17 Pentecost 2007 Zion, Washington

Why would Jesus tell that story? The main character is, at best, shrewd, and, at worst, he's a devious - if not incompetent - employment who was "wasting his master's goods". I don't see anything commendable about the man. It looks, to me, like he was a rascal - and not much else.

It raises some important points. Contrary to St. Paul's tendency to bestow some sort of glorious holiness and living sainthood on all believers, this parable suggests that some of the children of God are not "sons of light". Some of us Christians are not quite the paragons of virtue that our ideals hold up to the world.

(Frankly, that's a relief! I've known a few "sons and daughters of light", and they are wonderful, and they are admirable, and I wish we were all like them, but we're not. You're not. I'm not. Maybe this parable offers the rest of us hope for the future.)

If you're using the Adult Scripture Journal, you already know that the commentator says that there's a possibility that the "debt reductions" that caused the master to commend his steward may well have been the "illegal, but commonly levied" interest on the debtors' bills or it could have been that he was giving up his own commission - so it could have been an act of self-sacrifice, in order to make friends of those debtors, in hopes of finding employment when the accounts were all settled up. It also means that the master wasn't losing any money. Hence, the happy master.

Jesus concludes the parable by saying, "the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light." For this parable, that seems to be the punch line. Jesus doesn't lay out any value judgments until He goes onto stack up several sayings at the end

of the passage. But what he does say next, is as intriguing as the parable itself. Jesus said, "Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations." To quote the Geico caveman, "WHAT?"

The best that I can pull out of that is the encouragement to those folks who are Christians, but who are not "sons or daughters of light", to go ahead and accrue wealth, just recognize that "unrighteous mammon" will fail. (Remember that everything you have, at some point, you will give away or it will be taken away.) The old line that "whoever dies with the most toys wins" fails to acknowledge that, you may have "won", but all of those toys, on the day after the funeral, were either given away or taken away. It's not the toys that we take with us when we are received into the "eternal habitations."

For me, the larger perspective of this parable lies in the reality that the Body of Christ is more like a human body than we might want to admit. It's one thing to be eyes and nose and hands and feet. But some of us are lymph nodes and sweat glands and hair follicles. Some of us are the children of light and some of us aren't. But here we are: the Body of Christ. Perhaps it's because we have understood this parable and not realized it that Episcopalians are willing to welcome people into our parish family that some other churches would never even consider.

Perhaps it's because we have understood this parable and not realized it that the Episcopal Church is one of the first places that people call if they are looking for a Twelve Step meeting. We have a reputation for welcoming people whom some other people shun and condemn. I was talking to a man recently who said, "We have an acolyte with purple hair." I think he was trying to get a rise out of me. I said, "My wife's favorite Japanese friend is a seventy year old woman... with purple hair. What's your point?"

It's not easy to make a lot of us nervous over hair color or tattoos or body piercing. Those things may not be the "cup of tea" for some of us, but the eye is not the sweat gland. The foot is not the hair follicle. But we are all part of the Body of Christ. And we are happy and eager to welcome anyone who comes in the door who wants to draw closer to God in Christ through the Church by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps it's because we have understood this parable and not realized it that we tend to be indiscriminate in the people to whom we offer help. I'm regularly confronted with the contrast of church-sponsored social services who discriminate between the "deserving poor" and the "undeserving poor"; as though Christ had said something like, "Be sure those poor folks are actually married to each other and that all those kids are legitimate before you give them food when they're hungry or drink when they're thirsty, or before you go to all the trouble of visiting them when they are sick or in prison.

Had we taken that attitude, LOTS of the most needy Katrina victims would have died, alone - unvisited, from starvation and dehydration. Our only criterion is that a person is needy and we will do what we can to meet their true needs. And, like any of the flocks of sheep of the Good Shepherd, sometimes we get sheared and sometimes we get fleeced. But the fleecings only make us wiser and the shearings make us grateful that we had the wool available to give; despite the nicks and cuts that go along with a thorough shearing. Because we are not all "sons and daughters of light", we are happy to serve all people, as though we were serving Christ.

The distinction that makes the difference is that we do not forget that the reason we are so open and generous is because we come to places like this, in the presence of Almighty God our heavenly Father, to set forth his praise, to hear his Holy Word, to ask, for ourselves and on behalf of others, those things that are necessary for our life and our salvation, and to encounter God in Christ at the altar rail, in the forms of holy bread and holy wine.

Having offered and presented to God, our selves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice, how can we turn away from anyone, even people who are more shrewd than holy. How can we not understand that we are placed among things that are passing away and that our only task is to hold fast to things that shall endure. Our happiness does not hang on what we have, but rather on who we are.

Consequently, our holiness emerges, regardless of our wealth or poverty, our wisdom or our foolishness, our knowledge or our ignorance. The only impediment for that holiness arises over our priorities: whether our Ultimate Concern is God or, to use Jesus' phrase, "unrighteous mammon."

 Having told a parable about a troublesome steward, and reminding us that not all of us, within the Body of Christ, are "children of light", Jesus goes on to say four things. Two about the nature of responsibility and two about the essential choice that makes all the difference in our lives.

On responsibility, Jesus said that if we're faithful in a little, we'll be faithful in a lot. If we're dishonest in a little, we'll be dishonest in a lot. And if we are dishonest in how we deal with the things of this world, who would dare entrust us with true riches that shall never fade nor fail?

That's a "thought question" for us all, over this coming week.

Our choice is to serve God or the world. The former gives us blessing, guidance and protection. The latter leads us into lives of quiet desperation. The former gives us serenity in the face of adversity and a peace which passes all understanding. The latter shoves us into a life of "keeping up with the Joneses" and of keeping a very careful record of who has done what to us, while jealously guarding our assets and viciously attacking our detractors.

Choosing God disposes us to a life of faith and hope, generous love, and a productive life of good work well done in the midst of a community of mutual responsibility and interdependence under God. Choosing mammon disposes us to a life of ultimate isolation, frustration, despair, and the fatal illusion of being unloved and unlovable, unforgiven and unforgivable.

As we all know, the Christian life isn't necessarily easier than anyone else's life. In fact, one of my dearest, most faithful friend's favorite phrase is, "William, why is my life so much harder than everybody else?" But our lives are open to hope and they are open to inspiration and they are happy to accept wisdom and encouragement from anyone. It's a distinction with a difference.

Choosing God places us in an intentional community. Choosing mammon means that we have to look out for ourselves - because no one else is going to do it for us. The options are fairly simple. But the temptations are absolutely delicious and seductive. So, once a year, we pray the Collect for today to God. And once every three years, we get to wrestled with this thorny parable, so that we can be afforded one more opportunity to choose God and to enjoy the fellowship of the Body of Christ, with all its parts.