It is likely that we have worked with
somebody who we thought was incompetent. You know the type of person, the one that
comes in late, hangs around for a little while, plays hearts on the computer
for hours, takes the two and half hour lunch break, and then naps quietly at
his or her desk until fifteen minutes before 5 o’clock, because that is close
enough. At one time or another, I am
sure that we have all worked with one of these folks. Hopefully, we haven’t been one of those
folks. The Homer Simpsons, George
Castanzas, and Barnie Fifes of the world may make the office a little more
interesting, but they certainly also make for more work for the rest of
us. The only thing worse than the
incompetent coworker is the incompetent boss.
Not only is at lot less funny when you boss is an idiot, it is also a
lot more work for you. For those people who do not think that the bible speaks
to our modern times, I give you Luke 16:1-13.
The stereotypical incompetent boss is confronted with his incompetence. Our parable is the first century equivalent
of the Vice-President of Human Resources coming from the corporate office in
The parable
tells us that the manager’s offense was squandering the owner’s property. What exactly the manager did is not
described. We do know that it was bad
enough to get him fired. One clue Luke
gives us is that the word translated squandered is only used one other place in
his gospel. In the parable of the Prodigal son and his brother that immediately
precedes this parable, the word used to describe how the prodigal son wastes
his inheritance in dissolute living is squandered. So one possibility is that the dishonest
manager, as he is named, is using the rich man’s property to throw parties
instead of investing the money properly like he was hired to do.
Unfortunately
for the dishonest manager the gig is up and the rich man has found out about
his activities. Even more unfortunately
for the rich man, the dishonest manager lives up to his name. Once he is about to be fired, the dishonest
manager conspires with some of the other dishonest people who owe the rich man
money. The dishonest manager reduces
their debt, so that when he is officially fired, those other dishonest people
will take care of him. This is quite a
scheme. When the rich man finds out about this plan, however, he does the exact
opposite of what you think he would do.
Instead of getting him thrown in jail or even getting his money back,
the rich man commends the dishonest manager on his dishonesty saying that he
acted shrewdly, prudently, or smartly.
This comes as shock for the
reader. Normally when we read a parable,
like the shepherd and the lost sheep last week, we are suppose to do the thing
the character in the parable does. If
the shepherd goes after the lost sheep, we are suppose to go after the lost
sheep. If the woman looks for the lost
coin, then we are suppose to look for the lost coin. The twist of this parable
is that despite the way that appears, it works the same way, kind of. The shrewdness of the dishonest manager is
being lifted up as the right course of action not the dishonest. The dishonest manager, while dishonest, is
set up as a smarter example than the children of light around him. Is Jesus saying be dishonest? No. Is Jesus saying be as smart, prudent, and
shrewd as those dishonest people without being dishonest? I think so.
Remember this is the same Jesus who says in Matthew 10:16, “Be wise as
serpents and innocent as doves.” Do not
do evil, but be as smart and crafty as those who might do it.
Interestingly,
this is the same charge that is leveled against the current church. Stuck largely in the 1960’s, the church has
been slow to react to changes in culture, mass media, and business. The society says we are not as smart and
crafty as everybody else. While the
church should not be synonymous with culture, mass media, and business, we
should be just as smart. Where
technology is more effective, technology should be used. Where an ad campaign is necessary, an ad
campaign should be used. Where the
professionalism of the business world streamlines activity, that professional
should be used. All of this needs to be
done within the constraints of the gospel message, Christian ethics, and
Christian fellowship, but it should be done.
And it should especially be done when the children of light are trying
to reach out to their own generation or community.
But our passage does not end
there. In fact five of the most
misunderstood and difficult verses of the bible follow. Verses 9-13 were actually the five verses
that the emperor Julian used to try to discredit Jesus and the early Christian
movement. He looked at these verses and
said Jesus was just as corrupt as those Pharisee types because Jesus told his
disciples to make friends by dishonest wealth.
The key to understanding these five
verses is not verse 9 but verse 13. As
follower of Jesus Christ we cannot serve God and money. We do not have an either or proposition. As Christ says we will “either hate the one
and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.” We cannot be of two minds on this thing. The problem is that people try. In the passage that follows our reading for
the day, Jesus points at the Pharisees as a prime example of this
activity. They do one thing in public,
but in their hearts they are different.
The modern church is no different. Look at the amount of major and minor
church scandals that have happened over the years and you will see the effect
of Christians trying to serve God and money or God and something else. Jesus lifts up these people as negative
examples because they are wishy-washy people who do not make up their
minds. As bad as it is to be dishonest, at
least there is consistency in that dishonesty.
The dishonest manager can be at least trusted to be dishonest. And it is from that point that we arrive back
at verse 9.
The reason this consistency of belief
is important is for the eternal life to come.
The eternal homes or however it is rendered in your bible at the end of
verse 9 is an interesting play on words. Eternal gives the reader the
impression of everlasting, but the word used for home there is the Greek word
for tent. And a tent, as you might know,
is not a very permanent structure. The
dishonest manager might have secured himself a place to live by his dishonesty,
but it is only as eternal and permanent as this life. He did probably make out better than if he
had been unfaithful to his dishonest ways and simply been fired and sent to beg
on the streets.
Jesus Christ offers us a better
way. He calls the faithful to remain
faithful. He calls the unfaithful to
repentant of their ways follow Christ and be faithful. He calls those who sit on the fence and try
to serve God and whatever else to make that decision and be faithful. The reward of that consistency of
faithfulness is the true riches of the