Proper 20, Year C
Sunday, September 22, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Psalm 79:1-9
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13
So crooks
have got to love today’s Gospel passage.
Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth. If you’re dishonest, you’re already halfway
there. Jesus’ story is probably a fairly
unrealistic story as people and money go, but perhaps the lesson Jesus is
teaching is not how to be financial wizards.
Perhaps the lesson is more about God and each other. Perhaps that God
wants us to be good stewards of our relationships and good stewards of each
other?
In the
story Jesus told, the master had to realize he wasn’t going to get paid the
full amount by all of his debtors anyway?
The steward had mismanaged the master’s property, so the master was
going to be losing money and he knew it.
The steward (or former steward) knowing also that the master was going
to lose money, decided that if the master was not going to benefit from his
mismanagement, then at least all of the creditors could benefit from it.
This guy
was crooked, but at least he was finally managing something well. He didn’t manage the property well, but he
managed the losses and the people pretty darn well. Having mismanaged his master’s property, he
could have been fired friendless or he could have been fired with friends in
abundance. The result was the same for
the master either way; he wouldn’t get all that he should. So, the master commended the former steward
for his cleverness…at least he was managing something well at this point,
relationships and people.
Perhaps,
while we may be poor stewards of many things, if we are good stewards of
people, good stewards of our relationships, then God will be pleased. Perhaps if we treat each other well and
respect the dignity of every human being, then God will say, “Well done, good
and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your master!” (Matthew 25:23)
That
was from Matthew 25, Jesus telling the parable of the talents, and those who
made more from the talents they had been given were told, “Well done, good and
faithful servant; enter into the joy of your master!” (Matthew 25:23) The master said well done because the
servants had made more money, but remember, it is a parable. God has no need for money. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,” God
says in Psalm 50:12, “for the world and all that is in it is mine.” God does not require money or food from
us. What does God require, “but to do
justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)
Notice the
baptismal covenant doesn’t say, “Will you be a financial wizard?” or “Will you
competently manage every gift God has given you?” The promises we make in our baptism have to
do with people and how we relate to and treat other people.
Of course,
what we do with our money is tied with how we treat other people. The parable is teaching us to use what we
have for the well-being of others and to build up for ourselves treasures in
heaven. Use the gifts you have been
given to help serve those around you.
In our
budget at St. Mark’s, we have recently been given a great gift by the
diocese. Due to the faithful stewardship
and good financial management of the diocese, we and all the churches of the
diocese are going to be asked to give less to the diocese in the future than we
have been. Bishop Doyle is asking that
we take the savings and we spend it out there somewhere. Having been given a windfall, the bishop is
asking that we spend it not on ourselves, but on those in need around us. Your vestry and I, as we look to next years’
budget, will be determining what we can do with this gift we have been
given.
We know the
needs of Bay City are great, and in light of the gospel, we can’t simply take
these savings from the diocese and use it all to help ourselves. We’ve got expenses coming. We passed a deficit budget, hoping for growth
in the parish over the year. We’ve got
repairs to our buildings, which we need to take care of. We’ve got a little debt to continue paying
off. We’ve got the regular bills that
come in every month: water, electricity,
insurance, salaries, etc. We’ve got our
current outreach efforts in the Friday breakfasts; in giving financially to
MEHOP, Boys and Girls Club, and the Crisis Center; and other outreach efforts.
We have all
of these financial responsibilities, and we had all of them before we received
this gift from the diocese. These
responsibilities are ours to bear, and our windfall from the diocese should not
be used on ourselves and our current financial responsibilities, but to do
something new, to serve the people of Bay City in some new way. I don’t know what that is going to be
yet. Like I said earlier, the vestry and
I will be determining that over the coming months or maybe even over next
year.
What’s on
your heart? What needs do you see in Bay
City? What’s not being done that St.
Mark’s particularly could do? Talk to
your vestry members. Give them your
ideas and suggestions. A need on your
heart may be a need which St. Mark’s is particularly equipped to meet.
Of course
the needs on our hearts may also be needs which each of us are particularly
equipped to meet. In light of today’s
Gospel, I believe we are all being called to re-examine how we are managing all
that God has given us. Is there giving
to meet the needs of those around us in our financial budgets? Is there giving to meet the needs of those
around us in our budgets of time.
There is a
cost to being Jesus’ disciple, and part of that cost is spending some of our
time and spending some of our money to help meet the needs of those around
us. Part of the cost of being Jesus’
disciples is using our particular talents to serve the world, striving for
justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every human
being.
There is a
cost to being Jesus’ disciples, but look at the result. Think of the people in the story Jesus told,
the ones who owed a hundred and were told, “make it fifty” and “make it
eighty”. Imagine the joy and relief of
those people, having had such a burden lifted.
That’s life in the kingdom of God.
That’s the joy that comes with the cost of being Jesus’ disciple. As Jesus pointed out in the story we heard
today, even dishonest people can share with others if it is for their
benefit. How much more would we, who are
disciples of Jesus, share with others purely for their benefit? Amen.
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