15th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20, Year C
Luke 16:1-13
Sept. 21, 2025
If this morning’s Gospel reading left you scratching your head, you can take comfort in the head scratching of many a preacher and scholar throughout history. Rather than take you through a class on Greek, ancient culture, and Roman social structure, let’s just say it reads a bit like Luke had a whole bunch of index cards with Jesus’ sayings on them and didn’t know what to do with this one. But it is stuck in between two parables that did make sense, the parable of the lost things and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (we will hear that one next week), which helps to give us the context.
The head-scratching is precisely the point. This unwieldy parable is not reflecting an image of God describing how God would like the world to be but rather describes the world as it actually is. In most parables, like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, we are used to identifying the characters as the good guys vs. the bad guys. But in this case, we are not sure who to identify with.
Beyond the weirdness of the shrewd or dishonest, actually the word means unrighteous, manager, the parable does reflect on a few consistent themes of the Bible relating to money and possessions. What this Gospel consistently teaches is that
-All our money and possessions ultimately belong to God
– We are called to be good stewards of what we have been given
– Money and possessions can become a god, a god who cannot prevent death; a god who will only demand more and more from you. And you can only serve one God.
The best reading of the parable today is one that takes into account its setting in Luke’s Gospel. The theme of the preceding chapter had to do with table fellowship and celebrations over those who are “found.” This chapter and some of the following material have to do with possessions and wealth—which create a twofold crisis for the steward. Not only has he wasted possessions that belonged to his master; he has been found out. His behavior is not only a breach of financial responsibility but also an act that affects his relationship with the master.
As he quells his panic and begins to deal with the situation, he acts in two ways that are commendable. He accepts some financial responsibility in reducing the debts, and at the same time he translates economic realities into relational realities. Whatever the outcome, whether he repays the amount by which he reduced the debts or he is fired, he has created good relations, possibly even repaired broken relationships, with a variety of people. It is his resourcefulness and his realization that friends and relationships are more important than money that gets the attention of the disciples.
The parable makes little sense if we assign roles, symbolically or otherwise. It is a good practice overall to not assume that every time there is a master or land owner or boss man that they represent God. Here, the master is not God; the steward is not Jesus or a disciple. Instead, here is a classic “how much more” parable. If even a shifty steward realizes that relationships are more important than money, how much more should the children of light realize that “true riches” have to do with relationships rather than wealth or possessions. It is in fact, as Jesus points out to his followers, impossible to truly serve God if one is also trying to serve wealth and possessions.1
The parable and the sayings that follow it put us squarely into the middle of one of the oldest dilemmas known to humankind. We may think that materialism and consumerism are North American problems and perhaps nowhere and at no other time have they held such sway over human lives. Luke’s Gospel, however, bears ample witness to a larger reality—materialism and consumerism are ancient as well as contemporary problems.
This Gospel does not allow us to rationalize our overabundance and our pursuit of even more, never being content with enough. The dishonest steward, the farmer who built more barns, the rich man who ignored his neighbor Lazarus, the young ruler who valued possessions more than abundant life—all point us toward the better path, the path of radical trust in God alone that Jesus has given witness to and lived by example.
What the Gospel does NOT say is that people with money or wealth are bad. But Jesus warns that the sway of money lures us away from the principles of the Gospel. A majority of people in the world believe almost everyone in the United States is wealthy and seeing the West through their eyes will give you a different perspective on wealth, let me tell you. We are a wealthy people. It is how we use what has been entrusted to us, whether a little or a lot that is the issue.
Since all we have, all our possessions and money ultimately do belong to God, do we use them for God’s purposes or our own? How much you have isn’t really the point because Jesus seems much more concerned with being faithful with what you have been given. What you do with a little is what you will do with a lot. I think we already know that Jesus values the faithfulness of a widow’s mite as much, if not more, than a whole bag of coins.
The last line of our Gospel is what really brings the whole thing together. We can’t serve two masters. We just can’t, even though we try. We can’t serve our money and be able to serve God as well. And it’s not the wealthy that Jesus takes issue with, it’s what wealth does to people, changing their priorities, and what people do with their wealth that he was concerned with. We allow fear and anxiety to govern our choices on how we use what we have. That’s why Jesus tells the rich young man, “Just give it all away if you want abundant life.”
I think Annie Dillard captures the essence of detachment from earthly things and loving things heavenly in her book, “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.”
When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. I was greatly excited … at the thought of the first lucky passerby who would receive in this way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe….The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.
Our Collect this morning reveals to us the heart of the Gospel and the reasons Jesus is concerned about how we, and he calls us the children of light, live on this earthly plane. “Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.”
This Collect is a prayer that has been prayed by Western Christians for over a thousand years. It comes from the Verona Sacramentary of the 8th century and was written for an anxious people in the tumult caused by military invasions. Since then there have been countless tumultuous events all over the world that have kept this prayer alive. A reminder that what endures is not the stuff of earth. Focusing our minds on “things above” rather than earthly things that are temporary, especially in the midst of trouble or disasters, is hard work even with God’s grace. This difficult practice of letting go of our focus on the things that are passing away to loving those things which are eternal is, however, the way of finding peace and hope in any circumstance.
The manager was reckless and squandered the money left in his trust but when he was called into account he made a shift. And that shift was to build relationships that would last, ease the burdens of those in debt to the master. That unrighteous wealth was going to be gone. What was going to last into eternity were relationships through easing the burdens of those in debt. Relationships that found their way to eternal homes even if by a convoluted path.
That is why our connections to each other should be highly valued. The relationships we build here in this community of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church are important, way more important than the stuff of this earth, as are the relationships we need to build with those around us in the wider community. It’s the distinction between serving the God of wealth or the God of humanity. So, let us invest in honoring the dignity and value of each person. Easing the burden for each other, easing the debt for those who are struggling, strengthening the bonds of trust. We will take these relationships into eternity and leave the stuff behind. If even an unrighteous steward can figure that out, how much more should we!
- Mary Schertz. Shrewd Steward. https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2007-09/shrewd-steward ↩︎
Magdalena's Musings 