Luke 16.1-13 'The Parable of the Shrewd Manager'
On my recent holiday, I took
two real books and one on my Kobo.
On
the Kobo I had ‘Soulfulness’ by Brian Draper. Then I had Paula Gooder’s sequel
to ‘Heaven’ – ‘body – biblical spirituality for the Whole person’ and finally Tom Wright’s ‘God in Public’ – How the Bible speaks truth to power today.
I
read all three books concurrently (not finished them yet) and was delighted
with the way all three books coalesced.
Draper’s
‘Soulfulness’ picks up the idea of ‘mindfulness’ which is very much in vogue at
the moment. In case you are not familiar, mindfulness is a discipline of being
in the moment, being aware of each and everything around you and what you are
feeling. Not being distracted by phones or agendas or anything else.
Draper
develops this from a Christian perspective and invites us to ‘soulfulness’ –
knowing who we are truly are in God and from that place of knowing to be able
to engage with others and with all of God’s creation.
Paula
Gooder picks something of this up as she explores Paul’s view of the body.
She argues that for the most part in the West
we have a Platonic view of the body and the soul or spirit. If we conceive of
any existence at all beyond death, it is very often as some sort of real ‘me’
that is defined as soul or perhaps spirit.
This soul/spirit will escape from
this nasty world and flesh and blood and will go to live with God in a
spiritual realm for all eternity.
We
might also add to this the triple decker universe that despite all our science
still prevails in the common consciousness.
God
and heaven are up there, we are here on earth below and hell is somewhere down
below the earth.
Gooder
argues powerfully for a better understanding and appreciation of our bodies as
they now are and explores what Paul says they will be like as resurrected
bodies.
Paul’s
famous treatise on this is 1 Corinthians 15 – in verses 42 for example we read…
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The
body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
In
our Creed we say, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body’
Our
bodies are important – and an important part of our identity. What we do with
them is important and how we treat other people’s bodies is also important.
This
brings in Tom Wright who has written a great deal about an earthed focused
reality.
Post-modernist
argue against all meta-narratives, all big stories, everything is relevant. That
gives rise to that wonderful quote ‘all truths are relevant except that
statement that all truths are relevant.’
Wright
argues that the Scriptures offer a very important meta-narrative, a big story of
how God created this good earth and is bringing it back into good order.
One
day it will be redeemed, renewed and reformed and we might say, re-populated
with resurrected people.
He
argues powerful that whilst the ‘enlightenment’ brought great benefits it has
also given us at its outset the guillotine as a clean efficient way of killing
your political opponents during the French Revolution. And then those clever
Nazi’s scientist who designed and developed an even more efficient way of
killing thousands.
Also
the great Western democracy that during the recent banking crisis of 2008
managed to find $700 billion dollars to bail out the banks and keep the system
afloat. All at the same time as continuing to demand crippling loans debts from
poor countries in struggling sub-Saharan Africa.
Wright
argues that the Scriptures offer a powerful critique on all power structures
and rulers and governments.
The
scientific enlightenment and rational thinking pushed God up into the attic
like some harmless old man. A few folk may like to go and visit him
occasionally, but eventually this will all die away.
Much
to the annoyance of many atheists, the rumour of God has not died or gone away.
Therefore, they are lashing out and declaring people who believe in God have a deficient
gene. For them, there must be a logical and scientific reason people continue
to hold onto a belief in God.
The
Scriptures give us an overall picture, that this earth is God’s good creation.
That one day it will be redeemed, restored and renewed. We are not going to float away as disembodied spirits to live in some ethereal heaven God knows where.
The
Scriptures help us to understand the story of God’s outworking in this
enterprise.
And
in Jesus we see that matter matters to God.
And
although the canon of Scripture is closed its outworking continues for each and
every generation and for each and every situation. We are invited into the
story as well – we are invited to read our Scriptures not so much as way of
developing a personal piety but that we may speak truth into power, that we may
offer a prophetic voice to the world as it ‘groans in its birth pangs’ Romans 8.22.
We
are not offering an escape plan from earth to heaven aboard the good ship 'The
Church’ with Jesus at the helm.
Jesus
taught us to pray – Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it in
heaven.’ In your life, in your home, in your family......
Let’s
not just pray it – let’s do it…
All
of this and I have yet to mention Luke 16 and the parable of the ‘Shrewd
Steward’ to which I now want to turn briefly.
This
is a problematic parable and there are numerous interpretations and ways of
considering it.
However
having said all that I have said so far, it is important to allow the idea of
God ‘so loving the world’ to inform any reading and reflection on this passage,
or indeed any passage of Scripture we may be reading.
Although
we may struggle to understand some of the things Jesus says here, one point is
very clear.
Jesus
came proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
Standing
in the great tradition of the prophets, he announced that God was visiting His
people in fulfillment of all the promises they had hoped for, longed for and
prayed for over thousands of years.
This
was the year of God’s favour; this was the year of Jubilee.
However,
He came to that which was his own, but
his own did not receive him. John 1.11
In
the story Jesus tells of the shrewd steward, the steward can see which way the
wind is blowing, he can tell what’s coming up, and he acts, decisively and
quickly to ensure he is safe and saved.
The
people of God, the Children of Light could learn a lesson here. Jesus is
offering them an opportunity – which they are either not seeing or if they do,
they are rejecting it.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were
not willing. Luke 13.34
There
is much more that we could tease out of this passage and I do commend it to you
for further study. As always, when you
are looking at a passage of Scripture do remember to explore it in its context.
Remember
that Chapters and verses were only added in the Bible during the 12th
& 13th century and whilst helpful for referencing they can
isolate passages.
For
example, this passage follows on from the stories about ‘lost things’ – a coin,
a sheep and finally the Prodigal son. Following on we have the story of a Rich
Man and Lazarus, which helpfully reflects back on the story of the shrewd
steward.
The rich man had failed to heed
the messages of Moses and the prophets and had neglected to care for the poor
and weak and vulnerable – he was now paying the price!
Let
me offer one more observation of how this passage might speak prophetically
today.
The
story tells us that shrewd steward got some his master’s debtors together and
‘adjusted’ what they owed. This could
have been ‘usury’ – charging interest on money loans, something forbidden and
against the Law.
One
way around this was to take interest in kind – like oil and grain for example.
Therefore,
it may just be that the steward is taking off or reducing the amount of
interest.
The
Master cannot of course say anything without condemning himself.
It
could also be that the ‘extra’ was the steward’s commission on top of the loan.
Think
of the loans to poorer countries I mentioned earlier.
Or,
think of Pay Day Loans and Archbishops Justine Welby’s ‘War on Wonga.’ Not only did he speak out and draw attention
to their malpractices he encouraged an alternative in Credit Unions and set up
the Mustard Seed Appeal. The first six months of 2016 saw a total of 313,679
people contact StepChange for debt advice.
We
are called as the people of God to be informed by our Scripture.
We
are called as the people of God to work towards a realized Lord’s Prayer.
We
are called as God’s people to model a different way of ordering affairs.
We
are called as God’s people to offer a prophetic voice and a critique to the
whole of life, especially and in particular politics and our politicians and
leaders.
We
need to gain confidence (not arrogance) and proclaim that Jesus is Lord of the
Universe and is in the business of redeeming the cosmos and everyone is invited
to join in the Divine Dance of Redemption.
Now
that is an image to play with as we begin to watch ‘Strictly Come
Dancing.’
Consider
the discipline and hard work undertaken.
Reflect
on the history of a particular dance and about its current interpretation.
Think about the teamwork of all those involved with a whole range of skills and
talents.
Above
all – without bodies none of this could happen!
‘Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you
is a part of it.’
Time
to dance…
Let us pray;
Give to your people at this time:
A new vision of your glory;
A new experience of your power
A new faithfulness to your Word
And, a new consecration to your service,
That Your Holy Name may be glorified
and Your Kingdom advanced
Where You live and reign,
forever One God, unto the ages of ages.
Amen
