The Dishonest Steward
“Make friends of unrighteousness mammon; that, when it fails, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” (Lk 16.9)
In one of my churches, the deacons (the Baptist equivalent of the PCC only with weaponry) [famously defined by the girl in my baptist baptismal class - I asked her ‘what is a deacon?’ And she replied, ‘something you put on the top of a hill and set fire to’ - if only...] - the deacons forbade me from going into local pubs.
It was leading the youth astray into a life of drunken debauchery. I was spending too much time with the sinners and not enough with the saints.
I was comforted then, by the accusation made of Jesus recorded in Luke’s gospel: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (15.2 )
It is a grand irony that this wonderful Gospel truth, that Christ came for sinners, is expressed by the mealy mouthed pharisees, who are the self-righteous defenders of those who need no doctors.
However, the fact that Jesus spends more time with the sinners than the saints, doesn’t mean that he is uncritical of these “sinners” that he welcomes.
And that is the context of the parable in today’s Gospel. In chapter 16 of Luke there are two parables especially for the tax-collectors and sinners mentioned in 15.1. The murmuring scribes and pharisees of 15.2 have had the 3 lost-and-found parables of chapter 15 aimed at them.
So these 2 parables: The Shrewd Manager (more often known as The Dishonest Steward) and Dives and Lazarus, were specially for wealthy sinners. And such had been Matthew - the tax collector turned disciple. Matthew had exemplified the truth shown by Jesus in this rather difficult parable.
Before we look at the message of the parable, let us spend a moment on the method used by our Lord.
Jesus was speaking to Tax-collectors: “wealthy rogues who had made a good living from other people’s financial affairs.” Jesus shaped this parable to appeal to his particular audience - something we’re often not very good at doing in the church. As Jesus himself pointed out:
“…for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” (16.10)The advertisers and spin doctors know how to communicate; how to target a particular group. Depressingly, I’m beginning to notice all those Saga adverts now. Victoria Wood has that wonderful observation that you know you’re getting old when you walk through Marks & Spencers and think: “Mmm, those look comfortable...”
Communication is the name of the game, and whether we like it or not, the church is caught up in that.
So compare these two church magazines: Tenn (for Epicentre) and Salve (for St Mary’s Bourne St). They are clearly aimed at two different audiences.
Tenn goes for a rather select, postgraduatey, Generation X, young professional.
Salve goes for a rather select, high culturely, professional independent thinker - some of them still alive.
It is a truism that our Lord expressed Gospel truths in culturally relevant terms.
Many people in Britain today are very sympathetic to the Christian message, yet often they are unable to hear it in clear terms which they understand.
I enjoyed the Philip Pullman books – the His Dark Material trilogy, but in them he is rejecting a Christian faith which I don’t recognise. Too many of our contemporaries have never really understood Christianity in any depth. They have rejected a childish faith along with Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
The interviews in Third Way magazine are fascinating for similar reasons: Lord Puttnam, Melvyn Brag, Ian Hyslop, Polly Toynbee, Will Self.
There is not just one culturally relevant way - Jesus used a number of ways - parables - symbolic actions - argument; and often these related to the sort of people he was addressing. Think of that extraordinary exchange with the Canaanite woman: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." (Matt 15.26)
Christian worship certainly reflects this diversity of approach, although there is always a tendency to regard our own brand as the preferred universal one. (“You worship God in your way. We worship him in his...”) But this is true not only in public worship. It is the task of every Christian to make Christ known, and to do so in language and with symbols appropriate to the situation.
We are used to doing this in other spheres of life. When you explain your job to different people: to children; to people who know nothing about it; to people who know a lot about it. (I remember explaining what Middle Babylonian was in very simple terms to a man who seemed not to be firing on all cylinders. He turned out to be a Professor of Assyriology.)
At a wedding last week I found myself explaining the Christian concept of free will in terms of quantum mechanics to a physicist.
So for each of us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can give a reason for the hope that is within us, in terms understood by our particular group of friends and acquaintances. And we can make use of our own particular backgrounds to defend the faith.
It requires some courage and not a little effort to do it, but it is part of our calling as followers of Christ. Matthew (whose Feast Day is this Tuesday) did it from the start of his life of following Jesus - he threw a party - something he was good at - and let Jesus meet his friends. We should all be exercising our version of Alpha courses.
Let’s turn from the method to the message.
It’s a compelling story that must have had maximum curiosity effect on the hearers - is the Good Teacher really saying what he seems to be saying?
For mismanagement of funds, the steward’s dismissal was immanent. So, working on the sound theological principle, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’, he makes a lot of dishonest people grateful for his dismissal.
“Make friends of unrighteousness mammon; that, when it fails, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.”There are only two certainties in life: taxes and death. We will all be ‘dismissed’, and in that striking Gospel platitude - you can’t take it with you.
[Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.]
[Notwithstanding the misprint I saw in an order of service which included the hymn Guide me O thou great Redeemer: ‘Land my safe on Canaan’s side.’]
The bottom line of this parable is quite clear: We should live now, before we die, in a way that invests in our future in eternity.
This does not mean that we become so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use. CS Lewis wasn’t the first to observe that:
“If you read history you find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”How do we invest in the future? It is a matter of focus. The world (unrighteous mammon) focuses on wealth, security, health... And there is nothing wrong in these. But they are unworthy objects of our desire and affection. And ultimately they are empty.
Christ is reminding the tax-collectors and sinners; you and me; that our focus should be living now in the light of the world to come; living to make a difference; to make the world a better place, to bring in the kingdom of God; to be naive enough to ‘do good’ and to be kind to strangers and asylum seekers; to invest in friendships and work for a just world and a just society, shot through with mercy.
It will not make us penniless, but it will be costly. These Holy Mysteries remind us of the Divine cost and the Divine joy. Happy are those who are called to the banquet feast of the Lamb.
Live now, before you die, in a way that invests in your future in eternity.
Or as Jesus put it:
“Make friends of unrighteousness mammon; that, when it fails, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” (Luke 16.9)
