Learning From the Worst

It was a stroke of luck. We had just moved to a tiny town in the Texas Panhandle so I could be the pastor of the only Presbyterian church in town. Our son was five and had left behind all of his friends. Fortunately just down the street was a boy exactly his age. They soon began hanging out together and seemed to get along well. It was, in church lingo, a blessing. After a while we began to wonder however if it was such a good thing…then we knew it wasn’t. This revelation came one day when Andy and the child who shall remain nameless were playing and asked Cindy if they could have a snack. Since it was close to dinner time Cindy told them no. Andy, knowing his mother, took that no at face value. A few minutes later though Cindy heard whispering. Listening carefully she heard this conversation. Other child: “Let’s get some snacks.” Andy: “My mom said no.” Other child: “Who cares, women are stupid.” For those of you who know Cindy you can imagine how that went over. The unnamed child was no longer a guest in our home. All of us as parents know the drill. We want our children to hang out with children who share our values and ethics…who will be good and not bad influences on our family…which is one reason I think this morning’s parable Jesus tells catches us by surprise.

 

We might imagine that Mary taught Jesus that he ought to hang out with the right people, which we know he ignored by eating with sinners and tax collectors, but she probably would have been even more appalled that he was telling people that they ought to learn positive lessons from the worst people. I say that because that is exactly what is going on with this very, very strange story that he tells. The story begins with a business owner discovering that his business manager is wasting money on things he ought not to be wasting it on. Determined to get spending under control the owner tells the manager that he is to be fired as soon as the books are brought to the owner. The manager is petrified. What is he going to do? Suddenly it occurs to him that if he cooks the books as regards the accounts receivables in favor of those who owe goods to the owner one of them might take pity on him and hire him. So this is what he does…he essentially cheats the owner in order to get in good with the owners debtors. The owner finds out what the manager has done, but rather than throwing him in jail…congratulates him on being so shrewd. And the moral of the story for Jesus? We are to go and do likewise.

 

Don’t believe me? Let’s reread verse nine. “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into eternal homes.” So much for learning from the best…Jesus seems to be telling us to learn from the worst. Does that disturb you a bit? Well if it does then you are not alone. Over the years people have tried all sorts of machinations to get around this seemingly odd conundrum…that Jesus would call us to learn what is best from the worst. The manner in which they have gotten around this has usually been to propose that the owner was already cheating people by charging them interest…which was against the Law of Moses…and that the manager was simply reducing their bills, their accounts payable, to what they should rightly have been. When the owner discovers this he is proud of his manager because he was clever enough to have found a legal way to ingratiate himself with the debtors. This is nice and neat because the manager then becomes a positive role model…finally doing what was right. Which would be fine except this is not a real story…it is a parable. And in the parable Jesus makes it clear that the manager is dishonest! And again in verse nine we hear about using dishonest money. So my friends we are left in a quandary and must decide what to do.

 

Perhaps what we need to do with this parable then is to ask ourselves if Jesus is correct in assuming there is something that we, the children of light, can learn from the children of the world. So what is the lesson that is being taught by the dishonest steward? Very simply put, the lesson is that money can be used to benefit others in such a way as to benefit us. Let me say that again. Money can be used in a way such that it benefits others and benefits us. I realize I may be pushing the envelope here…but just go with me. Consider for a moment how most corrupt politicians have stayed in office over the course of history. They managed to stay in office not merely because they intimidated others. They stayed in office because they knew how to spread graft around. Tammany Hall, the first Daley, they knew that if the money they skimmed was simply kept for themselves people would turn on them and they would be removed from office. So what did they do with their money? They spread it around. A poor widow needed rent money…they provided it. A small business man needed a new piece of equipment…they got it for them. In other words these people knew that the money they stole could not be kept solely for them. It had to go and help others. Now is the light beginning to come on?

 

The lesson I believe Jesus wants us to learn has to do with the role money is to play in our lives. Money, in Jesus’ economy, is a tool to serve others and at the same time benefit ourselves in the process. In order to understand this we need to take hold of the Jewish concept of Mitzvah. Mitzvah is an ancient Jewish concept of doing good works. These works are seen as both charity and as justice. At the same time doing a Mitzvah brings a blessing from God back on the one who offers the act of charity. Now let me be clear…Mitzvah is not buying favor with God. This is not about I do something nice for someone else and then God does something good for me. It is not a fast favor dispensing machine into which we plug a good deed and we are rewarded. Instead Mitzvah is offered because of what God has already done for us. God has given to us, so we give to those in need and in the process we become blessed because of our action. Essentially Jesus is using his dishonest steward to remind his listeners of what they already ought to be doing. As Jesus says in verse eleven, “If then you have not been faithful with dishonest wealth (meaning giving it away as Mitzvah) why should God trust you with true riches (meaning God’s blessings).

 

I believe that Jesus understood clearly the difficulty of talking to people, especially religious people, about money. I say that because the tendency of many religious folks is to assume that the money we have is a gift of God intended solely for our own use rather than as Mitzvah. I believe he also understood the power that money can have over people…notice his closing words about the fact that we cannot serve both God and money…meaning money and the love of it, can be our master. So rather than trying the direct approach to talking about Mitzvah, which these people had heard hundreds of times, he comes in the back door. He allows them to see that even the most dishonest people understand how money is to work.

 

The challenge before us is whether we let the worst teach us about what is best? So here is my challenge to you for this week. It is to ask ourselves this question, “Am I willing to live with Mitzvah as part of my life…blessing others with what I have and through it allowing God to bless me?”