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Sometimes the bad guy wins. That's life, and we have to learn to deal
with it.
But why is Jesus making the bad guy into a good example for his
disciples?
The manager in the gospel reading knows
he's done wrong and so he sets about making friends with his boss's debtors
so that he might have someone to go to when he gets sacked. Surprisingly,
the rich man commended the crooked manager for his shrewdness. He certainly
has good business sense.
And Jesus explanation?
"For the children
of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own age than are the
children of light."
He tells his disciples to:
"make friends
for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they
may welcome you into the eternal homes."
Well ….. I don't know
about you but I find those words a little difficult to make sense of.
So in an effort to better understand what they mean I resorted to the
internet. A quick Google of the passage and in amongst all the results
I found a reference to a contemporary translation by Eugene Peterson which
reads as follows:
"The master praised the crooked manager! And why?
Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter
in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert,
looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in
the same way - but for what is right - using every adversity to stimulate
you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials,
so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good
behaviour."
Now, that does make sense to me, and the message to us
is that we should use all the means at our disposal to engage with the
world, to manage the resources God has given us, and to build God's Kingdom
in this world. Whereas the crooked manager makes friends with his master's
debtors in order that they will welcome him after he loses is job, we
should make friends with our master's debtors so that we, and perhaps
they too, will be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven.God gives each of
us responsibilities. He starts off with small responsibilities, for our
own actions, then works outwards, showing us our wider responsibility
for other parts of his created world.
Here's an example: if we don't drop
litter we keep the local environment cleaner; if we recycle as much as
possible we reduce the use of landfill sites and the resulting pollution
is reduced; if we use recycled products we encourage commercial companies
to engage in recycling; if we buy organic food, we encourage farming methods
that benefit the environment; if we support an environmental charity we
can have a larger impact.
And, as today is Slow Sunday, those of you who walked to church this morning
or car shared or caught a bus you would have been helping the environment
by reducing your carbon footprint.
It is important to remember that
we are all stewards of God's world, and should take that seriously because
we will be held to account for it. It applies to our finances, our family
responsibilities, our work-life balance, and our engagement with the political
process. If non-Christians are thinking about these issues then how much
more should we, as stewards of God's world, be thinking about them?
It is becoming apparent that the political process is beginning to open
up to ordinary people - non politicians that is - in a way that has not
been experienced before. The Internet has opened up communication paths
that were not previously available. Charities, non-governmental organisations
and the church are all able to lobby parliament and can have real and
direct impact on government policy. One good example of this was the "Jubilee
2000" appeal where thousands of Christians the world over appealed
to the government to reduce or cancel Third World debts.
Now the cancellation of a huge debt
does not make sense in a worldview where money is the master. But even
that crooked manager in Jesus' story realised that reducing a debt can
win you friends. In a world where the actions and policies of one government
or people can have a direct impact on countries in the opposite hemisphere,
it is sensible for the nations to be friends and not enemies.
To that end Paul instructs Timothy that "supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all
who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and dignity." So we are to pray for
everyone, whether it's a politician we voted for or not, whether we like
them personally or not.But that doesn't mean that we are
praying for a quiet life, "not to complacently just get by on good
behaviour".
Paul continues that praying, "is right and is acceptable
in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth." We are praying for the opportunity
to bring our world into reconciliation with God.
A while Tony Blair was being interviewed
on television and the interviewer, knowing that Bush and Blair are both
Christians, asked whether the two of them pray together when they meet.
Tony said no, and tried to laugh it off as if it was a silly suggestion
which, in fairness, the interviewer obviously thought it was. Maybe I'm
naïve, but I thought 'why on earth not?' I can't imagine anything
worse resulting from a meeting begun with prayer than from one that isn't.
I recently attended, along with twenty-seven other Cathedral Head Vergers, the Dean's Vergers Conference in London,
and whilst there we were privileged to listen to a presentation given
by Canon Robert Wright - the current chaplain to the Speaker of the House
of Commons. One of the interesting facts he came out was that all sittings
of the House start with prayer. So if world leaders could pray together
or perhaps the issue is they could admit they pray together, what an example
that would be to follow and what amazing results we might see.
Praying is no small thing. Not everybody
is in a position to be directly involved in the political process, but
we can all be involved in making our part of the world more pleasant in
some way, and to place our actions in the context of God's love through
prayer is an important thing that we can all do.
Now Pat is going to lead us in prayer,
and while we pray we should be remembering that what we do is "right
and acceptable in the sight of God" and also remembering our responsibility
to live as we pray.
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