Trinity 9, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Luke 16:1-9
Trinity 9
July 28, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul writes to the young Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). When Paul says, “All Scripture,” he means it. He’s not suggesting that we are allowed to pick and choose which parts of the Scriptures we like and throw away the parts or sections that we may find boring, unapplicable, or even offensive or mean, in our modern, “enlightened” society. All Scripture—the long genealogies of the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus, the dividing up of the Promised Land in the book of Joshua among the tribes of Israel—even these sections of Holy Scripture are profitable for us by means of teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. By these seemingly “useless” parts of Scripture, however, we come to learn and know who God is, that He has descended into the human race through real people who lived on the earth. We learn who God is by what He desires for us—how He wants us to live according to lawfulness. We learn that God always keeps promises and gives and supplies His people with all that they need to support this body and life.
All Scripture is profitable for us. Now of course, we probably won’t start the children in Sunday School or Confirmation by teaching them the genealogies, the Book of Leviticus, how the Promised Land was divided up among the tribes of Israel. We want them to know about Jesus so that they would believe in Him as their Savior and go to heaven. To be sure, these parts of Scripture do teach us things about the Christ and how He is the fulfillment of all things, but when it comes to the children, we start off with easier, more direct sections of Scripture, such as the actual teachings of Christ Himself, His miracles, His life, death, and resurrection, and His parables.
And yet, from time to time, during the church year, there are some, more difficult passages of Scripture come up in the appointed readings. Today is one of those days because today we hear the Parable of the Dishonest Steward or Shrewd Manager. Really though, this parable actually isn’t as outrageous as some of the other ones. It’s actually quite practical and Jesus is making a couple very important points in regard to how we as sons of light ought to act and behave in this fallen world because we dwell among sons of this world.
Jesus says, “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.” The word “steward” here is pretty good. We could also call him a “trustee” or a “treasurer”—basically someone who has been appointed to take care and manage someone’s account or business. This man had power of attorney over the rich man’s goods. He could do what he wanted with them and it was final. So when the report comes back to the rich man that his steward was wasting his goods, they’re gone forever. He can’t get them back. Then the rich man fires him and the steward goes and calls on the debtors, the first one says he owes one hundred measures of oil, the steward says, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.” Likewise, the debtor who owed a hundred measures of wheat. The steward tells him “Take your bill, and write eighty.” This man had the legal authority to do this. And because he did this, the rich man cannot get those goods back. They’re gone forever.
There is a lot of cultural stuff here in the parable that is completely foreign to us and our culture because in this parable, he rich man, on the other hand, also has power of life and death over this steward. But he doesn’t subject him to punishment—to prison or death—but rather, he commends the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. He says, “Well, he got away with it. Good for him.”
It may seem as though by this parable, Jesus is suggesting that thievery, embezzlement, fraud, and larceny are all perfectly fine. But that’s not what He’s doing. That’s not what he’s saying. That’s not the point Jesus is making here. To be sure, this is not the type of parable that we’re used to hearing. Generally, when we hear the parables, we expect to hear about God’s grace, God’s promises, what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, how God forgives sins, and the like.
But even though this parable doesn’t make mention of God’s grace, the forgiveness of sins, or the Gospel, and even though this parable is “law-driven,” it is still good for us to hear, to think about, and to meditate upon because these are the words of Christ. The Law is good. Though the parable may seem out of place, it shows us that God is not easily pegged down; that He is a mystery; and that we cannot fully know or comprehend Him, except by what He reveals to us. This parable seems to rub up against our understanding of justice and righteousness.
In this sense, we are like infants being allowed to sit in on a grown-up conversation, being allowed to hear and to witness something that may not make sense to us initially, but still it is good for us. We are brought in because the grown-ups love us and want us to be there. And even though we may not understand everything at the moment, it’s good for us to hear and to take part in the conversation. It’s objectively good and spiritually beneficial for us to read, mark, learn, and take to heart difficult parts of Scripture—the genealogies, the books which contain the Old Testament Civil and Judicial Law, the way and manner which the Promised Land was divided up, and even difficult sayings of Jesus in parables or in sermons, or of the Apostles.
The main point Jesus is making comes at the end of the parable when He says, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of lights.” What this means is that those who are sons of the world—unbelievers—are better and more shrewd in dealing with their generation than we are. Unbelievers serve mammon, that is, money, the things of pleasure, the things of this world. And they are better at enjoying these things, safeguarding these things, planning ahead, than Christians are in matters of faith. For the most part, in looking out into the world, I have found this to be true. Christians are outnumbered vastly and tremendously by unbelievers. The Parable of the Sower demonstrates this because only a small fraction of those who receive the Word grow in their faith to the end. What Jesus is saying here is that we as believers, Christians, need to be as shrewd and as careful in matters of faith as unbelievers are in their unbelief. We should take as much care and caution in our religion and faith and making sure we do not lose our faith, as unbelievers are in remaining unfaithful. They love the world. They love their sins. Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Unbelievers have no desire to change because they love their stuff. They love mammon. They love money and they are bent on keeping it. And we need to take as much, if not more, care and caution in matters of our faith.
What does this look like? This means first and foremost being among the assembly of believers. By being welcomed here as members of the Church, we ought to support our local church with our time, our talents, our prayers, and our finances. By this, we lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. We need to be and remain shrewd in this. Being shrewd is not a bad thing. Being shrewd means “having or showing sharp powers of judgment; being astute.” What is it that’s most important to us? It should be heavenly things, not earthly things. Our faith, our God, our church, our love and service for one another.
In the end, it will not matter if our friends receive us into their everlasting home or an eternal dwelling. That won’t help us. Christ has prepared for us our own dwelling in His Heavenly Kingdom. That’s where we belong. That’s where we are headed. Let us take these things seriously, as seriously as we take our job or our retirement account or whatever we’re so worried about. So we sing as our hymn sings, “What is the world to me, with all its vaunted pleasure?” Our eternal dwelling will last forever. So let us be shrewd in our dealings with the sons of this world.
In +Jesus’ name.
