Month: September 2022

Year C
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 20
September 18, 2022

First Reading: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Psalm 79:1-9
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13

Haves and Have Not’s

The reading in Luke today 16:1-13, follows the parable, The Prodigal Son 15:11-32. 

Both lessons are about money and who has the money and who does not. 

When Jesus spoke in parables, he was reaching out to his followers, the believers in Jesus might be able to understand his message more than the non-believers.

However, the Pharisees are listening very closely to what he has to say. 

Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges are brought to him that this man was squandering his property.

 So, he summoned him and said to him,

 “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.”

Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me”

 I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’  

The manager calls all the ones he, has let us say, possibly overcharged, and whatever they owe, he reduces it. What the manager was doing, was securing his future with people outside his work, just in case he was fired or let go. He did not have any other skills to provide for himself. And by doing this he was stacking up favors, that he could possibly draw on later.

The rich man in verses 8-9 goes easy on the manager. 

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are shrewder in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.  And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

 Is it ever okay to be dishonest? Is it okay to use your skills to get ahead? 

Let us look at a natural disaster.

If you are forced to leave home to avoid the next hurricane that is coming and you and thousands of people all travel in the same direction, guaranteed, the prices for gas is going up, the hotels and motels raise their rates, and restaurants elevate the price of food.

Are they just making a living? Yes, but it is exploiting people to benefit themselves.

I personally do not agree with this. 

A couple of years ago, somewhere in the south, I remember a man who owned a motel, and instead of rising the price of a motel room, he let families stay in his motel free of charge.

He caught the attention of the news and was interviewed on the local and national news, because of his kindness, people from around the county started sending him supplies and money to help care for the people staying in his motel.  

His actions are what God sees and his reward will be greater in the Kingdom of God.

The steward in the parable, was dishonest and he made a mess of his life and he knew he was responsible for his own misery. 

A final interpretation of this parable is forgiveness. At the center of this story is the forgiveness of a debt. The steward forgives. He forgives things that he has no right to even forgive. He forgives for all the wrong reasons, for his personal gain and to compensate for his past. But here he redeems himself.

Luke 11:4 “forgive our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Luke, is telling us in this verse.

 We also forgive because it is recited in our Lord’s Prayer every Sunday. 

Conclusion:

Did the manager hurt anyone when he gave them a break on their bill? 

Do we help others to ensure safety into the Kingdom of God, like the manager to ensure safety in homes? (Hebrews 13:16) Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

 Good news:

When we forgive, we are extending the kind of grace God shows us in every possible way and it can only put us more deeply in touch with God’s grace.

And by the grace of God, everything has been provided for us with all we need, we do not have to be anxious about anything. 

Each person is precious to God, in hard times and in good times, God is with us and will not forget us and we will be taken care of.

By Faith, we realize that sooner or later the time will come when possessing money will cease, and the only thing, we will be focusing on is our salvation and the Kingdom of God. 

Just like in the parable, the Prodigal son, God our father, rejoices when we return to him.

Amen
Rev. Lola Culbreath

Jeremiah continues to warn Judah and Jerusalem of the coming destruction. Jeremiah’s vision of Judgement compares the invasion of Judah to a hot wind” that will sweep down upon the people from the Desert. This wind is a dry and parching wind that becomes unbearable, with suffocating heat. Because God’s people are ignorant and tend to do evil instead of good All creation suffers”.

This is a reversal of God’s act of creation in Genesis 1:1-2: 3, the earth is now a waste and void and darkness prevail in heaven. The mountains quake and the birds are gone. The once fruitful land has become a desert, and the cities are in ruins. The earth itself is mourning. The Lord will not turn back from what is spoken, but there is a glimmer of hope in verse 27, that destruction will not be total.

The destruction of Judah was because it had replaced the covenant obligation of fidelity and obedience with idolatry, Infidelity, and disobedience. They centered their life not on God but instead life around objects to center life on God. They organized life around objects to create life on God and they organized life around objects they thought they could control.

The Psalm today speaks of the foolish and corrupt ones that have rejected the Lord. With a few variations, this Psalm is a duplicate of Psalm 53. As the Lord looks down on human beings and finds that humanity is perverse, and no one does good. Yet God is with the righteous and will be their refuge. There is a hope of joy that God’s people will be delivered.

Chapter 15 Luke

Chapter 15 has been described as the heart of Luke’s gospel; it contains three parables about joy of finding what has been lost, and it also shows us the beautiful expression of God’s grace and mercy. In the opening verse, the Pharisees and scribes are grumbling about Jesus because he “welcomes sinners” and eats with them. Sharing a table fellowship was an indication of social acceptance. How could God’s people be expected to share meals with such unworthy people?

Jesus tells a story about a lost sheep; But. Is it wise to leave 99 sheep to find one lost? To leave an entire flock to fend for itself in order to search for just one? This could be economically irresponsible, However, although Jesus’s story could be bad economics, it is the faith-full shepherding that provides the promise to seek the lost and bring back the strayed, Jesus follows this model. Jesus ends the parable by declaring that the joy in heaven of one repentant sinner is more than ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.

Today’s Epistle states the mission “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Paul speaks on his behalf and his own experience, in spite of the fact that he was “Blasphemer, a persecutory and a man of violence. He had no claim to God to be forgiven, after all, he was the worst of the sinners. This confirms, that anyone could come to Christ through repentance.

The Mission of Jesus remains to love sinners into repentance – to relentlessly seek us out, and never give up until the lost is found.

To finish, I want to read a statement from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity and his note. 

“This repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like. If you ask God to take you back without it you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen.”

And so, the Gospel message is one of total love, relentless pursuit, and of reunion that leads to joy eternal. In God’s story of redemption, the lost are not only found – they are brought Home.”