Texts: Psalm 81; Luke 16: 1-13

Some of you may remember the name of a Wall Street investment firm called Drexel Burnham Lambert and its most notorious employee Michael Milken who drove the firm into bankruptcy by his dishonest trading in what are called junk bonds. That was back in 1990; so you see, the greed of Wall Street has not just been a recent phenomenon. Even further back, of course, we have this morning’s story of the dishonest steward. It’s a really strange parable, the story of a steward who, being dismissed from his master’s service, decides to cut deals with people who owe his master money. And then Jesus tells his listeners to cuddle up to these dishonest people asking how one can expect the true riches to be entrusted if they haven’t been faithful in the unrighteous. What a strange approach this parable has.

Perhaps an examination of some of the terms used in this parable can help us make sense of it. The Greek word in the text for the steward is oikonomous, the word for manager of a household or an estate. In this parable he has been accused of squandering his master’s resources -- the Greek word literally meaning scattering or flinging away, much like the Prodigal Son did. He is told to produce an accounting, and since until he produces the final accounting, he still has authority to manage, he goes to debtors and starts cutting deals.

In our modern world, collection agencies and attorneys are often empowered to cut deals. Someone owes a huge sum, hasn’t been paying on the account, and often a collection agency or attorney tells the debtor that if the whole amount is paid up front, then there’s a reduction in the final amount. It’s not an uncommon practice; however, the debt collectors in today’s world are specifically empowered to cut the deal. The manager in this case was not. But he did still have the general authority to collect on his master’s accounts. His motives weren’t pure -- whose are? But he got what he needed to give the master, who then commends him for his shrewd dealing. Then Jesus tells us we need to be shrewd, we need to be aware of the world around us in order to protect ourselves.

We do indeed need to be shrewd and resourceful. We do need to figure out how to use what resources we have to protect our -- and our church’s -- interests. As a church that is a community of faith attempting to live the Gospel in the world, we need to think seriously about our resources and figure out how to move ahead. The shrewd steward -- he’s always called unjust because of his motives -- may have saved his job by cutting the deals. We’re not really sure of what his real end is because he is still in the process of giving the accounting when the parable ends. We’re also not really sure what our real ends are because we’re still in the process of living and serving -- not just this church as a physical building but this church as a community of faith, as an example of the Gospel in the world.

Our faith, our mission in the world -- to use the words from Hebrew Scripture -- is to transform communities through acts of righteousness, or tzedekah through tikkun olam, or repair of the world. It sounds a bit overwhelming but even though we are not a large congregation, we can repair the world around us and even, in some ways, beyond us. We have done that through partnership with other congregations in the Community Outreach Group that runs the Calico Cat and provides emergency assistance to people who fall between the cracks of government assistance programs. We have done that through being a witness to full acceptance of the infinitude of God’s children in our open and affirming policy. We continue to do that through encouraging the development of a new Baptist church in our community, Ebenezer, as we did in the past.

But there are even more opportunities for us beyond what we have already done, even beyond community programs and bookstores. The Middletown and Red Bank area many once knew has changed, not just ethnically but in other ways as well. We need to not just respond to this change but we need to welcome it and interact with it.

Let’s get back to our manager, who probably received his old job back in spite of the motives for collecting on the debts owed his master. The demand by his boss was a wake up call. As a church community, we are getting our wake up call. We need to think outside the box because we’ll suffocate it we just stay in it. We need to be open to new ways of doing things because the world has changed over the last twenty years. There are new communities hungering for something -- the presence of god in their lives. Those new communities experience that presence in ways that may be different from the ways we have experienced God in the past.

The Riotous Readers who meet monthly is not just another book club. It has become a mechanism for many of us to explore the meaning of our faith, to develop new, even deeper relationships with each other and with God. The People to People programs that we have welcomed now open us to even more ways of repairing the world through school supplies provided to children who could not otherwise have them. Even the Fabulous Friday walkers have used those days to explore new approaches towards their way of living and thinking.

What saved the steward is that he thought outside the box and was innovative in his strategies to secure his future. When a church moves beyond a survival mode and shifts into a mode of possibilities it grows and develops. The community around us is calling us to speak to its needs. The question for us is how we will do that with integrity and thoughtfulness, with caring and compassion.

Let us pray: God of infinite possibilities, you present us with so many challenges, so many opportunities. Let us respond with wisdom and love to be your face in the world you have given us. Amen.