"An Ethical Scandal"
Sermon Presented September 23, 2007
Luke 16:1-13
When I was in seminary, I was appalled that the required Ethics class wasn't practical, but theological in nature. With the headlines of sexual abuse and ethical scandals involving pastors, why weren't ministers being prepared for boundary maintenance so we had the tools to be healthy and ethical pastors?
Our text this morning addresses ethical issues through a parable Jesus told. The story is difficult to understand - in fact, it doesn't make sense! After working with the text for a couple of days, I had no idea where to go with it and almost left it for the Amos text. However, I stuck with it and the last two days opened new insight for me. Hear a parable and three wisdom sayings about money from Luke 16:1-13.
Two weeks ago, the New England Patriots fans learned that Bill Belichick, the team's highly successful coach, cheats. At the first game of the season, one of his assistants videotaped the defensive coaches of the opposing team, trying to steal their signals. Belichick was caught and the team was disciplined. However, the fans cheered Belichick wildly when the next game began. Last February, a former team member alleged that Belichick forced him to practice after suffering a concussion and today he has brain damage so severe that he can barely get out of bed. But as long as the Patriots continue to win, the fans are willing to overlook the ethical issues involved. (Time, October 1, 2007, p. 82)
It seems that people today fear the consequences of cheating but don't oppose unethical conduct because it's wrong. If our stock is growing rampantly or our church membership is doubling on a regular basis, we don't question the leadership. This attitude is prevalent throughout life.
Let's look at the setting for the parable. It involves a farm manager. I lived in Platte City, MO for many years and during that time I prepared income taxes for many clients who were share croppers - primarily, raising tobacco. Weston, MO, a neighboring town, has two tobacco warehouses and many tobacco farmers. Because this crop is labor intensive, most farmers with tobacco allotments let others do the work and they share the profits. A land owner must trust those who work their land. They expect a profit, ethical behavior, and an accounting at the end of the season!
There must be trust in business relationships, as in all relationships, but often our trust is shattered by those we do business with. Workers who trusted their employers lost their jobs and retirement accounts when Enron and WorldCom went under. Some workers are fired when they get older so that younger people can be hired for less money. In our story, the manager didn't deserve to keep his job because he had broken the trust of his boss by squandering his property instead of being loyal to him. Losing his job was a well deserved punishment!
However, the manager gets a break! He lacks the strength for manual labor, and he's too proud to beg, so he decides to take advantage of his boss one last time with a shrewd and complicated plan that takes the cooperation of those who have borrowed from the landowner. Understanding that most people look out for their own interests, he convinces these debtors to cooperate with him, and thus they become complicit in the deception as they rewrite the IOUs to their own advantage. Now they are in debt to the manager and favorable toward him.
Now for the surprising twist to the story! When the master discovers the plot, he praises the manager for his shrewdness. To be shrewd is positive! The word "shrewd" means clever, discerning awareness, and using common sense. The manager was creative in solving his problem. His strength is his shrewdness, and the text says that "the master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly". The master does not represent God in this parable. There is no inference here that the end justifies the means. The master didn't approve of what the manager did, but he admired his ingenuity. The message: God's children need to be more creative - more shrewd - when it comes to living a Godly life!
For people who don't accept textual criticism, my next statement may be offensive. Most commentaries attribute the following words to Luke and not Jesus. The words are: "for the children of this age are more shrewd 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" (8b, 9.) Jesus left his parables open-ended so people could find God's message for themselves. Also the term "children of light" comes from a later period, and Luke wrote his gospel several decades after Jesus' death. Paul uses the term in his writing - during a later time.
This story was told to the disciples, who would confront ethical issues all of their lives. Contemporary Christians are also faced with such issues. People trust us to act ethically, and we must trust others. Business and home owners delegate responsibility to others. We delegate our health care to doctors and hospitals and our financial care to banks and other financial institutions. No one can do everything! By trusting the wrong people, embezzlement occurs in corporations, banks, stores, retirement systems, and churches. By trusting the wrong people, our health fails and our nest egg is scrambled. By trusting the wrong people, we get shoddy workmanship and poor accounting. When trust is broken, the dishonest person should bear the consequences.
When Jesus gives these teachings, he isn't holding the scroll of the prophet Amos with the text Lawrence read earlier, but he is most certainly familiar with it. He believes the word from God that says we can't walk all over the weak and treat poor people as less than nothing. We can't build up our retirement reserves by ignoring the needs of the hungry and homeless. I suggest that Jesus is saying that if his followers are shrewd, we can figure out how to acquire heavenly treasures by helping to meet the needs of the disadvantaged.
On Wednesday, I thought: "What if I spend as much on food for the Crop Walk between now and October 14th as I spend on myself?" It was a fleeting thought - but no more. Friday, I went to Pick 'n Save and picked up 10 cans of soup that were on sale for $1.00 each to add to the Crop Walk non-perishables. I gasped when I discovered that my bill was $20.00 exactly - ten dollars for food for myself and ten dollars for the Crop Walk. I may try to keep it up! My sense is that this is something creative I can do. (I fell behind for the Crop Walk when I went to the store yesterday, but I plan to catch up.)
I am concerned about the poor, but I know I'm more concerned about my retirement. In fact, sometimes I get really nervous about whether or not I will have enough to live on. I know I can't live in retirement as I am living now, but I want to be self-sufficient! (Not a very good statement for one who is supposed to believe that God will take care of her!) I don't want to end up greeting people at Wal-Mart with a cart and a smile, even though I know this is a necessary option for many. I want to be ethical, shrewd, and concerned about those who are less fortunate than I, but I also want to live comfortably in retirement. I can't serve God's people as I should if I am serving money and possessions.
Jesus' disciples hear that a person must be faithful in little to be given an opportunity to be faithful in much; must be faithful with money in order to be faithful with true riches; must be faithful with another's goods to be entrusted with his or her own. Money is the weak side of the equation but also necessary to a Christian's life. When we are prudent with money, we can be trusted with real wealth. By being prudent, I don't mean being stingy! Jesus told his disciples to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. He told us that we can't serve God and money! We must be ethical as well as shrewd!
In the latest issue of Time magazine (Ibid.), there was an essay about Bill Belichick written by Peter Beinart - a Patriots' fan. He closed with these words: "By all means, penalize Belichick. Wag your finger. Rake him over the coals. But don't weep for us Pats fans, because we aren't innocent victims; we're co-conspirators. Belichick understands us perfectly. He knows that as long as he wins, all will be forgiven. And that once he stops, it won't matter if he becomes Mother Teresa. He doesn't care about being fair to the other team; he doesn't even really care about his own players. He just wants to win. He'd make an excellent fan."
Jesus said: "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much." He also said: "You cannot serve God and wealth." We have choices - ethical behavior or unethical; responsible stewardship or irresponsible. The choice is ours!
