Nov 17 2019 Luke 16: 1-13

No slave can serve two masters.

Immediately preceding this is a somewhat confusing parable about the rich man, and the ‘dishonest manager’. The manager has squandered the rich man’s wealth. Fearing harsh treatment, the manager goes to the rich man’s debtors and cancels some of their debt. That way, when the rich man returns and is angry, the manager has friends in all of the debtors. And oddly, the rich man commends the manager for dealing ‘shrewdly’. After this story, Jesus concludes with the, “You can’t serve both wealth and God; you can’t serve two masters.

Is Jesus saying we are to be dishonest, in order to secure a place of favor? I’m guessing not. Maybe this has more to do with the way the man is described. He’s described as a rich man, and the punch line of this parable is that you can’t serve wealth and God. So maybe this story would be better titled the dishonest rich man. Maybe the rich man was the one who was dishonest, or at least had divided loyalties – wealth and God.

Maybe the steward was settling the debts of an unjust rich man, who’d extracted debts having people owe him because of his wealth. Maybe the steward was just the precursor of the idea of legitimate debt forgiveness, debt created from the wealthy’s use of their money for more wealth. If any of this could be true, what I hear from this parable is that sometimes we make choices that by this world’s standards seem unjust or corrupt, but are actually balancing out God’s economy. In this instance the master is not the stand in for the hero, but the shrewd manager is.

Alternatively, maybe the steward was really corrupt and stealing, and the master was a good guy. If that’s the case, I think the parable has more to do with God’s grace and mercy, even for the most corrupt. If Jesus says that this shrewd or dishonest man was commended, maybe this story is saying there’s hope for us too. At our most dishonest or shrewd, we too can be loved. In this instance, the wealthy man is the stand in for the hero, and shows mercy on the unjust.

Sometimes don’t understand Jesus’ parables, because they’re cryptic or more nuanced than I can wrap my head around. In those instances, it’s too easy to read into the stories meaning that might never have been there originally. That’s ok, when I do it, based on my understanding of God’s commands – Love God, Love your Neighbor. But it stops being ok when other people use it for their understanding of God’s commands, especially when they’re rooted in hate, or exclusion, or power. It’s a slippery slope to say that my inferences of complicated Scripture are ok, but theirs is not. 

This morning, I’m thinking about the lens through which we all should read scripture – Love God and Love your Neighbor. When that lens is used, we are forced to keep looking at, and struggling with confusing stories of Jesus. Anyone who interprets Scripture with that understanding of God’s will should come to right conclusions. If it’s not about Love, it’s not about God. And if that’s the case, there are many ways to read this parable, none of which have to do with what the translation says, “And the master commended the dishonest manager”. If it doesn’t sound like love, there’s definitely more to the story.