Crisco Coated Watermelon
Here are some thoughts about this Sunday's gospel.
1Then 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. 2So 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.’ 3Then 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. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7Then 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.’ 8And 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. 9And 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.
10“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. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No 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.”
This parable has been likened to a watermelon coated in Crisco being used as a football. It can be played with, but you just can’t get a hold of it. Like that slippery watermelon, parables are meant to keep us on our toes.
What do we do with phrases like, “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 home?” No matter how we try to look at it, we just can’t get it to make sense.
So, let’s retell the story from the perspective of first century society in Jesus’ day. A rich man had a manager that was accused of “squandering” his boss’s property. Whether it was true or not, this brought shame to the rich man. Two scholars explain, “His honor and status in the community are threatened by the public perception that he cannot control his employees, so he resolves to save face by immediately dismissing the employee” (Landry and May, “Honor Restored: New Light on the Parable of the Prudent Steward Luke 16:1-8a”).
Are we to understand the master to be God and the dishonest manager ourselves? The manager landed on his feet, but does this mean he had a conversion or change of heart? He was still referred to as the dishonest or unrighteousness, wicked, unjust (BDAG) manager. His restoration was due to his own work and cleverness.
This parable does not follow the pattern of the preceding parables that emphasize God’s boundless grace. In the parables of the lost coin, lost sheep, and lost son, something was lost, something was found, and then there was a party of rejoicing. We don’t see the party of rejoicing after this parable like we do with the others. The changes came about in the other parables because of God’s grace and not someone’s efforts.
Perhaps the most puzzling phrase in this parable is, “Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth.” That just seems wrong. Is Jesus calling us to bribery and dishonesty? We need to understand that for Jews in that day, all wealth beyond one’s needs was considered tainted or dishonest. This is meant to encourage responsibility for those in need. It’s a matter of neighborliness, of being a caring community, like we have here at St. Timothy.
The challenge to us from the parable is who is our boss? Who do we follow? Who is our master? Is it fashion? Food? Drink? Sex? Are we enslaved to our own desires for recognition and acceptance? Or are we the slaves of Jesus Christ, like St. Hildegard, who described her life as “a feather on the breath of God?” Imagine that! We just float; we don’t strive to be good, to do all these works to please God. God works, and we just go with the wind of the Spirit. God is the One in charge.
Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, but always to your glory and the welfare of your people, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (ELW).
Amen.
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