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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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