Smack dab in the middle of Luke’s gospel, we find a disturbing little tale of a dishonest steward who has squandered his master’s riches and is subsequently dismissed. After all, who can tolerate bad management? In his distress, the steward ponders what to do next. To secure his hopes of being welcomed into the homes of others, he comes up with a scheme: he slashes the debts owed to his master, making friends with the debtors at the last possible moment.
What happens next? Instead of being reprimanded, imprisoned, sued, or otherwise punished, the master praises the steward for his shrewdness!
What kind of parable is this?! Jesus couldn’t possibly mean what he’s saying, could he? He couldn’t be saying shrewdness is good, could he?
Well, Jesus has been doing unsavory things in Luke’s gospel. He has been touching lepers, eating with tax collectors, talking to people in trees, and calling people who smell like fish to follow him. He’s taken the teaching that belongs in the synagogues out into the countryside. He has broken all the rules of the Sabbath.
And he tells this parable to his disciples immediately after telling the Pharisees three parables about lost things and the God who seeks them. Furthermore, he tells it so that the Pharisees overhear him.
In their eyes, he himself is the dishonest steward who has squandered the master’s possessions. He is in the process of doing exactly what they scorn; he is taking the things of God and tossing them around willy-nilly, lavishing grace and mercy upon those who have done nothing to deserve it. It’s like he’s opened the storehouse and let the vagrants take what they need.
And he’s shrew enough to let them hear this parable. It is quite upsetting to those who have been so careful to obey the law.
Why? Jesus tells us about a God who casts a net far and wide. No one is outside of Jesus’ circle of concern and he would do absolutely anything to get to each and every one of us. Cure, confront, touch, listen, chastise, teach, call, risk, break the rules…Jesus comes to us where we are, as we are, and squanders God’s gifts on us. He’s been doing that forever.
Obey the law or don’t, God’s grace is for you just the same. You’re like a lost sheep; Jesus drops everything and leaves everything behind to find you. He lays you upon his shoulders and carries you home. You’re like a lost coin; Jesus calls everyone into the room to celebrate when you are found. And you’re like a jealous, tantrum-throwing son; Jesus cares when you’re not at the party and he leaves the celebration to coax you in.
As you may know, in the Roman Catholic community, if you have been away for some time, or just haven't pulled a priest aside for confession in awhile, you shouldn't go up casually for communion. I knew at church today I wouldn't be recieving communion, and I would normally just stay in my pew. But I decided to do what we are encouraged to do and go up and at least get a blessing, which I did. For some reason, the experience just blew me away, and it almost brought me to tears. It really is something to get that our lives matter to those around us, and that even simple gestures can remind us of that. It was definitely a moment that told me of God's gratuitous grace-giving, and that I'm always in His gaze.
ReplyDeleteMy Bible study group struggled with the next week's Gospel, the second half of Luke 16 - with the rich man and Lazurus. We struggled in finding the grace, particularly for the rich man. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ashley.
ReplyDeleteFirst, don't equate the location of this story with the hell we think of. Ancient Jerusalemites knew only about Hades (Sheol in the Hebrew), which was the place of the dead where EVERYONE went. This is the place to which Jesus descended when he died. (The only other place that gets translated "hell" in the New Testament is Gehenna, which was the trash heap that burned continually outside Jerusalem.)
What's mentioned here in Luke 16 is Hades, the place of the dead. The rich man is in torment there, separated from the company of Lazarus and Abraham, b/c the chasm he created WHILE HE LIVED can no longer be closed. It's too late to do anything about it.
The good news here is that Jesus is not telling a story of something that actually happened; he's telling a parable to the living....and he's telling it to the Pharisees (and to the reader -- you and me).
To my way of thinking, he's pointing out that we create chasms between us and others, and while we don't realize it, those chasms are being fixed. The longer we honor them, the more permanent they become.
Jesus wasn't so much concerned about the dead and supplying grace for them as about changing conditions for the living. So I don't think we should spend much time trying to recover grace for a fictitious rich man....but to get to work on the chasms we are honoring; and stop doing that.
There is grace in choice: We still live. We can make a difference for others by tending to the chasms we have created and are creating. We have a chance to alleviate suffering now, every time we see it, instead of stepping over it, and we might want to do that, not b/c we are afraid of what will happen to us if we don't, but b/c we are interested in living in a world w/o chasms.