Bargain Hunters
1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13

September 19, 2004

Today’s sermon is an equal opportunity story. Jesus’ disciples were his students. So are we. Barclay thinks it is about an absentee landlord, a dishonest manager and a lot of less than scrupulous customers. As “choice a set of rogues as one could meet.” The disciples can argue as much as they want about any of his stories. They can ask Jesus to tell it again and again. But I believe that he would have left them to figure out why he told it. Luke retells Jesus’ story, and adds his own ideas.

Jesus’ stories are unforgettable. They stick in your head at least for a while. I can picture the disciples walking the miles and repeating them to each other and arguing out their richness of meaning. It was as if Jesus their teacher told his stories to get his followers thinking. Luke adds his ideas. Why not ourselves? We have as much right to add our interpretation. Biblical scholars help us get back to the bare bones of the story, and like us add their own ideas. Of course they do. And so, as we walk with Jesus today, let us try out various possibilities.

A rich man no longer trusts his farm manager. The manager knows he is going to be fired. So he tells himself, “I have not the strength to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. What shall I do? I know. So that they have to receive me I’ll cut a bargain with each one who owes him money. And they will take care of me.” Barclay says it hints of blackmail. He makes them equal partners in his discreditable scheme. Bob Kitchen would have entitled his sermon “Dishonesty Pays.” But he turned me free to choose. As the week went on “Life’s Bargains” became “Bargain Hunters.” Changing the words on our sign twice on Monday and again on Thursday for all to see, suggesting to us the way Luke chose to add his part.

The last word of Jesus may have been a single word, “Shrewd!” But Luke expands it, “For the children of this world exhibit better sense in dealing their own kind than do the children of the light. Use your ill gotten gain to make friends for yourselves, so that when the bottom falls out they are there to welcome you into eternal dwelling places.” Then Luke lets Jesus’ words sum it up: “No servant can be a slave to two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and disdain the other. You can’t be enslaved to both God and a bank account.” That’s the way “the Jesus Seminar” translates “God and mammon.”

We take Barclay’s commentary on that last part. “Verse 13 lays down the rule that no slave can serve two masters. The master possessed the slave, and possessed him exclusively. Nowadays you can do two jobs and work for two people. In the office each day and on the bandstand at night. Earn extra income or satisfy your real interest in a spare time occupation. But a slave had no spare time; every moment of his day, and every ounce of his energy, belonged to his master. So for Barclay, “once we choose to serve God, every moment of our time and every atom of our energy belongs to God. God is the most exclusive of all masters. We either belong to him totally or not at all.” Barclay and the Interpreter’s Bible exempt the disciples, saying they knew all of the rogues in Jesus’ story as actual, nameable real people around them. It wasn’t aimed at them. And besides, hadn’t they given up mammon to follow him?

John Dominic Crossan would take us back the first century to see its poor and exploited peasants. They slaved each day to make that day's coin on land lost generations before for unpaid debts and taxes of church and state. And if their opportunity to earn their daily coin was lost - as the woman in last week’s story lost, searched and rejoiced over one coin - they and their family would die of hunger!

Jesus came not to bind us to himself but to free us from oppression and exploitation. The ongoing struggle for God’s justice on earth and in heaven.

The lectionary readings these past few weeks reveal a God who searches for us like a lost sheep or coin and rejoices when we are found. It skips the story of the prodigal son, elder brother and the forgiving father who feasts with both. And that brings us to today’s passage. Luke makes it fit Jesus’ ongoing debates with other Pharisees. Early Christian teachers used it to recommend the practice of prudence. “The steward was a rascal but a clever rascal, and Jesus’ followers were invited to emulate that cleverness for better ends. The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke’s next verse limits it to the prudent use of money.” Money that can be used positively to cement friendships, which for Barclay is where the real value of life lies.

It could be done as it affects eternity. The rabbis had a saying, “the rich help the poor in this world, but the poor help the rich in the world to come.” Ambrose writing in the fourth century and commenting on the rich fool who built bigger barns to store his goods, said, “the bosoms of the poor, the houses of the widows, the mouths of children are the barns that last forever.” He continued the older belief that charity given to poor people would add to a person’s credit in the world to come. True wealth would consist no in what people kept but in what they gave away.

Once in a while I get so caught up in the opportunity to lead worship that I forget to ask for the offering to be taken. Lay people always come to my rescue by speaking out. For them as it should be for me the offering is the most important part of the service. It is our act of response. And together we ask God to receive and multiply like the loaves and fishes not only what we give by also what we keep. We offer ourselves and not just our money. And I should join you and put the highest priority on that privilege when we gather together to worship.

Benefactors or friends do make our life richer in practical ways. Real stewardship illustrates our faithfulness in little things, and earns us the thanks and admiration of others. May God help us who have received so much in trust to be truly wise in what we choose to share. Trusting God to give the increase, may God’s people say a wiser, humbler, thankful AMEN.

Preached by Robert Gay
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan