“Worldly Wealth & Eternal Homes” Colchester Federated Church, September 21, 2025, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 16:1-13)

Last Sunday we heard Jesus tell his followers the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin in the Gospel according to Luke.  We considered the idea of being lost and being found.  We found comfort in remembering that God seeks out the lost and the lonely, just as Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners (much to the chagrin of those in power).  And somehow, some way God keeps calling us home. 

Today Jesus tells a parable about being faithful—the parable of the dishonest manager.  There was a rich man who heard that his household manager was being wasteful with his estate.  The rich man calls in the business manager and asks for a report.  Basically, the manager gets fired on the spot and his former boss wants to do an accounting of the books before he leaves.  The manager is beside himself, worried about everyone finding out how badly he mismanaged the estate that had been entrusted to his stewardship.  The manager considers his options—he is not strong enough to perform manual labor and he is too proud to beg.  As The CEB Study Bible helpfully notes, the manager is “lazy and arrogant as well as crooked.”[1]  What a guy! 

The manager hatches a plan to at least salvage his reputation.  He develops a shrewd strategy.  The manager sends for each person who owes his wealthy former boss money.  One person shares that he owes 900 gallons of olive oil.  The manager tells him to alter his contract so that he owes 450 gallons (and do it quickly).  Another person shares that he owes 1,000 bushels of wheat.  The manager tells him to alter his contract to say that he owes 800 bushels.  The manager systematically reduces the debts owed to his former boss.  This obligates the borrowers to be in the manager’s debt in the future.  Because these borrowers will remember that the dishonest manager gave them a break.  Meanwhile the rich man has his hands tied because he would never want anyone to know that his former business manager deceived him.  What would people think of him?  Also, the contracts have been changed, so the rich man can’t really prove that he’s been cheated anyway because it seems that he never saw the original contracts to begin with. 

So, if the rich man plays along with this scheme, everyone will think that he’s very generous (and not foolish and too trusting).  The rich man will now have an amazing reputation for his generosity, and who would want to squander the public accolades?  In the parable, the rich man commends the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly.

This parable is perplexing.  It’s troublesome because the manager acts dishonestly and gets praised for doing so!  If one were to make this a case study in a Business Ethics class one would hope that folks would wrestle with the dishonesty so pervasive throughout the story.  People are knowingly lying to each other.  People are just plain deceitful.  People are arrogant and disrespectful to one another.

There are ethics when it comes to business practices in our society.  We value honesty.  We value fairness—treating employees and customers and suppliers equitably.  Workers deserve fair wages and safe working conditions in places of employment.  When it comes to businesses we value responsibility and transparency where appropriate.  We trust that people will manage conflicts of interest that inevitably arise and act on social and environmental responsibilities.  Does this always happen?  No, of course not.  We may have had experiences where we become loyal customers of a business, and we may have had experiences that have caused us to not frequent a particular business anymore.  The point being that ethical business practices matter.  We value businesses and the people who work in businesses who are honest and responsible and trustworthy.  This dishonest manager is not, and the rich man commends him for acting cleverly in our parable.  Can we go back to the parable of the lost sheep because that was so much happier?

After the parable is shared, Jesus goes on to talk about faithfulness.  “Whoever is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much.”[2]  Jesus explains that no household servant can serve two masters.  Because you end up hating the one and loving the other, or you end up loyal to one and having contempt for the other. 

One thing we can say about Jesus is that his message is consistent in Luke’s Gospel when it comes to economics.  Jesus advises over and again to give to the needy and forgive debts, even debts that your enemies may owe you.  As The CEB Study Bible explains, “The dishonest manager does this [debt forgiveness] out of self-interest; Jesus’ followers should do it to serve God . . . Those who use their wealth to help the poor will be rewarded in God’s kingdom.”[3]  Jesus ends the parable of the dishonest manager with, “You cannot serve God and wealth.”[4]  A teaching that has annoyed or perplexed or confounded some of the followers of Jesus ever since.  Though again, this parable invites us to consider how we use our resources.  Because truthfully we can use our resources to help further God’s kingdom where the lost and the lonely are not forgotten, but lifted up.

It’s hard to be a good person in a complicated world.  It’s hard to consider how we can use our resources to further the Kingdom of God in the world, so that we have a more compassionate society.  There was an episode of The Good Place that illustrated this point in such a funny and poignant way.  In the show there is a points system for the afterlife—the Good Place and the Bad Place.  The flaws in the system begin to come to light.  The flaws are illustrated by sharing that in 1534 a man named Douglas Wynegarr of Hawkhurst, England wanted to do something special for his grandmother for her birthday.  So Douglas picked his grandmother a dozen roses, walked them to her home, and presented the lovely bouquet to her.  It just made her day.  For this kind and thoughtful action, the system awarded him 145 points for heaven.

Fast forward to 2009.  A man named Doug Ewing of Scaggsville, Maryland wanted to do something special for his grandmother for her birthday.  He ordered her a dozen roses, the roses were delivered to her home, and it just made her day.  Though Doug lost 4 points for heaven in the same system.  What gives?  Well Doug ordered those roses using his cell phone.  His cell phone was made in a sweatshop where workers do not have good working conditions or fair wages.  The roses were grown with toxic pesticides that are poisoning our earth.  Those roses were picked by migrant workers who also do not have good working conditions or fair wages.  The roses were not grown locally, but delivered from thousands of miles away.  The delivery of the flowers created a massive carbon footprint.  And then (we learn on The Good Place) that the profits from the sale of those roses went to a racist billionaire CEO who treats his female employees poorly.[5]  So yes, in the end Doug lost 4 points to get to the Good Place because he bought his grandmother roses for her birthday.

Of course, this is a fictional example, but it’s thought-provoking.  The point being that the world is smaller than we think and every decision we make has consequences.  We live in a web of connection that is far vaster than we often take the time to consider.  The point being it’s increasingly hard to be a good person even if we are not as outwardly conniving as the dishonest manager in Jesus’ parable.  Though we are called to keep the faith, to always keep the faith.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Footnote on Luke 16:3 in The CEB Study Bible, pg. 145 NT.
[2] Luke 16:10, CEB.
[3] Footnote on Luke 16:9 in The CEB Study Bible, pg. 145 NT.
[4] Luke 16:13, CEB.
[5] Alec Bojalad, “The Good Place Season 3 Episode 10 Review: The Book of Dougs,” https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-good-place-season-3-episode-10-review-the-book-of-dougs/

Photo by Rev. Lauren Ostrout.

Photo by Jake Thacker on Unsplash