Living Intentionally
Luke 16:1-13[1]
There is a lot of talk these days about living “intentionally.”
Unfortunately, as is the case with other fads, the sheer amount of “talk” can
render a topic like this to be virtually meaningless. It means everything, and
it means nothing. But if you sift through all the noise, there is something to
living intentionally. As I’ve observed before, we live in a culture that is
designed to distract us. From our cars to our meals to our exercise habits to
our fun, we seem to want to be constantly distracted. We don’t just “watch” a
sporting event, we watch it, while we talk on the phone and comment on social
media (and comment on others’ comments!). We seem to have lost the art of
simply being in the moment.
I would venture to say that part of this love of distraction is
that many of us simply are not “comfortable in our skin.” We’ve never really
learned to just be who we are, and to be okay with that. The voice in our head
that tells us that, no matter what we do, it’s never enough and it’s certainly
never good enough defines our lives. With that kind of message constantly
playing in the background of whatever we do, it’s no wonder we prefer the many
distractions available to us. Until we can make peace with who we are, we will
find it difficult to live intentionally.
Believe it or not, I think that our lesson from Luke’s Gospel for
today is about just that: living intentionally. People have always found
something to distract them from the somewhat challenging call to love God with
all their hearts and love their neighbors sincerely. Jesus addresses the
distraction that wealth poses, but that’s simply one of the more powerful
distractions that we all face. For those who want to try to dodge the issue,
Jesus speaks plainly: “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13).
Translated into our terms, I think Jesus was saying that if you choose wealth
as your master, it will take such a hold on your heart that you will not even
be able to serve God!
Apparently, many of the religious leaders of his day had fallen
into that trap. In order to address that problem, Jesus tells a rather
confusing parable about the choice between living intentionally and being
distracted. What makes this parable so confusing is that on the surface of
things, it seems that Jesus is commending the dishonest use of wealth as a
means of gaining eternal life! Given not only Jesus’ teaching about money, but
the whole biblical witness, it’s clear that Jesus would not have made such
bizarre statement. A little background might help us with the confusion. A
“steward” was a household slave who was in charge of the master’s estate. He
would manage all the affairs related to the operations, the personnel, and the
finances. So the “steward” was the one who was entrusted with the master’s
wealth.
This particular steward had been caught being dishonest, and it’s
clear that the master was going to dismiss him. What the steward did next may
seem shocking to us. He called in those who owed debts to the estate, gave them
back the original IOU, and had them write out another one with a reduced debt.
This might seem like outright theft. But it is likely that in fact the amount
by which the steward reduced the debts was actually excessive interest that he
had been charging (and probably pocketing). It would seem that in fact he was
simply foregoing his dishonest “commission.”[2]
We might wonder how this would do him any good. Again, some
background might help. In that day and time, “debts” of honor were taken very
seriously. With this plan, the steward was placing people in his debt by doing
them huge favors. And when he came calling to “cash in” his favors, they would
dishonor themselves in the eyes of the community if they did not welcome him as
a guest in their homes. This explains the strange way the master commended the
steward (Lk. 16:8). It seems confusing at first, but the master simply
recognized the fact that the steward had come up with a very shrewd plan to
avoid poverty when he was forced to leave his position.
It’s at this point that Jesus begins his confusing comments. He
seems to commend the dishonest steward for being shrewder than Jesus’ own
followers. He goes on to say, “make friends for yourselves by means of
dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal
homes” (Lk. 16:9). Does Jesus want us to be dishonest and self-serving like the
steward? I don’t believe so. While it sounds like Jesus was advising us to use
money to gain some kind of eternal benefit, I don’t think that’s the point. I
think Jesus wants us to be as shrewd about our discipleship as the steward was
about his future. Jesus wants his disciples to live intentionally for the sake
of God’s kingdom, and that includes how we use our wealth. [3]
It seems that the more prosperous we grow as a society, the more
ways there are for us to distract ourselves from the calling to love God with
all our hearts and to love others genuinely. I think that was one of the main
reasons why Jesus consistently warned his disciples about the dangers of
wealth. Of course, there are other ways we can distract ourselves from the
challenge of living for God wholeheartedly. But I would say that wealth and
prosperity underlie most of them. As St. Paul could say, “the love of money is
a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). If we truly want to take seriously
Jesus’ call to follow him by living intentionally for God’s kingdom, we will
have to put money and all it can buy in its place.
[1]
© 2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 9/22/2019 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2]Cf.
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Gospel According to
Luke X–XXIV, 1101; Darrell Bock, Luke
9:51–24:53, 1330, 1341.
[3]
Cf. Jennifer E. Copeland, “Shrewd Investment,” The Christian Century (Sept. 7, 2004): 21, where she observes that
the steward “used all the means at his disposal to adapt to his new reality. We
should be no less shrewd in adapting to God's reality.”
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