God Money

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
October 24th 2010
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
Luke 16:1-13
“God Money”

He probably did not begin with the intent of stealing. Being a thief was not the goal. In fact, it probably started out rather small. It might have even begun as a simple accounting mistake. But then he realized that no one was noticing. A few cents here and there led to larger and larger sums of money and the next thing you know he is committing fraud. It is not what he would have called it but that strange twinge when he looked at himself in the eye each morning was a good indication that something was wrong. In fact, his fraud was so great that word finally came back to the owner of what was happening. By that time it was too late and now he was going to lose his job and only source of income he had ever known. It is in this moment of crisis everything changed.
When Jesus says that no one can serve two masters, that no one can serve God and money, most of us do not imagine he is talking to, or about us. After all, none of us get up on a Sunday morning and think, ‘Wow, I cannot wait to get to church and bow down before money.’ We do not rise up each day thinking we belong to Mammon, or God Money. Instead, it all begins with the fact that we live in a society that is obsessed with consuming and obsessed with money. We struggle each day to survive, to make enough money to pay the bills or to save for retirement or for college or to pay the loans we have taken in our search for the “American dream” or simply to put food on the table. In the process of living in such a culture the byproduct is a way of looking at the world that begins and ends with questions about money. Then one day we wake up and realize that questions about God, theology, faith, religion have become luxuries we deal with when and if the bills get paid.
When the manager finally comes face to face with who he has become his life is a mess. It is then that he must strip off the layers of self deception and get honest about who he is and what he must do. The crisis is acknowledged when he says: ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me?’ Once he faces the crisis he then does a very honest thing and names something about himself that I am sure before now he has been unwilling to acknowledge. ‘I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.’ Finally having admitted the problem and made and honest assessment of his situation the manager has a moment of clarity and realizes the only course of action. ‘I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ In this moment the manager comes to the realization that he cannot rely on money and will have to rely on the hospitality of others.
We live in a very different culture than the one inhabited by the manager. But we do live under some similar delusions. Until the moment when the money ran out, the manager believed that he did not need other people. We too live in a time when we believe that we do not need other people. The great myth today is that we do not need and should not care for others. If you are unable to stand on your own two feet then there is something wrong with you. It does not matter the circumstance, if you find yourself in need, our society believes you are flawed as a human being. That is why we struggle over tax policy and healthcare, social security, and other programs designed to share the burdens of everyday life. But, despite our best attempts at believing we can be totally self-sufficient, the truth is that we are designed, by God, to be in relationship with one another. We have been created to need and care for one another’s’ needs. We come into this world needing to be fed and clothed and if we live long enough the same will be true at the end of our lives. Unfortunately, until a crisis hits most of us live under the myth we can get by alone if we just try hard enough.
The manager orders that all the debtors come. It is not clear what goes through the minds of these debtors. Having heard that the manager is finally going to get what is coming to him they have no idea what they might face. Or worse, what if one of them was the one who told the owner what has been happening. So, when the debtors come to face the manager you can imagine they are dreading the encounter. Standing before the manager each is ordered to give an accounting for what they owe. It seems now the moment of truth is at hand. But, instead of dread these debtors are given release. Having their debt cancelled or cut in half is the greatest gift they could receive. And in that moment the debtor and the manager are tied together. The manager is no longer the man who takes from them but the one who helped to set them free. One at a time these people struggling under the burden of debt are set free. And, one at a time the manager moves from outsider to insider in the community.
At the end of the parable, we do not actually find out what happens. Does the owner actually fire the manager? Or did the owner cause the crisis to bring about his desired result. Did the owner, so impressed with the shrewdness of the manager decide to keep him around? The answers do not really matter. Whether the manager lost his job or kept his job he has been transformed, and so has the community. The manager is no longer seen as an agent for the absentee landlord. The manager is now part of the community. The manager has recognized his need for other people and the reality of their interconnectedness. The generosity, though birthed in selfishness, exhibited by the manager saved his life. The fabric of the community is restored and life will never be the same.
With a story that really defies most of our sense of what a religious story should convey, the praising of an unjust manager, Jesus shows that generosity is at the heart of our faith. Each year around this time, we start talking about money. We call it stewardship, but what we mean is that we have to raise money for our budget for the coming year. Sometimes we do it with great fanfare and other times we do it with a whimper. This year we are going to talk about it and indeed we need folks to be givers. But the reverse is also true. Each one of us needs to give in order to develop our generosity. When you give to the church you are not ‘helping out’ and being ‘benevolent.’ When you give and develop a spirit of generosity you are helping out yourself. You are standing up to the notion that we can stand on our own or that we do not need other people.
Let me ask a very honest question, ‘Where would you be if you did not have Westminster as part of your life?’ Think for a moment about the relationships, the friendships, yes the struggles and the joys as well. Remember the moments where you have had enlightenment and the moments where you have left scratching your head. Remember the funerals in this place, the baptisms at this font, the sharing of bread around this table, and the people you know here that you would have never have encountered outside of this place. Being generous with our resources enable this community to continue the ministry that has been meaningful to each one of us so that that others, who have not yet been here get to experience the same thing. And who knows, developing a spirit of generosity might just be the thing that gives us new life and helps us to recognize when we are bowing before money instead of God. So please begin praying now as to how you will develop that spirit of generosity for 2011. Amen? Amen!