2 Samuel 22:26-34/1 Corinthians 10:6-13/St Luke 16:1-13
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Jacob was a shrewd man; a trickster. Shrewd men take advantage of a situation in order to gain benefit for themselves. And no one did this better than Jacob.
When he saw his exhausted brother Esau come in from the field, he took advantage of the situation and sold him some soup for his birthright. When his father Isaac was old and blind, he took advantage of the situation and disguised himself as his hairy brother, covering his hands and arms with goat skin and receiving the blessing intended for Esau. When Jacob’s rival and father-in-law Laban promised him the speckled and spotted sheep, Jacob took advantage of the situation and engaged in a little ancient animal husbandry. Then, when Laban was away sheering sheep, Jacob again took advantage and fled with his wives and children back to Canaan.
You might think that God would be ashamed to associate with such a shrewd man. You can understand God being the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac; except for that whole, “my wife is just my sister” business, they were pretty descent men.
But the God of Jacob? The Cheater, the Usurper, the Trickster? Yet God is not ashamed of him. In fact, He chose him as patriarch. He is even pleased throughout Holy Scripture to call Himself the God of Jacob. Nor is He ashamed to call His chosen people Israel, My servant Jacob. He is not ashamed to be associated with the shrewd. It is as David said, With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless. With the crooked You make Yourself seem tortuous.
Perhaps all of this helps us a bit to understand today’s parable about the Shrewd Steward. Even though it is the unrighteous steward’s actions which get all the attention, the parable is really about the mercy of God the Father. It is just like the parable before this one (Scripture cannot be broken), the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is really a vivid picture of what the Father’s mercy is like. It is like a father whose son is brash enough to ask for his inheritance early, effectively denouncing his father. And the father gives it!
Then the son squanders it in self-indulgent living. But what was squandered was more than just some money. He likely received his inheritance in land which means he had to sell it for pennies on the dollar. He was squandering generations of his ancestor’s blood, sweat, and toil. He was squandering his father’s name and reputation in the community. What he thought would be exhilarating only brought him shame and suffering. And in the end it was not money or property, but the Father who was being abused and squandered.
And yet, when this scamp of a son comes to his senses he relies on his only hope for the future - his father and his mercy. And the father doesn’t so much as wait for a syllable to come out of his son’s mouth in order to run to him, embrace him and dress him in the finest attire for the party.
Today’s parable is linked with that one. Not only does it begin the same way, there was a (rich) man who had . . . But the steward is guilty of the same sin the prodigal son committed: διασκορπιζο, squandering, the possessions of another. And even more, just as that parable is about the extravagant mercy of God the Father, shown in the father having compassion on his dirtbag son. So here, the Rich Man is charitable concerning this dirtbag manager.
But this steward was so shrewd he made Jacob look like an amateur. He took advantage of the situation to benefit himself. He did what the prodigal son did; he relied on the mercy of the rich man as his only hope for the future. And this was not unexpected, but was already shown in not immediately throwing the steward in jail or having him put to death. Rather the rich man allows him to fetch the books. Was he encouraging this steward’s shrewdness? Was this the manager’s sin to begin with? He exacted justice and not mercy?
In any case, by cutting the deep debt of the poor he was not only generating goodwill for himself, but he was making the rich man look like a hero in the debtor’s eyes. And not that! They took the deal not at all suspicious of what happened, almost as if this mercy was entirely within the character of the rich man. And that’s what the steward banked on. He hoped that the rich man would note expose him and take back the discount, but would honor it, knowing that the rich man liked nothing better than to be known as a generous and merciful Lord and Giver.
We wouldn’t have praised the steward for doing this. In fact, Jesus calls him unrighteous. The man was a cheat and a scoundrel . He committed fraud! But Jesus doesn’t conclude the parable saying, “Now you go and do likewise.” Rather He is giving you a picture of what God the Father is like. He is like the Rich Man. And you are not. The Rich Man does something that shocks us, He commends the unrighteous steward for his shrewdness. Not for his dishonesty. And even though He is being used, He doesn’t mind. It portrays Him to others as He desires to be known: as merciful and generous.
It is a difficult parable to understand. And it is contrary to our reason. But so are most of the parables: Shepherds dying for their sheep, Vineyard owners paying workers a whole day’s wage for doing an hour of work, Men buying property for a single pearl. The Gospel is counterintuitive; foolishness.
Consider this. If the Rich Man is the Father, then that makes Jesus the Shrewd Steward. Except for the dishonest, they have a lot in common. The steward was given authority by the rich man. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus by the Father. The steward made himself a friend of the poor by cutting their debt. Jesus made Himself the Friend of Sinners by canceling the debt of the poor in spirit. And just like the shrewd steward, Jesus’ actions took advantage of God the Father’s desire and delight to be known as gracious and merciful. He did whatever it took to get you some of that abundant, fatherly mercy.
And you sure need it. For God has given you may opportunities to be shrewd and make your Father in heaven look good and merciful, but you’ve blown it. He wants to be known as gracious, yet you portray Him as vindictive and exacting justice. He has placed you in the midst of your family with brothers and sisters and in laws that fight, hold grudges and speak ill of each other when they are not around so that you might imitate your Father and be merciful and forgiving and gentle all with no strings attached. But you’ve blown it; you have put Christ to the test.
God has placed you in the midst of children and grandchildren who are ungrateful, rude, self-absorbed, so that you might take advantage of your chance to show them unconditional love and make your Father in heaven look good. But you’ve blown it.
God has placed you in the workplace where you are treated unfairly, where people take advantage of you and are nasty to you, so that you might shrewdly do what no one else would - bear it patiently and pay them back with kindness. But instead you’ve plotted payback; testing your Lord Jesus Christ.
When it comes to manifesting His rich mercy and charity in this world, the Father cannot praise and commend you. It has been too lacking. He could easily abandon you to that silent treatment called hell.
But you have a Savior. A Savior who took advantage of your deep and desperate need. A Savior that is shrewder than Jacob; shrewder than a quick thinking manager. A Shrewd Savior, the Ultimate Trickster, who took advantage of the situation in the fullness of time and shrewdly did what it took to save you from sin and everlasting death.
Jesus the Trickster took on human flesh and came into the world to save humanity, poor debtors the lot of them, from the devil who was hungry, not for a bowl of soup, but to swallow down all of mankind in his gullet. So Jesus shrewdly took advantage of the situation to get benefit not for Himself, but for you and the glory of His Father. He inserted Himself into that gullet with your sins that they might go there and die with Him. And while Satan’s minions danced on His grave, Jesus came forth from the dead on the Third Day, ripping open death’s gullet and giving you the eternal victory. Talk about shrewd.
Jesus the Trickster was the shrewd steward of God’s mercy for sinners. He took advantage of the situation at the Cross by covering Himself with all your sins. Not just the regular, respectable ones, but also the big ones, the deep ones, the ones that plague your thoughts and haunt your conscience. He didn’t just manage the debt you owed the Father. He didn’t just discount it, but He went to the Cross to bear all of it, fully and completely, every last one, for everybody - the sin that you are and the sin that you do - and He delivers the bill, paid in full, to you in your Baptism.
Come, says the Shrewd Steward, come, for He has made you sons of light. He saves a humble people. His way is perfect and He has made your way blameless. He will not require of you any oil, but instead bestows upon you the oil of gladness and His Holy Spirit. He will not require any wheat, but invites you to receive wheat; wheat joined by His Word that is His Body, along with wine that is His Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Here the God of Jacob honors the shrewd dealings of His Son. Here the Rich Man makes you rich. And for the sake of His Son, honors, commends, and delights in you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Jacob was a shrewd man; a trickster. Shrewd men take advantage of a situation in order to gain benefit for themselves. And no one did this better than Jacob.
When he saw his exhausted brother Esau come in from the field, he took advantage of the situation and sold him some soup for his birthright. When his father Isaac was old and blind, he took advantage of the situation and disguised himself as his hairy brother, covering his hands and arms with goat skin and receiving the blessing intended for Esau. When Jacob’s rival and father-in-law Laban promised him the speckled and spotted sheep, Jacob took advantage of the situation and engaged in a little ancient animal husbandry. Then, when Laban was away sheering sheep, Jacob again took advantage and fled with his wives and children back to Canaan.
You might think that God would be ashamed to associate with such a shrewd man. You can understand God being the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac; except for that whole, “my wife is just my sister” business, they were pretty descent men.
But the God of Jacob? The Cheater, the Usurper, the Trickster? Yet God is not ashamed of him. In fact, He chose him as patriarch. He is even pleased throughout Holy Scripture to call Himself the God of Jacob. Nor is He ashamed to call His chosen people Israel, My servant Jacob. He is not ashamed to be associated with the shrewd. It is as David said, With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless. With the crooked You make Yourself seem tortuous.
Perhaps all of this helps us a bit to understand today’s parable about the Shrewd Steward. Even though it is the unrighteous steward’s actions which get all the attention, the parable is really about the mercy of God the Father. It is just like the parable before this one (Scripture cannot be broken), the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is really a vivid picture of what the Father’s mercy is like. It is like a father whose son is brash enough to ask for his inheritance early, effectively denouncing his father. And the father gives it!
Then the son squanders it in self-indulgent living. But what was squandered was more than just some money. He likely received his inheritance in land which means he had to sell it for pennies on the dollar. He was squandering generations of his ancestor’s blood, sweat, and toil. He was squandering his father’s name and reputation in the community. What he thought would be exhilarating only brought him shame and suffering. And in the end it was not money or property, but the Father who was being abused and squandered.
And yet, when this scamp of a son comes to his senses he relies on his only hope for the future - his father and his mercy. And the father doesn’t so much as wait for a syllable to come out of his son’s mouth in order to run to him, embrace him and dress him in the finest attire for the party.
Today’s parable is linked with that one. Not only does it begin the same way, there was a (rich) man who had . . . But the steward is guilty of the same sin the prodigal son committed: διασκορπιζο, squandering, the possessions of another. And even more, just as that parable is about the extravagant mercy of God the Father, shown in the father having compassion on his dirtbag son. So here, the Rich Man is charitable concerning this dirtbag manager.
But this steward was so shrewd he made Jacob look like an amateur. He took advantage of the situation to benefit himself. He did what the prodigal son did; he relied on the mercy of the rich man as his only hope for the future. And this was not unexpected, but was already shown in not immediately throwing the steward in jail or having him put to death. Rather the rich man allows him to fetch the books. Was he encouraging this steward’s shrewdness? Was this the manager’s sin to begin with? He exacted justice and not mercy?
In any case, by cutting the deep debt of the poor he was not only generating goodwill for himself, but he was making the rich man look like a hero in the debtor’s eyes. And not that! They took the deal not at all suspicious of what happened, almost as if this mercy was entirely within the character of the rich man. And that’s what the steward banked on. He hoped that the rich man would note expose him and take back the discount, but would honor it, knowing that the rich man liked nothing better than to be known as a generous and merciful Lord and Giver.
We wouldn’t have praised the steward for doing this. In fact, Jesus calls him unrighteous. The man was a cheat and a scoundrel . He committed fraud! But Jesus doesn’t conclude the parable saying, “Now you go and do likewise.” Rather He is giving you a picture of what God the Father is like. He is like the Rich Man. And you are not. The Rich Man does something that shocks us, He commends the unrighteous steward for his shrewdness. Not for his dishonesty. And even though He is being used, He doesn’t mind. It portrays Him to others as He desires to be known: as merciful and generous.
It is a difficult parable to understand. And it is contrary to our reason. But so are most of the parables: Shepherds dying for their sheep, Vineyard owners paying workers a whole day’s wage for doing an hour of work, Men buying property for a single pearl. The Gospel is counterintuitive; foolishness.
Consider this. If the Rich Man is the Father, then that makes Jesus the Shrewd Steward. Except for the dishonest, they have a lot in common. The steward was given authority by the rich man. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus by the Father. The steward made himself a friend of the poor by cutting their debt. Jesus made Himself the Friend of Sinners by canceling the debt of the poor in spirit. And just like the shrewd steward, Jesus’ actions took advantage of God the Father’s desire and delight to be known as gracious and merciful. He did whatever it took to get you some of that abundant, fatherly mercy.
And you sure need it. For God has given you may opportunities to be shrewd and make your Father in heaven look good and merciful, but you’ve blown it. He wants to be known as gracious, yet you portray Him as vindictive and exacting justice. He has placed you in the midst of your family with brothers and sisters and in laws that fight, hold grudges and speak ill of each other when they are not around so that you might imitate your Father and be merciful and forgiving and gentle all with no strings attached. But you’ve blown it; you have put Christ to the test.
God has placed you in the midst of children and grandchildren who are ungrateful, rude, self-absorbed, so that you might take advantage of your chance to show them unconditional love and make your Father in heaven look good. But you’ve blown it.
God has placed you in the workplace where you are treated unfairly, where people take advantage of you and are nasty to you, so that you might shrewdly do what no one else would - bear it patiently and pay them back with kindness. But instead you’ve plotted payback; testing your Lord Jesus Christ.
When it comes to manifesting His rich mercy and charity in this world, the Father cannot praise and commend you. It has been too lacking. He could easily abandon you to that silent treatment called hell.
But you have a Savior. A Savior who took advantage of your deep and desperate need. A Savior that is shrewder than Jacob; shrewder than a quick thinking manager. A Shrewd Savior, the Ultimate Trickster, who took advantage of the situation in the fullness of time and shrewdly did what it took to save you from sin and everlasting death.
Jesus the Trickster took on human flesh and came into the world to save humanity, poor debtors the lot of them, from the devil who was hungry, not for a bowl of soup, but to swallow down all of mankind in his gullet. So Jesus shrewdly took advantage of the situation to get benefit not for Himself, but for you and the glory of His Father. He inserted Himself into that gullet with your sins that they might go there and die with Him. And while Satan’s minions danced on His grave, Jesus came forth from the dead on the Third Day, ripping open death’s gullet and giving you the eternal victory. Talk about shrewd.
Jesus the Trickster was the shrewd steward of God’s mercy for sinners. He took advantage of the situation at the Cross by covering Himself with all your sins. Not just the regular, respectable ones, but also the big ones, the deep ones, the ones that plague your thoughts and haunt your conscience. He didn’t just manage the debt you owed the Father. He didn’t just discount it, but He went to the Cross to bear all of it, fully and completely, every last one, for everybody - the sin that you are and the sin that you do - and He delivers the bill, paid in full, to you in your Baptism.
Come, says the Shrewd Steward, come, for He has made you sons of light. He saves a humble people. His way is perfect and He has made your way blameless. He will not require of you any oil, but instead bestows upon you the oil of gladness and His Holy Spirit. He will not require any wheat, but invites you to receive wheat; wheat joined by His Word that is His Body, along with wine that is His Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Here the God of Jacob honors the shrewd dealings of His Son. Here the Rich Man makes you rich. And for the sake of His Son, honors, commends, and delights in you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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