2 Samuel 22:26-34; 1 Corinthians 10:6-13; St Luke 16:1-9(10-13)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Jacob was a shrewd man, a trickster. Shrewd men take advantage of a situation in order to get themselves a benefit. 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 a bowl of porridge for his birthright. Shrewd.
When his father Isaac was old and blind, he took advantage of the situation and with the help of his mother disguised himself as his hairy brother, covering his hands and arms with goatskins and receiving the blessing intended for Esau. Shrewd.
When his rival and father-in-law Laban was away sheering sheep, Jacob took advantage of the situation and fled with his wives and children back to Canaan. His wife even learned from her husband and nabbed her father’s idols before they left. Shrewd.
You might think that God would be ashamed to associate with such a shrewd man. We can understand God being the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, well, if we forget the shrewdness of those men, too, that is. But the God of Jacob? The Heel Grabber? The Trickster? Yet, God is not at all ashamed of this trickster, whom He chose as patriarch. He is even happy over and over again in Holy Scripture to call Himself the God of Jacob. Nor is He ashamed to call His chosen people Israel, My Servant Jacob. Hear the Word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah, But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, My friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners,saying to you, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off;” fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Is 41:8-10). The Lord God is not ashamed to be associated with the shrewd.
And perhaps this helps us a bit to understand today’s parable about the Shrewd Steward. Even though the Shrewd Steward’s tactics get all the attention, this is really a parable about the mercy of God the Father. In this it is like the parable just before this one, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is really a parable about the Forgiving Father. For in both, vividly pictured for you, is the mercy of God the Father. What is God’s mercy like? It is like a father whose son is brash enough to ask for his inheritance early, yet the father gives it. And then the son squanders it in self-indulgent living.
But what was squandered was more than just some money. He probably got his inheritance in land, which means he was squandering generations of his ancestor’s blood, sweat, and toil. He was squandering his father’s name and reputation in the community. It brought him shame and suffering. It was the father who was really being abused and squandered.
And yet, when his tramp of a son comes to his senses he relies on his only hope for the future - his father. But the father doesn’t so much as wait for one syllable to come out of his son’s mouth in order to run to him, embrace him, and dress him up in the finest attire for a party.
Today’s parable is linked to that one. The Rich Man in today’s parable is God the Father. But this time its not about His Son, but about His Manager, really His Steward. And this Steward was accused of squandering the possessions of the Rich Man. He needed to be fired. Really He needed to be put in prison or even killed. But He isn’t. Instead He’s told to turn in the books. Show me the receipts.
But this shrewd Steward was so shrewd he made Jacob look like an amateur. He took advantage of the situation to get Himself a benefit. Just like the pig-feeding prodigal, the steward decided what to do. He did what the Prodigal Son did: He relied on the Rich Man’s mercy as His only hope for the future. By cutting the 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. He relied on the fact that the Rich Man would not expose Him and take back the discount, but would honor it, knowing that the Rich Man like nothing better than to be known as being generous and gracious and compassionate.
We wouldn’t have praised the Steward We would have seen nothing good in this and had him thrown in prison for fraud. But the Rich Man stands for God the Father. And we’re nothing like Him. And that Rich Man does something that shocks us, He commends the dishonest Steward for His shrewdness. Not for His dishonesty, but for His shrewdness. Even though He is being used, He doesn’t mind, because it makes Him appear to others as He really is - generous.
With this in mind, maybe now you begin to understand the first reading: With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless; with the purified You deal purely, and with the crooked You make Yourself seem tortuous. You save a humble people, but Your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down (2 Sam 22:26-28). You hopefully get a better picture of what St Paul means concerning the plight of the Israelites. They grumbled. God sent the serpents. He commanded the destruction of 23,000 in one day. Yet He is faithful. And He desires mercy and not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6; Mt 9:13).
This is a difficult parable to understand. But knowing all these things, this parable is easier to understand when you see the Shrewd Steward as a picture of Jesus. Except for the dishonesty they have a lot in common. The Shrewd Steward was given authority by the Rich Man. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus by His Father. The Shrewd 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 Servant, Jesus’ actions took advantage of God the Father’s desire and delight to be known as merciful and gracious. And He did whatever it took for you to benefit from His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.
And you need it. For God has given you many opportunities to be shrewd, to make friend for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, and make God your Father look good and merciful, but you’ve blown it. God placed you there in the midst of your family, with brothers and sisters, cousins and in-laws that fight, hold grudges, and speak ill of each other when their not around, so that you might imitate your Father and be merciful and forgiving and gentle with no strings attached. But you’ve blown it.
God placed you there 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 God your Father look good. And you’ve blown it. God has placed you in that 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. Instead, you’ve plotted payback.
When it comes to manifesting God the Father’s rich mercy in this world, He cannot praise and commend us. Its been too lacking. Called to account, charges could be brought and we ought to not only be fired, but abandoned to the prison of hell forever.
But you have a Savior. A Savior who took advantage of your deep need for a Savior. He’s a Savior that is shrewder than Jacob, shrewder than any quick thinking manager. A Shrewd Savior, the Ultimate Trickster, who took advantage of the situation at the fullness of time, being born of woman, born under the law, to shrewdly do what it takes to save you from sin and everlasting death.
Jesus the Trickster took on flesh and came into the world to save humanity from the devil, who was hungry, not for a bowl of soup, but to swallow down all humanity in the jaws of death. So Jesus shrewdly took advantage of the situation to gain benefit for you and glory for His Father. Grabbed by His heal in death for your sins He crushed the skull of the devil, defeated death and the grave, and came forth on the Third Day to bring you the victory. Talk about shrewd!
Jesus the Trickster was the shrewd Steward of God’s wrath against sinners. He took advantage of the situation upon the Cross by covering Himself with all your sins - the “respectable” one as well as the big hairy ones - and being your Substitute He bore all of God’s anger against them until there was nothing left for you. That’s shrewd.
And when Jesus had the chance to manage the debt you owe God, He didn’t flee, He didn’t merely discount some of them, but He went to the Cross to bear all of it, both the debt you have inherited and the debt you have accrued - so that He could cancel it completely, nailing it to the Cross, the receipted signed with His Blood, bought and paid.
Now He calls you to Himself, to deliver this triumphant victory. Come, you, His Master’s debtors, not to where you bring your baths of oil, but where He gives to you. Bathing you with water and His Word, anointing you with His Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. Come, not where you will be told that you owe some what, but where He invites you to receive wheat. Wheat 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 dealing of His Son. Here the Rich Man makes you rich. Here He commends you and welcomes you into the eternal dwellings.
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 get themselves a benefit. 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 a bowl of porridge for his birthright. Shrewd.
When his father Isaac was old and blind, he took advantage of the situation and with the help of his mother disguised himself as his hairy brother, covering his hands and arms with goatskins and receiving the blessing intended for Esau. Shrewd.
When his rival and father-in-law Laban was away sheering sheep, Jacob took advantage of the situation and fled with his wives and children back to Canaan. His wife even learned from her husband and nabbed her father’s idols before they left. Shrewd.
You might think that God would be ashamed to associate with such a shrewd man. We can understand God being the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, well, if we forget the shrewdness of those men, too, that is. But the God of Jacob? The Heel Grabber? The Trickster? Yet, God is not at all ashamed of this trickster, whom He chose as patriarch. He is even happy over and over again in Holy Scripture to call Himself the God of Jacob. Nor is He ashamed to call His chosen people Israel, My Servant Jacob. Hear the Word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah, But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, My friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners,saying to you, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off;” fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Is 41:8-10). The Lord God is not ashamed to be associated with the shrewd.
And perhaps this helps us a bit to understand today’s parable about the Shrewd Steward. Even though the Shrewd Steward’s tactics get all the attention, this is really a parable about the mercy of God the Father. In this it is like the parable just before this one, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is really a parable about the Forgiving Father. For in both, vividly pictured for you, is the mercy of God the Father. What is God’s mercy like? It is like a father whose son is brash enough to ask for his inheritance early, yet the father gives it. And then the son squanders it in self-indulgent living.
But what was squandered was more than just some money. He probably got his inheritance in land, which means he was squandering generations of his ancestor’s blood, sweat, and toil. He was squandering his father’s name and reputation in the community. It brought him shame and suffering. It was the father who was really being abused and squandered.
And yet, when his tramp of a son comes to his senses he relies on his only hope for the future - his father. But the father doesn’t so much as wait for one syllable to come out of his son’s mouth in order to run to him, embrace him, and dress him up in the finest attire for a party.
Today’s parable is linked to that one. The Rich Man in today’s parable is God the Father. But this time its not about His Son, but about His Manager, really His Steward. And this Steward was accused of squandering the possessions of the Rich Man. He needed to be fired. Really He needed to be put in prison or even killed. But He isn’t. Instead He’s told to turn in the books. Show me the receipts.
But this shrewd Steward was so shrewd he made Jacob look like an amateur. He took advantage of the situation to get Himself a benefit. Just like the pig-feeding prodigal, the steward decided what to do. He did what the Prodigal Son did: He relied on the Rich Man’s mercy as His only hope for the future. By cutting the 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. He relied on the fact that the Rich Man would not expose Him and take back the discount, but would honor it, knowing that the Rich Man like nothing better than to be known as being generous and gracious and compassionate.
We wouldn’t have praised the Steward We would have seen nothing good in this and had him thrown in prison for fraud. But the Rich Man stands for God the Father. And we’re nothing like Him. And that Rich Man does something that shocks us, He commends the dishonest Steward for His shrewdness. Not for His dishonesty, but for His shrewdness. Even though He is being used, He doesn’t mind, because it makes Him appear to others as He really is - generous.
With this in mind, maybe now you begin to understand the first reading: With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless; with the purified You deal purely, and with the crooked You make Yourself seem tortuous. You save a humble people, but Your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down (2 Sam 22:26-28). You hopefully get a better picture of what St Paul means concerning the plight of the Israelites. They grumbled. God sent the serpents. He commanded the destruction of 23,000 in one day. Yet He is faithful. And He desires mercy and not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6; Mt 9:13).
This is a difficult parable to understand. But knowing all these things, this parable is easier to understand when you see the Shrewd Steward as a picture of Jesus. Except for the dishonesty they have a lot in common. The Shrewd Steward was given authority by the Rich Man. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus by His Father. The Shrewd 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 Servant, Jesus’ actions took advantage of God the Father’s desire and delight to be known as merciful and gracious. And He did whatever it took for you to benefit from His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.
And you need it. For God has given you many opportunities to be shrewd, to make friend for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, and make God your Father look good and merciful, but you’ve blown it. God placed you there in the midst of your family, with brothers and sisters, cousins and in-laws that fight, hold grudges, and speak ill of each other when their not around, so that you might imitate your Father and be merciful and forgiving and gentle with no strings attached. But you’ve blown it.
God placed you there 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 God your Father look good. And you’ve blown it. God has placed you in that 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. Instead, you’ve plotted payback.
When it comes to manifesting God the Father’s rich mercy in this world, He cannot praise and commend us. Its been too lacking. Called to account, charges could be brought and we ought to not only be fired, but abandoned to the prison of hell forever.
But you have a Savior. A Savior who took advantage of your deep need for a Savior. He’s a Savior that is shrewder than Jacob, shrewder than any quick thinking manager. A Shrewd Savior, the Ultimate Trickster, who took advantage of the situation at the fullness of time, being born of woman, born under the law, to shrewdly do what it takes to save you from sin and everlasting death.
Jesus the Trickster took on flesh and came into the world to save humanity from the devil, who was hungry, not for a bowl of soup, but to swallow down all humanity in the jaws of death. So Jesus shrewdly took advantage of the situation to gain benefit for you and glory for His Father. Grabbed by His heal in death for your sins He crushed the skull of the devil, defeated death and the grave, and came forth on the Third Day to bring you the victory. Talk about shrewd!
Jesus the Trickster was the shrewd Steward of God’s wrath against sinners. He took advantage of the situation upon the Cross by covering Himself with all your sins - the “respectable” one as well as the big hairy ones - and being your Substitute He bore all of God’s anger against them until there was nothing left for you. That’s shrewd.
And when Jesus had the chance to manage the debt you owe God, He didn’t flee, He didn’t merely discount some of them, but He went to the Cross to bear all of it, both the debt you have inherited and the debt you have accrued - so that He could cancel it completely, nailing it to the Cross, the receipted signed with His Blood, bought and paid.
Now He calls you to Himself, to deliver this triumphant victory. Come, you, His Master’s debtors, not to where you bring your baths of oil, but where He gives to you. Bathing you with water and His Word, anointing you with His Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. Come, not where you will be told that you owe some what, but where He invites you to receive wheat. Wheat 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 dealing of His Son. Here the Rich Man makes you rich. Here He commends you and welcomes you into the eternal dwellings.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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