Squandering wealth, praising God: 18th after pentecost

The holy gospel according to Luke (16:1-13)

Then Jesus said to the disciples,

      “There was a rich man who had a manager,

            and charges were brought to him

                  that this man was squandering his property.

            ²So the rich man summoned the manager and said to him,

                  ‘What is this that I hear about you?

                  Give me an accounting of your management,

                        because you cannot be my manager any longer.’

            ³Then the manager said to himself,

                  ‘What will I do,

                        now that my master is taking the position away from me?

                  I am not strong enough to dig,

                  and I am ashamed to beg.

                  ⁴I have decided what to do so that,

                        when I am dismissed as manager,

                              people may welcome me into their homes.’

            ⁵So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one,

                  he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

                  ⁶The debtor answered,

                        ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’

                  He said, ‘Take your bill,

                        sit down quickly,

                              and make it fifty.’

                  ⁷Then the manager asked another,

                        ‘And how much do you owe?’

                  That debtor replied,

                        ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’

                  He said, ‘Take your bill

                        and make it eighty.’

            ⁸And his master commended the dishonest manager

                  because he had acted shrewdly;

                        for the children of this age are more shrewd

                              in dealing with their own generation

                                    than are the children of light.

      ⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth

            so that when it is gone,

                  they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

¹⁰“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much;

      and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.

            ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,

                  who will entrust to you the true riches?

            ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another,

                  who will give you what is your own?

      ¹³No slave can serve two masters;

            for a slave will either hate the one and love the other,

                  or be devoted to the one and despise the other.

                        You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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There was a rich man, who had so much wealth that he couldn’t keep track of it on his own. In fact, he didn’t even know what was happening with it until someone told him his manager was squandering it.  So then, the manager of the wealth, who himself couldn’t keep track of it all, called the debtors together and before he could make deals, had to actually ask the debtors how much they even owed!

And all of this            is lifted up as an example by Jesus.

These men who clearly have more wealth than they need, are not so caught up in it that they count every single penny, holding it close to their heart.  In fact, the Greek verb for squander also means scatter—just as the farmer in an earlier parable who scatters seed without caring where it lands.  The manager is already scattering the rich man’s property, his wealth, without care about where it lands.

When he is called out on this and can tell that his access to wealth is quickly coming to an end, he is confronted with a couple options: 1-Labor he is not physically capable of doing, or 2-begging.  In considering these options, he has an epiphany of self-awareness.  Scattering and squandering wealth is all well and good when you have ready access to it, but he doesn’t have any relationships with anyone because of it.

Without access to that wealth, without his identity as the rich man’s manager, who is he?  Where does his value come from?  What does he want his priorities to become?

The manager’s realization is clear—relationships matter.  Relationships matter more than the wealth he is squandering.  So, he squanders more wealth for the sake of strengthening relationships with those who are in debt to the rich man.  The manager realizes that wealth, and access to it, is not—is never—the point.  At its best, it is a useful tool.  When scattered, it can strengthen our dependence on God and our relationship with others. 

Scattering wealth reminds us that our value comes not from the wealth we claim ownership of, but from God.  Holding wealth loosely reminds us that we are God’s beloved children, and that God brings us into relationship with each other to grow together.

When we hold wealth loosely, when we scatter it, it lessens the risk that it will takeover our life.  When we scatter it, it opens up access to wealth and resources for those who don’t have the same access as us.  When we hold wealth loosely, it creates more space for relationships that might not otherwise exist.

Most of all, when we hold wealth loosely and scatter it far and wide, it reminds us that the wealth we call our own is first and foremost God’s.

Out of God’s great abundance, we receive, manage, mismanage, scatter, and hold tightly to wealth.  God’s abundance in love, in creation, in resources is meant for scattering and squandering as wide as possible.  It is meant for relationships.

I’ve been having a lot of conversations recently about money and one person pointed out that for them money is meant, like the gifts and talents we have, to be used in service to God and others.  In scattering wealth, we honor God.  Holding wealth loosely and holding more closely our relationships with God, each other, and people we may never meet                        honors God.  It is a way of offering our thanks to God.  It is a way of praising God.

As individuals we do this with our tithes and offerings, we do this by giving to non-profits whose missions we support, we do this by buying some one else’s coffee or lunch, sharing the bounty of our gardens, surprising others with gifts or time, and helping when another person is struggling to make ends meet, trusting that as we help them in their hunger, we also will be fed by God’s abundance through others in our own hunger.

As a community of faith we scatter and squander wealth, holding it loosely by sharing our per capita and mission support with John Knox Presbytery and our mission support with the Southeastern Minnesota Synod and local and regional organizations.  We do it by having grocery and gas cards available for anyone who might stop by and ask for them; by baking cookies for first responders, the folks who work on the area farms, and bringing snacks to the staff here at Good Shepherd. 

We do it by opening our building to folks in recovery from addiction.  We scatter and squander wealth by supporting Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Presbyterian Church usa good gifts, disaster response programs, and other relief and immigration organizations, as well as the Rushford Backpack and Meals on Wheels programs.  We do it by repurposing t-shirts to make quilts and diapers for Church World Service.

We are already doing this and we don’t do it because God needs us to.  People need this, but we do this in response to God’s love, which is already poured out in abundance on us all.  When we do these things it is because God is already at work and it is a way for us give thanks and praise to God.

These are all ways that God is held more closely and wealth more loosely.  These are ways that God works through us and in us. 

As we engage in these opportunities, as we scatter the wealth we call our own, the Holy Spirit forms and strengthens relationships and spreads God’s love, squandering and scattering it more broadly than we could ever know.

Thanks be to God.