14 Pentecost, C p 20, September 22, 2019
Amos 8:4-7. Psalm 113
1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13
Lectionary Link One has to salute greedy people. Why? Greedy people are really successful at what they do and with what they are. Greedy people have singularly self focus in looking out for themselves to the neglect of others. Their greed usually creates lots of collateral sinning as well. To amass as much wealth as one can for oneself, one also has to become dishonest. Don’t misinterpret what I am saying; not all wealthy people are greedy. Greed is when one is a slave to wealth and one serves it and the power and prestige of wealth even if one does not need it.
One can find in the parable words of Jesus a fascination with a greedy steward. Jesus often uses symbols of notorious sinning to make a counter-point.
I believe that the words of Jesus are often about stewardship being the basic issue of our lives. Whom does my life belong to? Whom do I serve? Do the words, deeds and the way I manage my material existence reveal whom I serve in this life?
The genius of the creation story reveals that God as creator is the owner of the universe and a very generous and permissive landlord to all the Adams and Eves. But what if the tenants begin to behave as though the apparent possession of what we have is treated by us as actual ownership of our lives and all that we have?
Once we are fooled into the belief that “possession is nine tenth of the law,” then we begin to act as we are the owners of our lives. We can begin to believe that the main principle of living is to “look out for number, one, namely me.”
And we can get really clever at being selfish. We can get really clever at being greedy with our time, talent and treasure.
And Jesus was fascinated about how good at their vocation greedy people actually become. But then he opines: Isn’t it ironic how devoted to greed people can become? How is it that people of faith, children of light, do not show a corresponding profound devotion to the God of love who owns their lives and who has shared so generously? Why is it that people of faith who have been given so much cannot imitate in a profound way, God who is love and sharing and caring with everything.
It seems as though Jesus is saying, “People, don’t you understand the big story of Genesis? God who created you and owns you has given everything to you. And all God asks is that we share in the way that the God of love shares with us and that we acknowledge the divine ownership of our lives.”
Desire or the energy of life is violated when the capacity that we have to love God and each other is expressed as the selfish energy of idolatry which leads to greed and the other forms of addiction. Greed is the addiction to wealth. Have you noticed how in our society greed is actually promoted as a virtue? Greed is a socially accepted form of addiction. We are not scandalized that 5% of people own most the wealth of our country; we think it is more important that each of us could rise to become one of those lucky 5%.
And we must clearly say that if we look at the words of Jesus and our country, we cannot say that our our country is “Christ-like.” Why? The words of Jesus are rather blunt: “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
You did hear about the very rich man who did not like it when the pastor started using a different translation of the Bible. The pastor asked him why he did not like the different translation. And the rich man said, “Well, we should use the King James Version.” And the pastor ask, why. The rich man said, “Well, in the King James Version, Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” No one knows what Mammon means. But in the new translation, Jesus says, “ You can’t serve God and wealth. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about my wealth.”
So do you think that Jesus is against wealth and that Jesus would be against the “free market?” Not at all. I think the market is truly free when people make the creative free choice to make sure that everyone has enough. This is what an enlightened free market looks like. The free market has meant that greed can win the day; Jesus hopes that generosity could win the day.
And if Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and wealth,” I believe that what he was directly implying was that we can serve God with our wealth, with the wealth of our time, talent and treasure.
The stewardship prayer from the Hebrew Scriptures that is often used at the offertory”. All things come from you, O God, and from your own, have we given thee.” This is expression of what the free market means in the biblical sense.
Biblical stewardship is how we avoid the addiction of greed. This is how we honor the basic stewardship contract that we are meant to have with our creator, owner, landlord God of the universe.
Why was Jesus so fascinated with greed? I believe that Jesus knew that the wonderful human capacity could be transformed for truly marvelous human endeavors. If we have the capacity for greed; we have an equal capacity for generosity. Every human evil capacity can be transformed to an opposite good and creative outcome.
Jesus came to show us that human capacity can be transformed towards excellence. The story of the New Testament is how ordinary people encountered the Risen Christ and had their lives changed.
You and I are called to represent Jesus through living transformed lives. Greed may not be our problem but we might have other habits which need to be transformed.
God created us with wonderful capacities and God gave us the stewardship of all that we have and are. We find that we often fail miserably in the task of being good stewards with what God has given us.
Jesus came to rescue us in our poor stewardship and show us the path of good stewardship. The mystical experience of the Risen Christ is to put us on the path of the transformation of our lives.
Today, we can like Jesus, be fascinated with all of the greed in our world, and all of the evil in our world which is permitted because of genuine freedom.
Can we also believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to have our lives transformed and model for this world, the best use of freedom in our lives for the loving and just stewardship of our world? With God’s help, let us be on the path of transformation. Amen.
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