Clever and Creative Faith

September 18, 2016    Pentecost 18                            Luke 16:1-13

I think we’ve all read the Bible and come across portions we don’t understand.  Then, if we’re smart, we turn to a biblical commentary and we can read what biblical experts say about a passage.  But there are a number of passages like our gospel reading for today.  Turn to a commentary hoping for an explanation and you’ll probably be more confused than when you started!  It is as if the experts are struggling too.  Indeed many biblical experts confess this passage has them stumped, and so they can’t help you.

I do believe Joel Green’s thoughts in the Ninct commentary series do actually get to the heart of the matter.  If you want to read about it in detail you can borrow the book.

As always, we have to keep Jesus’ teaching in context.  We’re continuing on from last week where Jesus is giving parables about lost things.  If you were here you may remember we talked about one in a hundred sheep lost, and one in ten coins lost, and one of two sons lost.  In the end each was found and there was rejoicing.

Whenever you lose something important you are anxious until you find it again.  The more important it is the more anxious you are.  Nobody gets too fussed about losing a cheap pen.  But lose your driver’s license or a credit card and you may go into a panic.  When you find it there is great relief.

We want to keep all of that in the back of our minds as we listen to this next parable, the parable of the Dishonest Manager.  If Jesus were walking around New York State today he may have had the dishonest manager be a politician in Albany.  The politician is corrupt – no surprise there.  He makes lots of back room deals and trades inside information.  Give money to his campaign and you can be sure to win a fat contract for your company when he’s elected.

But then he finds out he’s being investigated.  He knows he’s guilty.  He’s going to lose his office for sure, maybe even go to jail.  He does not see himself making a living in a job that requires him to say, “Would you like fries with that?”  So while there is still time, before the investigation really begins and his assets are frozen he takes action.

Except instead of deciding to go straight he becomes even more corrupt.  He’s going to make all sorts of deals, do all sorts of favors and share all sorts of information so that when he does go down, lots of people owe him favors.  And he’s going to cash in on them then.  And worst case scenario, he goes to jail, then he’ll be infamous enough that when he writes his book it’ll be sure to sell well.

We hate this guy.  He disgusts us.  Though we all know that politics is dirty business and there’s a lot of deal making that goes on and a lot of times when politicians have to choose the least-worst option, this guy is just outright corrupt and sleazy; and he relishes in it.

We’d expect Jesus to say this guy is the worst of the worst.  We expect Jesus to tell his followers never to become like this.  This is what happens when morals and ethics and boundaries just erode away completely.

And then Jesus commends the guy.

Jesus calls on his followers to emulate this guy.

We go looking in our Bibles for the pages that are missing.  Surely something’s gotten lost.  We must have started one story and then accidentally concluded another.

But no.  This is the parable; concluding with, “And 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.”

Keep in mind the context of Jesus words.  We’re following three parables about lost things that are recovered.  You search diligently for something that is lost.  You can’t rest until you’ve found it.  Is your discipleship the same way?

I’ve heard a contrast made between theologian Reinhold Neibuhr and Martin Luther King Junior.  Neibuhr was an American theologian, ethicist, and commentator on American politics.  He often said critical things but he had this belief that humanity was too corrupt to ever really change or improve.  He believed that that work was ultimately God’s and that we could do nothing.  So ultimately Neibuhr was content to sit in his office of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and write his critiques of America.

How many of you have ever heard of Reinhold Neibuhr?

Martin Luther King Junior knew the same things, but he wasn’t content to sit in an office and offer critiques.  Like him or not, agree with him or not, he acted.  He acted against all odds.  He acted tirelessly until he was murdered.  Which intelligent, capable man actually made a difference?  I know you’ve all heard of Martin Luther King.  Like his even more famous namesake on the global scale, Dr. Martin Luther the 16^th century church reformer, he wouldn’t ever rest as long as God’s world was broken.  While Martin Luther died of natural causes he escaped execution numerous times.

Jesus’ followers can quickly become lazy.  They can say that only God can fix problems, so why should we really try.  The dishonest manager in the parable was going to use every bit of shrewdness and cunning and power he had to get things done – crooked or not.  It is that attitude Jesus wants all of us to have in faith.

For centuries American Christians have considered the church to be a holy and righteous place.  Christians were to do things that were prim and proper, things that were socially superior to the common rabble.  A book of etiquette was considered as much a teacher of godliness as the Bible.  Coming to worship was a time to put on your best clothes and be on your absolute best behavior.

Now, does the Bible actually teach any of that?  Nope.  But for centuries the church was filled exactly with the Pharisees and Sadducees that conflicted with Jesus so often.  Today many people’s first thought when it comes to church is perfect families sitting in rows of hard benches listening attentively to a sermon about good morals.  And it turns them off.

I’m always amused to watch people walk by our booth when we’re at Hang Around Victor Day.  People will walk down the sidewalk but then as soon as they see a church booth they step to the far side of the sidewalk to get as far away from us as possible.  It is as if the church is a contagious disease.  Actually, they’ve had too many bad experiences with Jesus talk.  They don’t want to be pulled into an awkward conversation about Jesus and faith and salvation.

I was at a back to school party recently.  The school kids were playing in the yard and the adults were gathered on the deck.  I overheard one of the adults mention something about their growth in faith and their church priorities and I immediately noticed people stepping away from him.  They dropped their eyes.  They started looking away.  They wanted to talk to someone else – anything but this Christian faith talk.

Such is the case for spreading the love of God which gives strength, meaning and purpose.

You know what usually draws people to our Hang Around Victor Day booth?  Something that offends my mother to no end;  the beer brewing group.  It happened this year also.  We were setting up and people were keeping their distance.  One simple mention of getting the St. John’s Brewers display set up and everyone was drawn to us like we were magnetic.  Instead of turning away awkwardly they initiated conversations with us.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about our brewing group.  Alcohol gets lots of people in trouble.  Addictions are serious and I always want this to be a safe place for everyone.  And yet in our culture home brewing is a novelty.  It is a novelty that can open doors to faith.  It is a novelty that breaks down stereotypes of churches filled with righteous people who only talk about Jesus.  In other words, it is clever.  It is creative.  It is the type of thinking Jesus is commending in his parable.

I do not think true faith is about moral or righteous living.  I think true faith is knowing God’s world is broken.  People aren’t connected and God’s family is incomplete.  It is not resting until it is fixed, even though you know it is impossible.  It is about seeking and struggling and trying because you just can’t sit back and let the brokenness be.

We say, “God’s Work Our Hands” at the end of every service.  We know our hands are not capable of fixing the world.  What can we really do?  And yet we the work anyway.  Because, by God, through us, God’s work is done.  God’s world is being restored.  God’s family is growing and becoming complete.  Whether we see it or not, we do not rest until God’s work is done.