Jesus talked about money more than anything else, except for the kingdom of God, and even then he tells us that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
We continue our lectionary study, in year C, of Jesus' stories about the rich and the poor. Our readings this week are "Poverty Reduction - of the Soul, the Parable of Dives [rich man] and Lazarus" by Daniel P. Clendenin, and Alyce M. McKenzie's "The Rich Man and Lazarus - Reflections on Luke 16:19-31."
Does Jesus have it out for the rich? What are we called to do with our "wealth," and what is our wealth? Is it our wealth?
What a parable we have to study this week! The parable of the dishonest manager. This follows Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. What are we to make of the parable of the manager, who, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, then "cooks the books," slashing debts owed to his master. And what does his master do!? He commended his manager because he acted shrewdly! In both parables we have someone who is trusted with another's possessions and squanders them or gives them away. What does that say about the manager? The master?
Of course Jesus has some other things to say, such as we cannot serve two masters, God and Mammon (wealth), and about faith, trust and generosity. Consider the perspectives of Nancy Rockwell in "God and Mammon" from her Blog, "A Bite of the Apple," and The Rev. Rick Morley's "squandering right - a reflection on Luke 16:1-13."
What do you think about this parable? What do you take away from it? Isn't this what happened to us on the Cross?
Do you know what God looks like? Michael L. Skinner says he does in "I Know What God Looks Like." Compare this with the parable of the lost sheep and the woman who searches for the lost coin. Watch the video in his article about the school bus driver, and consider school employee Antoinette Tuff as she spoke to a troubled 20-year-old
gunman. With no choice but to be present to someone who was -- on that day, at
least -- very lost, she lit a lamp and bravely started sweeping, saying: “I can
help you. Let’s see if we can work it out so that you don’t have to go away
with them [the police] for a long time.
Then, as the crisis came to
a bloodless end, she soothed him: “It’s gonna be all right, sweetheart. I just
want you to know that I love you, though, OK? And I’m proud of you. That’s a good thing that you’re just giving up and don’t
worry about it. We all go through something in life.” What characteristics of God, and in his followers do you see?
Read "Signs, Sheep and Shepherds" by Kyle Childress, and ask yourself, what kind of church are we? Who are we called to be, and what are we called to do as followers of Christ?
This week we have images of artistry and sacrifice, and learn more about the nature of God and ourselves, and our relationship with God and each other. Is God a controlling master, dispassionate, unchanging and without regard to the clay, or the "condition" of the clay? What is the relationship between this potter and the clay? Between the God who knows our innermost being and us in the poetry of the psalmist? Between master and slave in Paul's letter to Philemon? Are we really supposed to hate our family , give up all our possessions, and carry a cross? What is going on here?
For thought and discussion consider Dr. Bruce Epperly's "Sacrifice and Artistry: Human and Divine," and Dr. David J. Lull's Process and Faith Commentary on the lectionary readings.
