Proper 20 Year C 9/21/2025
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; I Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
My wife and I have four children, three of them being daughters…
The youngest being our son.
And one of the things I love to do with my children is buy them things.
I love to take them shopping.
I love to surprise them by going to lunch or getting a snack while we are out.
They also know that they can sweet-talk mom and dad into things.
Not because we are big push overs…
Not because we can afford anything they want…
Not because we always say yes…
But they know that we love them.
They know that we want to be generous to them.
They know that they can lean into our gracious devoted love for them.
Even if they make mistakes… we love them.
Even if they don’t reach their goals and aspirations… we love them.
Through the thick and thin of life…
We love our children.
They can count on our gracious generosity toward them.
And I think this illustrates a bit of the story we have from Jesus in our Gospel reading today.
Of course, at first reading, the parable sounds strange and complicated.
And it is, it is one of the most difficult parables to understand.
In fact, I looked at four different commentaries on it in my studies and I found four different nuances of interpretation.
It’s a hard one.
And it sounds like the protagonist in the story is rewarded for being dishonest.
Surely, that can’t be what Jesus is suggesting, is it?
And there has to be more to it than Jesus giving some quite edgy business advice.
So, let’s go through the story again.
There was a rich man, probably in that culture, a wealthy landowner.
Who had a manager who had the authority to carry out the business of the estate.
The debtors in the story were most likely renters who had agreed to pay the fixed amount of produce for the yearly rent.
The manager, the Bible says, was dishonest.
He was “cooking the books” and making some extra money.
The master, the rich man, was noble and held in high esteem…
In contrast to the dishonest manager.
When the rich man found out what his manager was doing…
He fired him on the spot.
Though in that culture and in first century Jewish law, he could have had the manager tried and taken to prison.
But he didn’t.
He doesn’t even scold the dishonest manager.
He showed him extraordinary mercy.
The manager now, scrambles, he doesn’t immediately show the master the books…
He is not wanting to do manual labor or be on the streets…
So he quickly thinks of a new plan.
Before the debtors find out that he has been released from his post.
He goes to the debtors and works them a deal.
Quickly giving them breaks on what they owe.
Of course, the debtors assume the reductions in their debt have been authorized.
And he makes quick deals with them, as he does not want to be found out about what he is doing.
When the master again finds out what the manager has done…
He only has two choices.
First, he can go back to the debtors and explain that it was all a mistake, the manager had been dismissed, and his actions are null and void.
He has every right to do so.
However, if he does this, the villagers’ joy at the rich man’s generosity will turn to anger…
Complicating his relationship and character.
So, he does not do this.
The direction he chooses is to keep silent and accept the praise.
He congratulates the clever manager.
The master, by all accounts, is a generous man.
The manager, in his mistakes, knew of only one option.
To lean into the grace and generosity of the rich man.
His only source of salvation here was the generosity of the master.[1]
This story is about a master’s grace and generosity…
About a dishonest person who realized his only real option was to hope for the character and person of the master to be gracious with him.
My favorite interpretation of this parable is from the late Middle Eastern New Testament scholar Kenneth Bailey.
He writes this concerning the parable:
God (the master) is a God of judgment and mercy.
Because of his evil, man (the manager) is caught in the crisis of the coming of the kingdom.
Excuses will avail the manager nothing.
Man’s only option is to entrust everything to the unfailing mercy of his generous master who, he can be confident, will accept to pay the price for man’s salvation.
This clever manager was wise enough to place his total trust in the quality of mercy experienced at the beginning of the story [when the master did not send him off to be tried and thrown in prison].
That trust was vindicated.
Disciples need the same kind of wisdom. [2]
You see, the story points to the grace of God.
The story points to the mercy of God.
The generosity of the one that holds our salvation…
Our forgiveness…
Our freedom.
Jesus doesn’t tell the parable to explain great first century business practices or to praise a dishonest manager.
He tells the parable to share the nature of God.
That God the Father is merciful, gracious, generous, and full of love even for those that sin against him.
Jesus tells the parable to explain that God sent His Son into this world to save sinners.
The parable is a story about a sinner coming to throw his life at the mercy and grace of God.
And this is what God desires…
that all people would be saved in the work of Jesus Christ.
Our reading from 1 Timothy declares this great truth of God:
…God our Savior… desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all…
The one mediator…
The one person…
That brings salvation to all of us is Jesus Christ.
He gave himself as a ransom for us…
Giving himself up on the cross for our sins.
Making atonement for our trespasses.
So that by his grace we would be saved by faith.
Redeeming our lives…
Forgiving our sins…
As we hope and trust in him.
This is the good news of the Gospel.
That God the Father is a good, good God.
He loves us.
He wants to bless us.
He is generous, gracious, and merciful.
And when we come to him in faith…
Renouncing our sins…
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…
Cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1.9)
Hear the good news of our Lord Jesus today.
That even though we are all like that unfaithful and dishonest manager…
We all are sinners…
God in his mercy…
In his generosity…
In his grace…
In his love, sent Jesus Christ into this world to save us.
This is good news.
And we celebrate this good news today.
We celebrate it today in the receiving of communion.
We celebrate it today in baptism.
We celebrate it today in absolution.
We celebrate it today in song, in prayers, in declarations.
Praise be to God.
May we go into this world…
Declaring this message of peace…
With the strength and courage of our Lord…
To love and serve him in this world…
As faithful witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[1] This retelling of the parable is follows Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 86-106.
[2] Ibid., 107.
