Wealth and Welcome

 Luke 16:1-13

This gospel text is one of a few that preachers would prefer to avoid. Sometimes we’ll say, maybe the other texts are better. But most of us go ahead and struggle through with this one.

Let’s start with the parable itself. There is a boss, a middle management guy, and customers. The middle management guy is doing what all such folks did in those days; he added a portion to the bill for his own benefit. It seems he also is gaining some profit for himself through the way he manages the owner’s property.

Someone must have become angry with the manager and ratted him out, tattled on him to the boss. The boss is, understandably, upset. He calls the manager into the office and tells him he knows what he is doing, and he is fired.

In our time, the manager may have been force-marched to his desk to claim his personal possessions and walked to the door. He would have no access to the accounts he managed. But in this story, the manager knows he has a brief time to make some changes.

He wants to make sure he will have friends who welcome him into their homes after his job ends, so he makes some deals with a few of the customers. He adjusts the amounts due by significant amounts and the customers are pleased.

The boss finds out about this, too. The boss recognizes that this act will also benefit him, because it will seem that he authorized the changes. It makes him look good in the eyes of the customers. And so instead of being even angrier, the boss compliments the manager for his cleverness.

At this point, I am sure all the disciples were shaking their heads, because they didn’t understand the point of the story. Luke, the storyteller, includes three attempts to explain the purpose of the story.

The first is, many people are clever. You need friends who will welcome you into their homes, so use your cleverness to make and keep friends.

The second is, if you are dishonest in little things, you are not to be trusted in bigger things either.

The third is a more familiar statement. No one can serve two masters, because you will hate one and serve the other. So, you have to choose between God and wealth.

In other words: How we think about and manage what we have affects our relationships with people and with God. All sorts of questions flow into my mind from this statement.

What do we put first in our lives? How generous are we? Do we have possessions, or do our possessions have us? Do we hang out with people based on relative wealth? Who are we if we have more or less money? How would life change if we won a million dollars in the lottery?

… This is one way of thinking about the parable about the owner, the manager, and the customers. Here is another one.

This parable comes right after the stories of lost and found in Luke. The lost and found sheep, the lost and found coin, and the lost and found son. In the first two, the lost objects did nothing wrong, they were simply lost. But in the third story, the son arrogantly asks for his inheritance, leaves home and squanders all he has. He finally comes to his senses and heads home, a changed man.

The tag line in the stories of the lost coin and the lost sheep are that God welcomes home sinners who return to the fold. In the story of the lost son, it is easy to see God in the way the father welcomes the son home.

Some people see another parallel to the lost and found stories in this parable about the manager who comes to his senses and gets his priorities straight. They suggest further that the owner decided to not fire the manager after all. Which means the parable is really about forgiveness as well as welcome home.  

I’m not so sure about this interpretation. But … then I recall that Levi the tax-collector-disciple was the same kind of person as the manager. The manager acquired his wealth by cheating customers and the boss. Tax collectors made good money by adding a portion for themselves to the tax bill. And still, Jesus chose Levi, called him to follow as one of the twelve.

And I recall the story of Zacchaeus. He was also a tax collector, who was so intrigued by Jesus he climbed a tree in order to see him better. He repented of his behavior and gave back half of his wealth to any he may have defrauded.

For these guys, their behavior regarding money and people was an indicator of their desire to change and of their faith in Jesus. And Jesus welcomed them home to himself.

… Here is a story from today’s headlines. In some parts of our world, some people are so interested in money and power that other people are in danger of being killed. They flee from home, risking their lives to eventually enter a safer place.

Once they arrive at the safer place, they are sometimes welcomed and helped to start a new life. Sometimes they are captured and returned to the dangerous home they left. Sometimes, they are captured and placed in housing that is worse than prisons, where they wait for court dates.

Sometimes, their arrival is a surprise to local folks. It should be no surprise, however, that local church people express their faith by quickly finding housing, food, clothing, translators, and lawyers to make the people welcome. In addition, financial gifts are gathered to help the folks in the future.

The ways we think about and handle money are indicators of our faith in Jesus, in God. How do you think about money? How generous are you with what you have?

Similarly, the ways we welcome people are indicators of our faith in Jesus, in God. Who is welcome in your life and why? Who is not welcome, and why not?

I hope that we are all people who live generously and with a warm welcome for others.

Amen