Real Stewardship

Sermon Proper 20C
Luke 16:1-13
Preached at St. John’s Lancaster

Today’s Gospel lesson has always left me scratching my head just a bit. Why would Jesus take a man as deceitful as the steward and use him as an example of anything good? I suppose in the past, I’ve always avoided looking up the answer by simply preaching on one of the other texts, but this year, I have decided to work through the question, and here is the answer I found in a book by the Rev’d Canon Leon Morris, who served as Warden of Tyndale House Cambridge, Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne, and visiting Professor of New Testament studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School outside Chicago. Canon Morris holds a Ph.D in New Testament studies from Cambridge, and was the general editor of the Tyndale New Testament commentary, probably the last great Anglican commentary produced in the 20th century. By anyone’s standard, he is one of the ‘go to’ scholars of the last century.
It seems that the unjust steward in today’s lesson was what today we would call a factor; an estate manager who was responsible for the day to day running of the estate, and usually acted as he saw fit without the knowledge or daily oversight of the owner. It may be that the amounts by which he discounted the accounts were commissions which were coming to him, but even if that were the case, and we cannot be sure that it was, he was a man who was guilty of employing the law in a way that left the letter intact, but ignored the spirit of the same. Jewish usury laws were designed to protect the poor from avaricious lenders, and to prevent the rise of widespread penury in the land. But over the years, a legal fiction arose which maintained that as long as the transactions were done in kind, and not in cash, and as long as the debtor’s entire store of the commodity was not exhausted by the creditor, usury had not taken place. By means of this fiction, individuals and families were left with a barn full of grain or a relatively substantial supply of oil, but came to assume tremendous, and even crippling debts. Think of an unscrupulous credit card company or bank today who charged say 15 or 18% interest, but added fees upon fees to make the debt virtually unpayable, and which was almost always willing to increase credit limits for customers who were in trouble. A cursory reading of the contract might seem to indicate a fair rate for unsecured debt, but the devil was in the fine print, where the fees and penalties multiplied so quickly. The amounts involved in these transactions were enormous. In the first example of the oil, the amounts indicate the entire annual output of 146 olive trees, a sizable orchard for the time. In the second example of the wheat, they are talking about the output of about 100 acres by the production standards of the day. Remember that all labor was by hand, and the only machine was a simple wooden plow without a moldboard and pulled by oxen or donkeys. In this case, the Factor, the unjust steward, seems to have built himself quite a little empire, completely legally, but utterly unscrupulously, without the knowledge of the Laird of the manor. When the Laird returned from his travels and discovered how his factor was treating his neighbors, he was furious. There was no grounds for imprisonment, but dismissal was certainly in order. And so the Factor went to the debtors whom he had lured into debt, and offered to cut his own profits (his commissions if you will) in order to ingratiate himself with his victims. His thought was that even when the Laird sacked him and blackballed him with the other lairds, he would be welcomed into the houses of those debtors whose fortunes he had saved. The Laird was astounded, and decided to keep such a cunning businessman on the payroll, but in all probability, he watched him a bit more closely in the future.
Jesus doubtless struck a chord with his hearers when he told this story. They had all run into men like the unjust steward. Perhaps many of them had found themselves in debt to such a man. While they were simmering with anger at their own memories of such men, Jesus said. “Such men know how to make the most out of even a bad situation. What do you do with the situations of your lives? God gives all of you certain opportunities, certain commodities with which to make your way in the world. Are you using them wisely to advance the kingdom of God? Do you use your resources to help your neighbors in need? Do you squeeze the last bit of good out of every bit of wealth with which God has entrusted you? Or do you simply sit back and do nothing, letting the resources of God accumulate dust while people made in His image are suffering all around you. I call upon you to use everything God has given you actively and wisely and boldly to advance the kingdom of God. The children of this world are so much better at this than you. Learn to be faithful in small things, and God will entrust you with much. Be wise in your work to establish the kingdom of heaven, and at the end of the age you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings!”
The question remains for us today. How are you doing as a steward of the blessings that God has brought into your life? Do you give of your money to support the work of God in the world? The Bible indicates that 10% is a reasonable place for us to start. Do you nourish your soul and mind , the imagio Dei, the image of God, by regular study of God’s ways and by attendance upon the sacraments Christ has given for our salvation? Do you volunteer at church and in the community in order to help those less fortunate than you? At the end of the day, today’s lessons are about stewardship, and they call us to invest boldly in the things of God. Our time, our talents, our treasure, and the care of our own souls are all the proper objects of stewardship. God gave his all for us, and now, he calls us to take up our cross and follow him by sacrificing and taking the risks necessary to do the work of his kingdom. Sometimes, those who are in the world do a much better job than we do in cultivating and employing the resources at their disposal. We are called to give to the maintenance of our holy mother the church, to relieve the suffering of the destitute, and to enable the good news of Jesus to be proclaimed to all people. Think on these things this week as you divide your time, as you do your banking, and as you have opportunity to apprehend the needs all around us. God will bless you as you put him first, and you will lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. AMEN.