Bloghardt's Reflector

We know we can’t take with us, we know it’s gonna spoil, or go away, but that doesn’t keep us from holding it, treasuring it, and hoarding it.   

And I wouldn’t use the example of my boys without checking with them.  And my oldest son, who was just as offended by the apparent theft as my oldest, “You can preach it, just make sure you tell them that the Sprite was just the right amount of cold that would have made it just right for me to drink.”

Did’ya catch that?  He knows you’ll understand.  They shouldn’t have taken his stuff.  After all, it was “his” even if they didn’t know it was his.

And we are no different.  We can be the most Christian person in the world... Until it comes to our stuff.  We’ll steal from the internet, cut corners on our taxes, ace our loved ones out of their inheritance, even our spouses.  

And we’ll wave to our integrity in the rear view mirror as we say, “Bu-Bye... If I didn’t get caught, it wasn’t a sin.  That stuff just went the best cause in all the world - it went to ‘me.’”  

The good test is when the offering plate comes.  Then comes the justifyyourselves.  Off the top?  Before or after taxes?  Which is less, I wanna make sure I get it right.  Well, first I have to pay my bills, then...

Unless someone might be looking, then we put the money in the plate sort out of guilt, wishing that after the plate is passed it would magically appear back in our hands so that no one would see that we didn’t give.

I know these things cross your mind, because they did me too.  When I was a college student, I used to wish I could make change in the offering plate.  Here’s a twenty, I’d like a ten back..

After all, it’s mine mine mine.  And it’s because we have this “mine mine mine” mentality that the Parable of the Unjust Steward doesn’t make sense at all.   

The parable goes like this, this steward gets himself fired from his job for acting like the Prodigal Son and “squandering” - Luke uses the same verb in Greek - squandering his Lord’s stuff.  

“I’m too Geeky to work outside and I’m too proud to beg,” says the Unjust Steward to Himself.  “I know what I’ll do, so that when my name isn’t on my Lord’s power attorney, that these people still will welcome me into their homes.”

So one by one, he summons those that owe His Lord things.  He says to the first, “How much do you owe?”   

“One hundred baths of oil.”  And so the unjust steward says, “Ok, take your bill and quickly write fifty.”  The next guy owes 100 kors of wheat.  “Take your bill, and write eighty.” 

Now, it’s time for a lesson from the Wall Street Journal of Jesus’ Day.  A denarius is about a day’s work for a common worker.  The monetary amount of 50 baths of oil and 20 kors of wheat in the ancient world is about the same.  It’s 500 denarii.  

So, the unjust steward forgave 500 denarii, or 500 days worth of work.  500 - like a year and half of wages.  Picture that!  

And just when you think that the guy is going to be on the lead story on the Jerusalem News Network for stealing, Jesus says, “the Lord COMMENDED the unjust steward’s shrewdness for the sons of this present age are more shred than the sons of light.”

Whuuuuuut?  Come again?  Huh?  That doesn’t make any sense.  How could this steward be commended for giving away his master’s stuff?   People have been shot for less in Texas.  And what’s Jesus’ excuse? “And I tell you, make friends with your unrighteous stuff so that when it fails you, you will be welcome into heavenly dwells.”

And you and I aren’t the only one confused, St. Luke records that when the Pharisees, who were lovers of money and stuff, heard what had been said in this parable, they ridiculed at Jesus.  They mocked Him - You know, “Cuckoo, cuckoo... Cuckoo.”

Well, hold up.  Heavenly dwellings, that’s heaven.  Where your Jesus is, where you are by faith in Him.  

You see, as long as you get rapped up in how unfair the steward is and what’s going on with the Master’s money, you miss the true riches:

Jesus is the unjust steward.  For He shows you how He is with the most precious thing in the universe - His Father’s salvation. 

He gives His Father’s kingdom away!   Gives it away!  Let me say that again so that you and I that hold so tightly to the little things might hear it...

Jesus gives his Father’s stuff away - freely, undeserved, without any merit and worthiness in the tenants who owe his Father their faithfulness.

We are the guys in debt - a debt that we cannot pay.  And Jesus doesn’t just get what we can pay, He forgives the whole debt, every last penny. 

He gives it away.  Unthinkable.  Unjust.  Unfair.  That’s unrighteous by our mine-mine-mine standards.  

But, can you imagine the joy of the Father?  You were lost, you were not going to be saved, and not going to be faithful.  He wasn’t going to get anything from your debt.  And Unjust Steward Jesus gives you eternal life and the Father gets you.. What He wanted from all creation.  You.

Commends Jesus? You bet His Father commends Him - for He saves you from your unrighteousness by becoming your unrighteousness.

Jesus works, He pays the debt, with His holy life and His innocent suffering and death.  He gives Himself - all of Himself, even His clothes - in being your savior and hangs naked on a tree, made by your sins, answering for your unfaithfulness.

Here is salvation.  Here is life.  Here is heavenly dwellings.  Here is Jesus paying your debt.  Here is Jesus saving you from your “mine, mine, mine” world with His life and His death.

So... Do you get it now?  If you are troubled by your sins, by your unfaithfulness, by your greed, by your covetousness, by your hoarding your stuff, by your deep dark sins, hear this Gospel:

You were fired from being a child of God before you could even be hired to be a child of God and Jesus took that firing upon on Himself. 

Think right now of all your terrible sins.  Got them in your mind, the list of your deeds.. And write on the bill, “Paid by Jesus.”

He died for your sins.  He died for your trespasses.  He died for your deep dark sins - your thoughts, your works, your feelings.  He died for what you have done that you are ashamed of and for what you think to yourself and then are ashamed that you even had the thought. 

So take the bill that you owe God for your sins and write, “Paid by Jesus” on it.  Forgiven by the Unjust Steward who gives His Dad’s kingdom away.  You don’t have to write it quickly even, for Jesus’ sacrifice is once for all time - we can’t miss it.

“So, Pastor, am I to write ‘Jesus’ on my credit card statement?”  No, Jesus isn’t your bailout plan.  Nor am I telling you to let the thieves come in and take your stuff.

I’m saying that when they do, when your stuff fails you, don’t fret.  For Unjust Steward Jesus is more than just the guy who gets you out of credit card debt or gets your stolen Sprite back. 

The Father has enlivened you to be faithful with that little thing that you think is the biggest thing in the world. He has given you a job, work, all the things that you have in this world.  

Given as a gift.  Not yours, yours, yours, they are His, His, His.  “Thine own,” as you sing each week.

And all of it, every last bit, from the foundation of your house to the lent in your empty pocket, it’s all just stuff - just like my boy’s Sprite.  There’s always a corner store and there’s usually more.   

And if there isn’t, clearly your heavenly Father, who didn’t spare His only begotten Son in saving your from the debt of yours sins, will provide for you.  

Think about that - if the Father gives to you that thing you think you need, He loves you in Christ.  If He doesn’t give you what you think you need as a person, as a family, as a church.. well... He’ll love you in Christ another way.   

For your sins have been paid for... “paid for by Jesus.”  You are now free to take what has been given for you in this world to help others in need - even if they take it, like a Sprite in the fridge, when they don’t know it’s yours.

For when all this is done, when His work with you is done, you’ll see His eternal dwellings.  Because of Jesus... The Unjust Steward, who gives you His Father’s kingdom for free.  He pays your debt, your sins, your guilt, your everything with His holy life and innocent sufferings and death.  And you... You are forgiven.  In the name of Jesus. Amen.