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19th Sunday after Pentecost St. Peter Lutheran Church, St. Clair, MI “Eternal Priorities” Luke 16:1-13 September 17-18, 2016 My first job after graduating from college was a position at a general contractor in northwest Ohio. Within a few months of starting this new job, the company held a meeting for all of the salaried employees. The purpose of the meeting was to go over the new retirement program. You see, this was around the time when companies were moving away from pensions and replacing them with 401K’s. Now there is a significant difference between a pension and a 401K. Both are ways of accumulating money for retirement. The difference is that, generally speaking, a pension is money that is guaranteed to be paid out by one’s employer, or in some cases a union. On the other hand, with a 401K, the employer sets up an account for you, and usually puts some money in it on your behalf. You as an employee can also put some of your salary into this account. However, the money in this account is also tied to the stock market, and it is up to you, the employee, to allocate your money to particular funds that will hopefully increase in value over time. But there are no guarantees. So there I was, fresh out of college, staring at a folder with the year of my expected retirement date – the year 2042 – trying to decide how much risk I wanted to take with the money being put into my 401K. In order to make that decision, I had to assess my priorities. Since I was young and had a long time until retirement, I was encouraged to put my money in what they called the “aggressive” category, meaning that the value of my money could go up quite a bit, but it could also go down quite a bit. For those who were closer to retirement age, they were encouraged to put their money in a far less aggressive category, in order to not risk too much loss. And for those who were in between, it was up to them to decide if they wanted to risk losses for significant gains or if they wanted to play it safe. It all came down to evaluating one’s priorities. Our gospel for today is also about priorities. Specifically, it is about priorities related to money. In this confusing parable about a dishonest manager and the sayings that follow, Jesus urges his disciples to consider their priorities in light of the riches of God. This passage is one of several in which Jesus talks about money. The passage begins with a parable, or story, that is quite frankly, difficult to understand. In fact, the parable makes me a bit uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable because Jesus tells a story about a manager who cheats his employer, and then ends up earning praise for basically cheating him out of even more of his money. I mean, what else can you say about this him? He gets caught cheating. Then, faced with losing his job, he sends for all of the customers who owe his 2 employer. He takes each of their bills, and reduces the amount of money that they owe. And what did his employer do? He commended him! He praised him for acting so shrewdly, or wisely! And with that, the parable comes to a conclusion, if not an unsatisfactory conclusion. Now, for the record, Jesus did not praise the dishonest manager. But he seemed to suggest that we should learn from the manager’s actions after he was caught. “Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” Make friends by dishonest wealth? It seems contrary to how Jesus would want us to live. Doesn’t it? But here’s another thought. Yes, Jesus suggests making use of dishonest wealth. But he also suggests using it with an eye towards the future, perhaps even to eternity. The manager found himself in a difficult position – he was about to lose his job. He was about to face the consequences of his actions. So he took a huge risk and instead of investing in financial gain, he invested in relationships, in hopes that he would at least have somewhere to stay when his employer finally sent him on his way. It seems as if he shifted his priorities from short term financial gain, to something potentially longer lasting, like relationships. Now I don’t know this for sure, but I wonder if Jesus is inviting us to consider our priorities, particularly when it comes to the use of money. Now I 3 don’t think for a moment that Jesus would approve of dishonest business practices. However, I wonder if Jesus is inviting us to reflect on how we use the money with which we’ve been entrusted, regardless of how it comes to us. You see, we make choices everyday about how we use our money. And each of those choices has consequences. There are obvious consequences, such as on our bank accounts. If we spend money, the balance goes down. If we earn money and save it, the balance goes up. But the ways in which we use our money have other consequences too. Think about some of the following choices and the consequences that come from them: On what are we spending money? Things we need, or things we want? Why are we spending money? To make sure our basic needs are met? To find some enjoyment in life? To keep up with the neighbors? Are we living according to our means – spending less than we earn – or beyond them – spending more than we earn? Every financial transaction is a decision, and a decision that has consequences. And the decisions we make about our money depend on our priorities. In the case of the dishonest manager, it seems that he had a shift in his priorities – from short term gain, to the long term gain that might come from 4 relationships. Now to be sure, he was looking out for himself in both cases. However, there was a shift. Faced with the consequences of his dishonest business practices, he focused on people, hoping to at least have a place to live. His priorities changed. We too have priorities in life, priorities that influence our use of money. These priorities may change over time, depending on the circumstances we face. But there is one circumstance that doesn’t change over time – God’s presence in our lives. And our God who is rich in mercy has been rich towards us in so many ways. God has provided us with all we have. All good things come to us from God – relationships, skills and talents, time, health, possessions, and wealth. While some of us have more or less than others, the truth of the matter is that all that we have, including our money, comes from God. In light of this, what are our priorities when it comes to how we use our money? Which comes first? Taking care of basic needs? Enjoying life? Keeping up with our neighbors? Having influence over others? Acquiring the latest and greatest in technology? And what about helping a neighbor in need? Or spreading the good news of Jesus Christ? Now to be sure, decisions about money are not always clear cut. When it comes to money, we often face difficult decisions because of competing priorities. 5 In fact, I wonder if this is what makes the parable of the dishonest manager so difficult to understand and interpret. There are competing priorities in this story. Still, I wonder if our priorities are ever affected by the good news that we hear in this place every weekend – the good news of God’s grace; the good news that God loves us unconditionally; the good news that God forgives us for being dishonest managers, for falling short of how God would have us live; the good news that God sent us his Son, who gave his life for us so that we would be set free from the power of sin and death. How does such good news affect our priorities? I can give you one example. At our church council meeting last Tuesday night, I was reminded once again of something that I observed shortly after I first came to St. Peter’s. Every month, we as a council look over the financial statement of the congregation. One side of the page shows the monthly expenses of our congregation. It does take money to do God’s ministry here, from the building and utilities to staff salaries to Bible study materials. On the back of the page, there is a listing of a number of additional items that we call designated benevolence. Under this category are a number of other ways in which the people of St. Peter’s generously support the ministries of God’s church, by giving to things such as Thanksgiving & Christmas baskets, the Flint water crisis, World Hunger, the Haiti Mission team, the youth group, and the Bishop’s Seminarian Fund, just to name a few. The people of St. Peter’s give generously of their money 6 to help people in need and to share the good news of God’s love here and around the world. My prayer is that we as a congregation will continue to respond generously to the grace which God has shown to us. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put food on our tables or a roof over our heads. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy the life God has given us. But at the same time, God has given us so much. How can we not respond? How can we not make God’s work in the world a priority? When I was reminded that my retirement date was more than forty years into the future, I had a decision to make about my priorities. When we are reminded again and again of our gracious God, who has given us so much, we have decisions to make about our priorities. May God give us the grace to be faithful with all that God has given us. Amen 7