Luke 16: 1-13 Sunday 19^th Sept. 2010.

The Gospel reading we have just heard is one I find hard. Jane Williams describes it as confusing, which doesn’t give me much hope, it is indeed confusing, Christ seems to be saying something contrary to his usual message.

While I was musing on the passage an incident came to mind involved the mother of a friend of mine many years ago. She loved a bargain and was walking through Leeds market when she saw these shoes. 1950’s Lovely shoes, absolute bargain, all was fine until her husband asked if she had tried them on. For he had spotted what she hadn’t – each pair was two right shoes! The fact is even if we don’t need to be we can all be attracted by a bargain, and this is surely what the manager in the parable knew.

We live in a world that still understands and appreciates shrewdness and cunning in others. Shrewdness can be considered a valuable skill.

We have a parable where Jesus tells us about a shrewd

manager, but somehow it seems wrong; it doesn’t seem like Christ talking. How can we be enthralled by

a cunning, dishonest manager who basically rips off his employer and then (as Jesus tells us) ends up being commended for his actions?

The story had, an apparently successful manager, but who as you might say, was on the fiddle. And then when it becomes obvious he’s going to lose his job, he cheats his employer even further by trying to ingratiate himself with his master’s debtors by letting them off paying half their debts, obviously in the hope that they would perhaps give him employment. But to me the passage still seems hard to understand.

Or could it that Jesus is warning us again about the dangers of worshiping wealth, not protecting what God gives us - how we can all get caught up in it perhaps unintentionally? Is it something we can easily succumb to because we live in the world, in this society the Pope is condemning, we shop in the High Street we buy what is on the shelves,

I was brought up when there were clothes coupons, as with all commodities you could only purchase what you had enough coupons for. My wardrobe as a child was small, school uniform, Sunday best, and two or three other items bought new, others handed down through the family. I definitely remember the family kilt started with the eldest cousin and worn in turn by the rest of us, but we didn’t complain, it didn’t cause us any unhappiness, we accepted it.

I suspect if we look at today’s prices, clothes then were proportionally more expensive. But we have shrewd buyers in our stores, they know where to go to get a bargain, they know the cheaper the clothes the more we buy and the bigger their profits. Which of course is great but I try not to look at the labels in my clothes for if I do, my mind goes to programmes I have seen on TV of young children sewing away in countries in Asia.

When I look at the labels I begin to wonder if indirectly I am like someone in this parable. Not the shrewd master perhaps but one of the debtors happy to get something for less than its true value, not thinking of the consequences for others. For like my friend’s mother we all like a bargain regardless of our wealth.

The Pharisees, we hear loved money, and they began sneering at Jesus. They would see the dishonest manager as someone who they could, perhaps, even admire. He would do anything necessary to survive, not to lose out. In some ways they believed you had to succeed to be a good religious person.

Of course Jesus knew how their minds worked and added the twist ‘whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?’ The Pharisees weren’t stupid they must have seen what Christ was getting at. That such behaviour doesn’t impress God, for he knows that if we can’t be trusted to handle everyday things carefully we will not be good at handling the riches he gives us in heaven.

For the worldly minded Pharisees, that must have hit home. Apparently they’d never thought about things in that way. Then Jesus delivers the final blow:

You cannot serve both God and Money The Pharisees thought you could separate God from everyday behaviour, that you could indulge in worldly pursuits and keep that separate from faith.

There are times when I think today’s church may at times seem, to those on the outside, to perhaps think like the Pharisees. Has the church lost its humble beginnings, does it exhibit affluent flamboyance while there is so much poverty in the world.

I remember talking to someone a few years ago, who showed me he had his Bible with him, (he was in hospital), said he prayed daily, but never went to Church. He went on to explain how years previously he had been visiting S. Africa and was taken to a factory making vestments for a new Archbishop, the materials were magnificent, of the highest quality silks, gold thread, and the workmanship was also fantastic, they were working long hours to have the vestments ready. He asked one of the workers if he could see their home, it was a run down shack in a Shanty town, for the workers were only being paid a pittance, not a living wage. It was fine to spend money on fabrics but no one gave any thought to the workers. He said he decided then he could never go to a Church that thought like that because he didn’t believe that in any way related to Christ’s message. Perhaps we need to remember that Christ came as a humble man, not like a Roman emperor.

But back to myself – it is always easier to see other people’s faults, to see where they are going wrong. What must I do to make sure I am not like one of the people in the Gospel? Am I slipping into that way of life which puts a bargain at the top of my shopping list? We have a Fair trade stall here in church, Fair trade food is on the supermarket shelves, but am I becoming complacent am I thinking that is enough instead of looking at everything I buy. Am I in danger of thinking that getting a bargain is better than loving all my neighbours, ensuring they can lead lives where they are truly valued and respected, that they have enough wages to live on. Am I in danger of putting earthly riches higher than God’s riches?

When Jesus says we should all be shrewd managers

he is not saying we should be shrewd for our own interests, but that we must be shrewd with the riches God has given us. We are all managers. God has entrusted to each one of us the need to protect and preserve all the riches of our world to see that justice prevails. We cannot serve both God and money. The choice is ours.

Let us pray;

Lord, help us to be faithful in the little things, so that we may be faithful also in the great. May your Holy Spirit guard us against excuses and self-deceit and make us good stewards of all that you have entrusted to us. Amen.