks good.  How?  Because in an honor/shame based society, 1. Cheating should have ended with the servant being imprisoned, so we learn the owner is merciful, and 2. When the owner doesn’t challenge this second cheating,  his reputation as noble and generous goes up--the debtors are grateful for the apparent generosity of the owner.   So the question for my faith journey becomes, how do I reflect the owner of my resources, the one I serve?  Do I, do we as a congregation, reflect the mercy and generosity of God?  Does my behavior damage or enhance the reputation of our ‘master’?   

Christianity isn't much of a reflection and so gets a bad rap these days—even the pope finally figured out why.  Because we’ve become a religion, and no longer a movement of Jesus followers. In the kin-dom of God, mercy is trumps.  And we don’t like it.

While we’re busy condemning the servant for bad behavior, the owner can even see something good in this cheat.  Could it be that God’s economics are about radical and ridiculous generosity rather than accumulation for self?.....think about it.....

And this condemning I do of the cheat…. I have to ask myself, who do I treat as if they had no redemptive value?   Are there people I can see no good in, and rebel against the idea that God sees people differently? .....

I wonder if this isn’t one of those situations when wisdom comes from an unwelcome direction…..even what one writer I read this week calls a “tainted source”. The frightening thing about this story is that whether the end result is “fair” or not is  irrelevant...if entry into the kin-dom of God was based on worth, who’d get in?......

It is a fact of faith life, mine anyway, that the people I least affirm are the ones who most challenge my image of God and the kin-dom. I am always having to re=think who God loves.

 That’s more than enough questions for our souls this week.  Here’s a couple of conclusions I’ve come to—you can work on your own this week!.

the shrewdness commended by the owner confronts the disciples, the children of light Luke calls us, the pious and prayerful who look like followers of Jesus....me, with this:

 the world is pretty shrewd, you need to be as well. Even the street smart understand forgiveness and grace, so must you.

 It might not be the ‘right thing’ the servant does in this story, but the moral thing is to serve the poor, lift the burdens of those deep in debt or in sin (isn’t that the Jesus way?)

      be generous where it is in your power,                                                                    use what you have to bring about the desired goal of the kin-dom

I read some stats this week: most americans have no savings for old age; 49% of American children live below the poverty line, and many elderly have to make regular choices between food and rent.

What are we doing about that?  Our resources aren’t just money; we also have voting power, voices to raise for justice, hands that can write letters, bodies that can prepare and share meals for the deeply burdened.

While we, the children of light of the text, the pious and the prayerful, are appalled at the book-keeping issues, God is busy commending the reckless, radical rogue.  

We have so tamed Jesus into OUR image, that we’ve forgotten how outrageous he was, and is.

In one web resource this week, I was hit by the idea that the servant here is a Christ figure:

The unjust steward is a Christ-figure because he is a rogue, a rebrobate like Jesus (who shows us that) grace doesn’t come to the world through respectability.  Respectability regards only life, success, winning; it has no truck with the grace that works by death and losing.  Jesus was not respectable.  He broke the rules, consorted with villains and outcasts, and died as a criminal.  By refusing to be respectable, Jesus catches those who are condemned by the respectable.  He became sin for us sinners, weak for us weaklings, lost for us losers, and dead for us dead…..You don’t like that? You think it lowers standards and threatens good order?   Of course it does….that is exactly why the forces of righteousness got rid of Jesus.

Wow.  And ouch.

 Think about it....