The 9th Sunday after Trinity – July 28th, 2024
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Luke 16:1–13
“Banking Everything on God’s Mercy”
Theme: Our God is merciful above all else, and we can bank everything on God’s mercy.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The parable in our Gospel for today is probably the most difficult in the Bible. Jesus tells about a manager who has squandered his master’s possessions, cheats him out of lots of money, and then is commended for his shrewdness? What’s up with that? Well, there’s a lot of great teaching in this parable. But I want you first and foremost to come away with this conclusion: Our God is merciful above all else, and we can bank everything on God’s mercy. That’s what this manager did, and it’s what we can do as well. We can bank our soul on God. We can even bank our possessions and mammon on Him as well, knowing that everything came from Him and will return to Him.
First, we are told that this manager or steward was squandering his master’s possessions. We are not told what his squandering involved. It was something more than laziness and less than criminal negligence. Multiple witnesses bring charges against this man. He was brought before the master and let go.
What does he have? It’s a good question. It doesn’t seem like much. He has his master’s books that he’s supposed to return. That’s one thing—an important one! He also has a knowledge of his master that goes beyond what has just happened. He knows deep down that his master is merciful. But, he creates a win-win situation for himself: if this plan succeeds, he stays as manager. If it doesn’t, he’ll be taken in by the master’s debtors.
So here’s his plan: he shares his master’s mercy with the creditors. He calls in the debtors and rewrites their contracts so they get a huge bonus. They think all of this is coming from the master. The cancelled amount is somewhere around two years’ salary. What he does was and is illegal. The master commends him not for doing what was illegal, but for being shrewd with what he has. He knows his master loves being merciful on those who are indebted to him. All of these farmers are now throwing parties in the master’s honor. They don’t know what had just happened to the manager.
If the manager has misunderstood his master, then he’s also in a winning position because all the farmers are going to support him and grumble against the cruel master who voided the changed contracts.
I could ask a similar question of you: What do you have? First and foremost, you have God’s grace and mercy. Do not forget that. There will be times when you think that God is angry at you. There will be times when you think that God has forgotten you. If you’ve ever been fired from a position, you know the gut-wrenching feeling that it creates. Sometimes we get it when we think that God has turned his back on us. But he hasn’t, and he won’t. You have God’s mercy because of Christ’s death on the cross, and that is more sure than anything else on this earth.
What else do you have? You have things of this earth. They are gifts of God. You might have much, or you might have little. At the end of the day, you also have time, and you have yourself. Whatever you have, be faithful with it. Use it to share God’s mercy with those who need it.
Jesus bids us to be faithful in little and much: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (10–11). You may not have a lot of time or money or energy, but you can still make sacrifices with them. You can give the widow’s mite. You can be faithful with the little you have. Something is better than nothing. The perfect is the enemy of the good. God has made you His steward. He has given you what little you have as a trust. Be faithful, generous, grateful.
Stewardship is a good metaphor for the Christian life. God has given you so much. Nothing you have is your own. You can’t take any of this stuff with you. But you can use it for the benefit of those around you. We as Christians ought to be good at this. After all, we don’t put our trust in mammon. Those who believe that this life is all there is are very shrewd with earthly possessions. They want to get it and hold onto it as long as possible. They know how to use it to get what they want. We as Christians ought to be shrewd too—not to hold onto unrighteous wealth, but to know its worth and use it well. Jesus tells us elsewhere, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16). Be wise when you’re in the world—it hates you. But be innocent as well, knowing that you have a gracious master.
Being shrewd means knowing what you have and how you can use it. The shrewdness that Jesus commends is centered in and defined by His mercy and forgiveness. We know that we have the mercy of God—be shrewd with it as you apply it to your heart. Be shrewd too with the wealth that God has given you. Know that you have it for a time, that it is not really your own, but it came from and will return to your merciful master in the end. For our God is merciful above all else, and we can bank everything on God’s mercy—our souls and our pocketbooks.
Now may the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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