Appreciate

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

September 22, 2019

20 Proper C

          Whenever Jesus leaves me completely baffled, as he does this morning, and the commentaries offer no help, I often turn to one of the great 20^th century theologians for help.  That theologian is Fred Rogers.  Mister Rogers, ordained in the Presbyterian Church, invited us into his neighborhood where we were told that we are all appreciated and loved, just the way we are.  He reminded us of the goodness in the world when times were hard and called us to be our very best selves for others.  One of my favorite Fred Roger’s quotes is from his commencement address at Middlebury College in 2001. “I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what’s best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does; so in appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something truly sacred.”

          What, you might reasonably wonder, does this quote have to do with a parable in which Jesus seems to commend dishonesty, embezzlement, laziness, and self-interest?

          One way to look at the parable is this: The rich man fires the manager for squandering his property.  The manager’s options going forward are limited.  He could dig, but he is too lazy, or he could beg, but he is too proud.  So he decides to put the employers’ customers in his own debt by reducing their bills so they will give him a place to stay once he is homeless.  Since he has already squandered his employers’ property, cooking the books is not a great moral leap for the guy.  Now, the manager has squandered the master's property, and taken 50 or 80 cents on the dollar as payment for debt owed the master.  But then the scoundrel is told that he will be welcomed into the eternal homes.   This makes no sense whatsoever.

          But, suppose there is another way to look at the story.  What if, rather, than assuming the worst about the manager’s character and actions, we approach the parable looking for the best.  What if the manager has so badly squandered the master's property that getting back 50 or 80 percent of what is owed to the master is actually a great bargain?  Instead of looking at a total loss, the rich man is actually getting back 50- 80% of what he is owed, thanks to the manager’s shrewdness.  Given that the manager has squandered the rich man's property, now we have a win-win.  The master is happy to get something back.  The manager is happy because now he has friends to stay with.  The clients are happy because their debt load is now lower.  Jesus follows the parable by saying "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful in very much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much."  In some admittedly bizarre way, the manager has actually been faithful in a very little and will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

Scripture is full of stories about people who find themselves in tight spots, often of their own making.  In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are evicted from the garden for disobedience.  Cain, the first born of Adam and Eve, killed his brother Abel in the first act of sibling rivalry.  Jacob, the trickster, stole his brother’s birthright. In each of these cases, where humans had made a complete mess of things, God could have judged and seen only what was wrong.  But instead, God saw what was good and used each of them to further the story of salvation history.  Jesus called tax collectors and sinners to follow him, despite their dishonorable ways.  So, perhaps we should not be surprised at this parable in which Jesus commends the dishonest manager and calls out something good from his life.  Jesus could see the capacity for something good to come even from a crook, which brings me back to the Mister Roger’s quote.  Perhaps Jesus looked for the best in the manager, seeing the manager as God sees, and experiencing something holy in the man’s shrewdness. 

Jesus follows the parable by saying "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful in very much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." 

          Jesus tells many parables throughout the gospels about the potential for something small to become something large.  The mustard seed becomes the greatest of all shrubs.  The yeast leavens a mind-boggling amount of dough.  A small bit of bread and fish become enough to feed thousands of people.  I wonder if the manager in Jesus’ parable this morning was faithful in very little, but Jesus is telling us that the smallest amount of faith can grow into something larger, even in a lazy, dishonest, embezzling manager. 

          Perhaps Jesus is using this bizarre parable to teach us something about what it means to live a faithful life.  Perhaps living a faithful life means living like people who believe that God will take the little bit of faith we have and grow that faith into something larger.  Or perhaps living a faithful life means living as people who know that God will take our messed up lives and help us be creative if not shrewd in finding gospel ways forward.  Or perhaps, living a faithful life means seeing ourselves and all people as God sees us, even those with whom we disagree, or who are different from us, or who are dishonest scoundrels, looking for the best rather than the worst, and appreciating the holy.  Only God knows the gospel difference a bunch of messed up people with a little bit of faith can make in this world.

                                                                                      Amen.