Trinity 9
Lk
16:1-9
8/6/23
Bernie
Madoff operated the largest Ponzi scheme in history – a scam that was worth
almost 65 billion dollars. In a Ponzi
scheme investors believe that their profits are coming from legitimate business
activity. However, there is in fact no
business. All profits are really are coming from new investors. The scam can keep
running as long as new investors continue to contribute money and most of the
investors do not demand full repayment.
Madoff
apparently started doing this in the 1970’s.
He claimed to have a unique strategy that he used with stocks. This
allowed him to earn profits that exceeded what investors could normally
expect. Madoff used his connections with
the Jewish community to target wealthy individuals and institutions. For many years he was successful in bringing
in new investors. He produced false
trading reports to give the illusion that he was running a legitimate business.
Madoff’s
scheme came crashing down due to the 2008 financial crisis. Many people began requesting a return of their
funds, and he no longer had the money to be able to cover this. Madoff’s sons learned about what had been
happening and turned their father in to federal authorities. He had defrauded 40,000 people and
institutions, and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
Today’s
Gospel lesson is an unusual text because like Bernie Madoff, it is about a
financial scam. A manager defrauds his
employer out of money in order to acquire personal gain. The parable is puzzling at first because it
seems to praise this dishonest activity.
But we will see that it really teaches us about how we are to view and
use our possessions in light of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us.
We learn in
our text that there was a rich man who had a manager that was overseeing his
financial affairs. The rich man learned
that the manager was wasting his possessions and so he decided a change had to
be made. He said, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account
of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” He ordered the manager to turn in the
financial books because his employment was ended.
The
manger found himself in a moment of crisis.
He considered his options and none of them were good. He wasn’t strong enough to do manual
labor. He was ashamed to beg. There seemed to be little hope. But then in a
moment of inspiration he hit upon a plan that would prompt people to receive
him into their houses in the future.
The
manager still had the financial books.
So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one. Most likely the rich man owned land which
people worked and then owed him a percentage of their harvest. The manager
reduced what each person owed. We learn about two examples of this.
In both cases this amounted to a five hundred
denarius reduction. A denarius was a day’s wage, so this was a significant
benefit. The individuals did not know
that the manager had been fired. He
obviously led the debtors to believe that he was the cause of the reduction –
that he had persuaded the rich man to give this benefit. In this way many people would feel indebted
to the manager and would be willing to help him when he no longer had a job.
The rich man learned about what the manager
had done. But his reaction is not what
we expect. Instead of being angry we are
told, “The master commended the dishonest manager for
his shrewdness.” The rich man appreciated the manner in which the manager
had acted in order to secure his future.
Then in our text Jesus goes on to say, “For the sons of this
world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation
than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves
by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may
receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
What are we to make of this? The manager defrauds the rich man out of
money in order to secure his own future.
The rich man praises the manger because he has acted shrewdly. Is Jesus teaching us to break the Seventh
Commandment by getting our neighbor’s possessions in a dishonest way?
Obviously the answer is no.
Instead, he is teaching us how we are to deal with our possessions – our
wealth. Earlier in the Gospel Jesus
said, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life
does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Our Lord warns us against the role that
possessions and wealth play in our life.
He teaches that they are not to be the focus for us – they are not to be
the center of our care and attention.
Jesus teaches us the reason for this just after our text when he says, “No servant can serve two masters, for
either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the
one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” There can be only one God in our life. Money and wealth operate as a false god that
draws away our attention from God and runs our life. We focus on the gifts
rather than the One who is the Giver.
Our Lord promises that God will provide us
with what we need to live. He says, “Therefore
I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor
about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than
clothing.” Christ points to the birds and
the flowers. God feeds the birds, and we
are worth far more to God. Surely he will also feed us. Jesus says of the flowers, “But if God so
clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!”
God has promised to
give us what we need to live. We are to
trust him. He has told us that he is to
be God in our life and not our possessions. So what is this supposed to look
like? Our Lord says in chapter twelve: “Fear not, little flock,
for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions, and give
to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old,
with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief
approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also.”
Jesus
says that our possessions are to be the means by which we bless others. This will be very different from the
world. The world will view wealth as the
means by which it can serve itself. We
are to view it as the way in which we serve others.
The truth of the
matter is that the world is better at using its wealth than we are. Jesus says in our text, “For the sons of this
world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation
than the sons of light.” The world
is fully committed to using wealth in selfish ways, while we often fail to use
it in God pleasing ways – in ways that help others.
We are indeed
the sons of light. So the key is for us to remember what time it is. In the parable, the manager recognized the critical
moment that had arrived. He was fired
but still had the financial books. If he
acted promptly, he could secure his future.
In a similar way, we need to live and act in accordance with the
critical moment that is here as well.
We live in
the moment when Jesus Christ has died for our sins and risen from the
dead. St. Paul says in our epistle
lesson that we live at a time when the end of the ages has come upon us. God’s
dramatic action in Christ has given us forgiveness and life. Through baptism we have been made a new
creation by God – we are sons and daughters of light.
We know Jesus as the Lord who has freed us from sin and
death. We therefore need to live in ways
that show this. We need to use our
possessions and wealth in a way that is guided by faith in Christ.
First, this
will mean using our money and wealth to support the work of the Gospel. You do that through your offering here at
Good Shepherd. You support the
proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the Means of Grace. The question we much ask ourselves is whether
what we give to God has kept pace with what God has given to us.
There are
opportunities for giving outside our congregation. We are currently receiving offerings to
support Lutheran Seminary Uganda. Both professors and students sacrifice so
that the training of new pastors can take place to meet the needs of
congregations in that country. Our
support of the Gospel goes much farther in that setting, where $3600 supports a
professor for an entire year.
We proclaim that we are against the murder of unborn
children in abortion, and that we are for life.
Yet if we are to be for life we also need to support work on behalf of
life. Clarity Women’s Care – formerly
known as Pregnancy Matters – seeks to encourage pregnant women to keep their
child. It provides resources and support
for women in crisis pregnancy situations. This is work that we can support through
the wealth that God has given to us.
Jesus says in our
text, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means
of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you
into the eternal dwellings.” Our Lord is
telling us to use our wealth in ways that recognize the time in which we
live. It is the time of salvation. We are sons and daughters of light because of
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because God has given us salvation
in Christ, we now use our wealth in ways that serve others. This is use of wealth that pleases God and
bears fruit in eternity.
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