The Dismissed Steward

We turn to scripture readings for September 23rd as we continue our thoughts and reflections on stewardship:

"Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! "When will the new moon be over," you ask, "that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!" The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!"   Amos 8:4-7

We hear from Prophet Amos, who never really wanted to do anything except trim his Sycamore trees, but God had given him a sense of right and words to tell the truth.  There were cheaters in his time, as even now, and they were not going to be forgotten by the Lord.  Amos speaks directly to the exact way they weigh grain for sale and he puts his finger right on how they put their thumbs on the scales to cheat the buyers.  To them observance of religious feasts and obligations were only as hindrances -- God's commands meant nothing.

God sent Amos to protect the needy and poor whom the others are trampling and destroying.  The prophet speaks on their behalf and says that all these cheaters’ deeds will be remembered by God and they will not feel so comfortable.  The blessings of prosperity and material abundance were given by God to be shared and care of God’s poor was, and is now, a means of praising and serving God.  Religion was, and is, more than the routine observance of feasts and external traditions. Perhaps the message to us is that:  being a steward of  God has implications or responsibilities.  Taking care to share with all people especially those in need (stewardship) is an essential element God's Way of Life.  

Luke 16: 1-13 continues a major theme of Luke’s Gospel -- tracing the life and teachings of Jesus; earthly possessions can be a danger to our relationship with God.  Luke in a previous message  gave us a picture of a man who talked to himself about building a bigger barn for his bumper crop, but that night he died.  Then again a wandering son talked to himself about how his wealth had reduced him to living in a pig-pen and what he decided to do next.  And in this parable   we hear a clever steward who has just been fired for misusing his master’s possessions.  He also talks to himself about what he will do next.  Jesus is addressing this story to His disciples, but more directly to the group of Pharisees.

“The Pharisees who loved money, heard all this and laughed at Him.  He said to them, “You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts.  For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.” Luke 16: 14-15

These verses put the parable of the Gospel in proper context.  The steward has misused his master's property; money and possessions have gotten him in trouble, as with the barn-builder and heritage-squanderer.  

The steward meets his master and makes a clever decision by reducing debts owed to his master by others so that they might help him avoid the unemployment line.  Jesus does appreciate the man’s technique and celebrates his accomplishments.  There is a dramatic reversal then.  The “children of light” are compared with the children of this world’s ways.  The disciples hear this clearly, as the prudent-steward prepared for one form of his “after-life,” so are all who follow Jesus to take steps to prepare for their “after-life.” 

Jesus is not endorsing any form of financial cheating, but rather the taking advantage of life’s opportunities to choose real life -- God's Way of Life.   In Luke’s theology and as a good steward, taking care of the poor and needy is the best opportunity for preparing ourselves for serving God.

Wealth is attractive and can comfortably identify ourselves as “arrived.”  Jesus is inviting us to a freedom from wealth so as to keep from arriving at what fails to satisfy. 

For Luke, “small matters” deal with money and the “great ones” are what a person does with money to take care of the “left-behind” and those who take no vacation from poverty or abandonment.  We cannot serve both God and money, because both are jealous for our attentions and worship.