October 20, 2019 Money, Money, Money Luke 16:1-17:19

            I’ve never gotten into fantasy sports, but I understand the allure; especially fantasy football.  The last time I was in the barber shop a guy was saying that he’s doing really well this year simply by picking his offensive players from whatever team is playing against the Miami Dolphins!

            If you don’t know what fantasy sports are, it is simply creating your own team based upon the actual performance of real-life players in their games.  It can involve a lot of strategy and thinking – and a certain amount of luck.

            I think most people use the same principles in their day to day lives.  I suppose you could call it street smarts, or survival instinct.  If you see an opportunity you grab it.

If there’s no opportunity, but you see a way to create one, you create it. 

            We are all smart and clever people.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s part of the creativity God created us to have.  But we all too easily start to plot and scheme to get the things we want, or to get ahead of others.

            The first parable we encountered in our gospel reading is called The Parable of the Dishonest Manager.  It puzzles many people.  How can Jesus be praising the shrewd and underhanded dealings of this corrupt manager.  Shouldn’t Jesus be condemning him for being so manipulative?

            But that’s just how parables work.  They play on extremes.  They twist things around.  They surprise us.  The Parable of the Dishonest Manager unfolds as it goes along.  Jesus sets the stage with a rich man who has a manager who is squandering the rich man’s money.  So he summons the manager and asks to see the books.  It surely would have been prudent to send someone along to keep an eye on this swindler, but the rich man does not. 

            We see the cleverness of this manager as he uses the last minutes of his position to buy favors for himself from other people.  We discover just how rich the rich man is when we see the amounts this man forgives.  He takes a debt of 100 jugs of olive oil and makes it 50.  He takes 100 containers of wheat and makes it 80.  These are huge sums!  This is not forgiving the debt of some tenant or peasant laborer.  These are commercial sums – think millions of dollars. 

            And of course, as long as the manager still has his position the actions he takes on his master’s behalf are legally binding.  He’s done people big favors and he expects to call them in big time.

            In the real world no rich person would commend a manager who is so exploitative but Jesus has the rich man commend the manager in the parable.  It sets up what Jesus is wanting to teach – that as people of faith we should also be shrewd, clever, creative, and cunning; leaving no stone unturned in our efforts for God’s kingdom.

            The dishonest manager has manipulated both the world of finance and social obligations in his favor.  Are we so clever in our faith?

            Growing up I had friends who would say how they would deliberately do a poor job at something their parents asked them to do so they wouldn’t have to do it again.  That tactic wouldn’t work with my parents!  I had to keep at it until it was done and done well.  And they had this uncanny ability to detect when I wasn’t doing something with my full effort. 

But how often do we do that with God’s work?  We make an effort, a polite try, and then when it fails we quit and say, “See, I told you I couldn’t do it.”

It is all too easy for us to live in our snug homes away from many of the problems of the world and the communities around us.  We may make token efforts, make token gifts, token sacrifices, but not really try with all our effort.

Jesus goes on with another parable.  The teaching about the law and divorce are an interlude about priorities.  Here we have a better known parable – the Rich Man and Lazarus.  Please, please, please do not wrongfully impose the body/soul split of Greek philosophy onto this parable.  Jesus teaches in a Hebrew way, not Greek.  Plus this is a parable, it plays on extremes and images.  It is not meant to be a revelation about what happens after you die.  It is a description of the thinking of those whose lives are focused on money.

Both the rich man and Lazarus die.  Their life circumstances are completely reversed.  In life the rich man ignored Lazarus, as if he didn’t exist though he lay at the gate to his house.  In death the rich man now recognizes Lazarus (Even calls him by name!) but still wants him to serve as a personal servant: get water for him to quench his thirst, go give a warning to his brothers.  How much more arrogant and unrepentant can a person be!?!

Yet do we do the same?  How easy it is to ignore the plights of those suffering.  How easy it is to focus on our own comforts and needs, then tell ourselves that we rightfully consume all that we do and we legitimately have none left over to share!

I think one of the greatest blessings of the Family Promise program is that we get to see and interact with real homeless people first-hand.  They don’t have to share, but they often do.  We see and understand the complexities of their problems, the precariousness of their lives, and their hopes for a solid future.  At least they aren’t left at the gate outside but literally brought in to share the food.

Indeed, many have made numerous bad choices.  Some are exploitative and manipulative.  Some are dealing the problems of their own creation.  But they are all made in the image of God and children of God.  That does not mean we should be blindly nice, but it does mean we should be constructive in our loving.

Most interpreters of Luke agree that the gospel changes topics after this parable.  Our reading today continued on, and I think it does fit.

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager confuses us.  The Rich Man and Lazarus parable may frighten us.  The sayings of Jesus that open Chapter 17 offend our deepest sense of justice and fairness.  How dare Jesus say, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’?  Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?  Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?  So you also, when you have don all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

To every sense of justice we know God seems deeply unfair.  We think that if we do what we are commanded we deserve some sort of payment or reward; particularly since the demands of discipleship that the two preceding parables gave are so high. 

But not so.  Here is the key.  Our relationship with God is based on grace and grace alone.  God will not have us on our own terms of righteousness.  God will have us on God’s own terms – those of grace.  God owes us nothing for living good, clean, Christian lives.  God owes us nothing if we fight for justice, live in harmony with creation, and work to build God’s kingdom.  That may sound depressing.  Yet if we claim that our own self-worth and merit reside within ourselves then we have made a fundamental mistake about life.  God has made us good.  God has made us strong.  God has made us beautiful.  God has made us excellent!  Those are God’s gifts to us.  No one can take them from us, ever.  And we cannot claim them as products of our own righteousness. 

Deep joy comes when we realize our value is held securely by God forever.  We need to reframe our lives.  Instead of thinking that we must work to please God, we need to see our lives as an opportunity God has given us to do something amazing.  Then we do not feel like worthless slaves of God, but those whom by grace God has entered into partnership with for accomplishing the work of God’s kingdom.  We do it persistently, creatively, shrewdly even.  Then we turn the teaching of the worthless slave around and instead say, “Thanks be to God for honoring me enough to accomplish great work through my hands.”

October 6, 2019 Bad Things Happen to Good People Luke 13:1-9

A question of the ages is why do bad things happen to good people?  It is easy to accept the consequences of something when you know you deserve it.  If you’re being careless with a power tool and you cut yourself it makes sense.  If you’re a smoker and you develop lung cancer it makes sense.  But if you are innocent bystander walking along the sidewalk and a car careens out of control and injures you, you want to know why.

All too often the justice we see at work in the world around us doesn’t make sense.  And it’s one thing in a theoretical sense.  It’s another thing when it happens to you personally. 

Actually I’m not too bothered by the question of why bad things happen to good people.  What really upsets me is why do good things happen to bad people?  There have been any number of times when I see hurtful, corrupt, destructive people who lie, cheat, and manipulate; yet good things keep coming to them, and they duck out of responsibility.

According to much of the Old Testament, and many people’s beliefs in general, there is a justice to things.  Good behavior leads to good lives and bad behavior leads to bad lives.  Consider some of these proverbs: 13:2 “From the fruit of their words good persons eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.”  And 13:6, “Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.” 

When bad people get away with things people believe that God knows and will get them eventually.  Similarly, when apparently good people have bad things happen to them people think they must have some secret sin that is coming out. 

The idea of karma is from Hinduism and Buddhism, but it makes its way into Christianity – that you get what’s coming to you, be it good or bad.

So then we turn to our gospel reading for today.  People ask Jesus about two apparently unfair events that happened.  First are a group of Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices.  This requires a bit of an explanation.  These Galileans would have been Jewish pilgrims from Galilee, who were killed while offering sacrifices.  Given that the sacrifice of the Passover lamb is the only sacrifice in which nonpriests fully participate these Galilean Jews must have been doing that when they were killed.  The question then is, if they were killed while offering sacrifices for the most important religious holiday of the year, was God displeased with them?  Were they so bad that God would not even accept their sacrifice?

Jesus replies, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?”  It’s a reply that sets up the real point Jesus wants to make.

               Jesus brings up another situation, “Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

               There’s no independent evidence to verify what Jesus is talking about here.  In fact while there is known to been a pool of Siloam there is nowhere else mentioned a tower of Siloam.  Nevertheless, we get the point.  In contrast to the Galileans being deliberately killed, this is an accident or natural disaster.  And again Jesus asks the question if they think those who were killed were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?  Did they somehow deserve it?  Was an accident or a natural disaster somehow God’s means of punishment?

               As we talk about all this let’s not lose sight of where we’ve come from in Luke’s reading.  If you were here the last couple weeks you may remember that Jesus has been talking about God’s ultimate judgement.  These questions then follow with people asking if these are examples.

               Jesus’ ultimate reply is not one that we want to hear, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

               That’s not a nice answer as to why do bad things happen to good people!  It feels like Jesus is saying that if you’re suffering you deserve it; in fact you deserve more.  Everyone deserves more!

               That is a harsh conclusion, and not the one Jesus intends us to reach.  His real point is that your situation in life is no indication whatsoever of your standing before God.  If your life is easy that does not mean you are an especial favorite of God’s.  And if your life is pain-filled and miserable it does not mean you are disliked by God. 

Unfair things happen.  Period.  And Jesus says that if that upsets you too much, then remember that you really are already relying on God’s grace; God’s unmerited favor for you.  You have no right to demand that your version of justice be what God applies.

Theologian Joel Green notes, “Jesus reply does not deny sin its consequences, nor that sin lead to judgment; instead, he rejects the theory that those who encounter calamity have necessarily been marked by God as more deserving of judgment than those who do not.”  (The New International Commentary of the New Testament, Luke, Pg. 512)

The second half of the gospel reading reminds us of what God’s real intent is – not judgment, but mercy; second chances – or in this case perhaps we’re talking fourth chances.

Like many of the stories in Luke, this parable does not unfold in a straightforward fashion.  A man with a vineyard has a fig tree planted in it.  The presence of a fig tree in a vineyard was not unknown.  There’s nothing unique about that.  Also, there’s no reason to suggest the owner is seeking figs out of season, or before it was significantly grown to be productive.

I remember a seminary professor saying that it was expected that a fig tree would grow for ten years before figs would be produced from it.  So by this time that tree has already been there ten years.  Year eleven came along.  There was a reasonable expectation of some figs.  There were none.  The owner decides to give it another year.  Year twelve comes alone.  No figs.  The owner is merciful and gives it yet another year.  Year thirteen comes along – the year our parable speaks of.  He comes looking for fruit on it.  Nothing.  The owner has made up his mind.  Three strikes and this tree is out.  Why should it waste the space?  More years of unproductivity just delay how long it will be until something productive comes.  If the owner decides to replace the tree it’ll be another ten years.  He wants that clock to start ticking now, not another year from now.

But the gardener, perhaps a bit too sentimental and kind to this unproductive tree begs for it to have one more chance – a fourth chance.  And it will not just be left alone but it will receive extra care.  You gotta love Jesus’ fertilizer of choice, “…let it alone one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.”

The parable ends there.  We are left to assume the tree does get another chance.

If we allegorize the parable we can easily see that the vineyard owner is the Father and the gardener is Jesus.  And so Jesus is asking for mercy; and not just mercy, but the digging around it and applying fertilizer shows and interest in making an even greater investment in something with a track record of failure.

If we return to the initial question of why do bad things happen to good people we discover God’s response.  God’s idea of justice is not limited to or bound by our idea of justice.  God’s perspective is different.  And God’s perspective is to be merciful, even against the odds of success.  Ultimately God’s bias is towards mercy rather than condemnation.  However, lest we become complacent, condemnation is well within God’s will.

We too are called to be biased towards mercy and slow to reach condemnation in our interactions with others.  And if the parable of the fig tree is any indication, before we reach condemnation we should make an even greater effort to give the possibility of success.  I’m reminded of Martin Luther’s understanding of the Eighth Commandment, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  To which Luther replies, “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations.  Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.”

That last bit, “interpret everything they do in the best possible light” is a tough one.  It is so easy to see everything that people we don’t like do in the worst possible light.  That doesn’t mean be blind to obvious wrongdoing, but try to give the benefit of the doubt.

Now if your mind is as twisted as mine is, I read the parable and realize how the gardener intends to provide the tree with extra care and nourishment.  Except I find myself thinking I’ll gladly dump manure all over people I don’t like!

But alas, don’t take Jesus’ parables too literally!

You are connected to God’s inexhaustible supply of goodness.  Don’t be threatened by the goodness others appear to receive.  Try not to be jealous if you feel you are suffering wrongly.  Realize that it is God’s will to show you mercy and work with you to strengthen you for productivity ahead.