Living Generously
Luke 16:1-13[1]
Generosity is
something that I think just about everyone would agree is a good thing. We
honor those people in our world who practice generosity. We even give them a
special name: philanthropists. It’s a word that comes from two Greek words that
literally mean “friend of humanity.” That may be assuming too much of every
“philanthropist.” We tend to reserve that title for people who give large
amounts of money. Like the owners of the Patagonia company, or Bill Gates. But
people have all kinds of motives for giving money. For many, it’s a matter of
making sure that others remember their name. We honor them as “generous”
anyway, regardless of their motives.
That may give us a
clue as to the real place of generosity in our society. I would say that true
generosity, giving without receiving anything in return, is quite rare. Even
among those of us who identify with the church, the data regarding giving
demonstrate that true generosity is the exception rather than the rule. We
shouldn’t be surprised at that. We live in a world based on competition that
rewards winning, not giving. And our economy thrives based on how much people
go out and get for themselves, not on how much people give to others. That’s
the way this world works: as the saying goes, money “makes the world go
around.”
In our gospel lesson
for today, Jesus addresses this issue. As sages have observed for centuries,
there really is “nothing new under the sun.” The drive to go out and get all
that you can for yourself was just as powerful an influence on the people of
Jesus’ day as it is in ours. In fact, even the Jewish religious leaders had
embraced that way of living so much so that Luke calls them “lovers of money”
(Lk 16:14). But Jesus addressed the question of wealth
quite bluntly. He said, “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Lk 16:13).
Translated into our terms, I think Jesus was saying that a way of life that is
all about getting as much as you can for yourself is not compatible with a life
of faith in God!
Jesus tells a rather
confusing story to illustrate this point. The story is about the “manager” of a
household who’d been caught “squandering” his master’s wealth. Because he hadn’t
handled things rightly, he was going to be fired. But instead of preparing an
“accounting” of his books, this “dishonest” manager abused his position to secure
his own future. He did that by calling in those who owed the master, giving
them back the original IOU, and having them write out another one with a
reduced amount! Basically, he placed a lot of people in his debt by
doing them huge favors. And when he came to “cash in” his favors, they would be
compelled to welcome him as a guest in their homes.
It may seem strange
that the master actually commended the steward for acting “shrewdly” (Lk 16:8).
I don’t think the master was happy about what his manager had done. Rather, he
recognized that the steward had come up with a clever plan. He took advantage
of the fact that he still had the authority to manage the master’s wealth to
make sure he would have a way to go on living comfortably after he was fired. That’s
important for understanding this story. It’s a story about the way the world
works, and I’m sure that many who heard it would have agreed with Jesus about
that. People with wealth tend to use it to their own advantage, not to benefit
others.
Jesus’ comments after
the story can be confusing as well. He seems to commend “the children of this
age,” like the dishonest manager, for being shrewder than “the children of
light” (Lk 16:8). It seems like Jesus approved the way this manager approached
wealth as a means of gaining eternal life! What we have to understand, however,
is that Jesus is being ironical. The way this manager used wealth may have been
“shrewd,” but it was “dishonest”: he used it for his own self-interest. His
faith was not in God, but rather in the idea that his life consisted of the
“abundance of possessions” (Lk 12:15), just like the “rich fool” Jesus spoke of.
Like the man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones, this manager had was
committed to serving wealth, and not God!
The key to understanding
all of this is to recognize that Jesus was telling a story about the way the
world works. For those who wish to align their lives with the kingdom God, the fundamental
principle is very different: “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful
also in much” (Lk 16:10). Those who would follow Jesus are to be “faithful” in
the way they use their wealth. That means they are to give, “expecting nothing
in return” (Lk 6:35). They are to offer hospitality precisely to those who
cannot repay them: “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (Lk
14:13). They are to live in a manner consistent with the generosity they have
received from God by living generously themselves.
Jesus used this strange
story about the way the world works to emphasize that it’s important for us to be
diligent about how we use our wealth. But the “dishonest” way the manager used
wealth for his own benefit is the opposite of what Jesus calls us to do. Instead
of being selfish, we’re to use our wealth generously. Of course, perhaps one of
the greatest obstacles to living generously in our time is the fear that someone
will take advantage of us. In my experience, I think that’s guaranteed. But
what others do is between them and God. We’re responsible for our own actions.
As those whom Jesus has called to live for the sake of God’s kingdom, that means
modeling the generosity we have received by living generously ourselves.
[1] ©2022
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/18/2022 for Hickman Presbyterian
Church, Hickman, NE.
