Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 25] 2025, rcl yr c
JEREMIAH 8:18-9:1; PSALM 79:1-9; 1 TIMOTHY 2:1-7; LUKE 16:1-13
his master commended the dishonest manager
because he had acted shrewdly
When it comes to those rare evenings when Karen and I get to sit down and watch a bit of TV together, we have a bit of a hard time choosing exactly what to watch. At least, it’s hard to find something we are both excited to watch. We both enjoy feeling something—it’s just I enjoy feeling scared and I revel in moral ambiguity, while Karen enjoys having her heart moved and an ending where it becomes clear just who was the bad guy and just who was the good guy. I find some enjoyment in the problems of the bad guy who prospers, while Karen really would rather see the good guy win. The classics for me are shows like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, where we find ourselves cheering for the troubled antihero; the classics for Karen are usually British detective stories whose titles I don’t remember.
And I get it, I’m not trying to throw shade! A world where everything is made right in the end reflects, in a way, the hope we have in Christ, that all things will be made well. But there’s something, too, to telling stories of moral ambiguity, where sometimes the wrong people win, and where endings aren’t as clear, and morality isn’t certain. Because in many ways, this is the world we live in—where the wicked thrive, and where even good motives are corrupted.
There’s a reason why I gravitate toward a theologian like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, someone quite willing to look deeply into the evils of this world, and to act in a way he knew was far from morally flawless; there’s a reason why I gravitate toward fiction writers like Flannery O’Connor, the Roman Catholic writer who was most willing to look deeply into the darkness of this world, and to find grace, but a grace made possible by that darkness.
Like I said, no shade towards those of us who love Midsomer Murders and Grantchester. Though I would say, considering the parable we just heard, that today … I think Jesus is on my side.
There are interpreters of today’s parable that tie themselves in knots trying to figure out who exactly is the good guy, and who is the bad guy, who it is that might represent God, or who it is that might represent Jesus. Truth is, though, there is no good guy in today’s parable. Instead, there’s a very foolish rich man, there’s a bunch of self-interested people willing to look the other way when the bad actions of others are a direct benefit to them, and finally, there’s the star of the show: a dishonest, selfish, and manipulative antihero.
Let’s start with the rich man. I’m not sure what else we could say except that he’s foolish and a bit of a dunce when it comes to what’s happening around him. He doesn’t know that his accounts are a mess, and that’s he’s owed hundreds of thousands, in today’s dollars; it seems he’s hired, as his most trusted right-hand-man, someone who doesn’t do the basics of his job; he needs someone to come to him with what sounds like a rumour that his most trusted right-hand-man is not doing his job and is responsible for not collecting on his debts. He tries to fire this right-hand-man, but seems unable to keep that right-hand-man from absconding with the books, and continuing to work for him. And if he can be owed that much money and not even realize that he is missing that much money, he’s either stupidly rich enough that it doesn’t matter, or that he’s just stupid and never noticed. So the rich man is hardly a paragon of virtue; he is no example of righteous living or of wisdom.
And later on the in story, we have a handful of debtors, who clearly know that they are in the wrong, and have not paid what they owed. And what they do is take part in a conspiracy of fraud in order to lower their debts. Again, the debtors are hardly the good guys here.
And then we have our hero—the shrewd manager. It appears that he’s already terrible at his job, that he’s either hidden the books or stolen them from the boss, he keeps eating at his boss’s table even after he’s fired, and then for selfish reasons he invites his boss’s debtors into a conspiracy where he cooks the books in their favour. Again!Hardly a man of virtue, or of honesty, or of self-giving—he’s manipulative, dishonest, and watching out for himself as number one.
So I like this parable.
It’s messy, and we are invited to cheer on a dishonest manager, hoping that he gets away with his plot to secure his future by fraudulent means. He’s more a Tony Soprano or a Walter White, than he is a Poirot or a Father Brown. And it does seem that Jesus wants us to look upon this shrewd and dishonest manager as some kind of antihero when he says that “his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
So is Jesus saying to us: be dishonest, defraud your dumb boss, and look out for number one? Well, not quite. But he does seem to be asking us to use our wealth. Other sayings that follow this parable tell us that our wealth can become an idol, and our love for it can corrupt us, because it is so easy to be enamoured with it, and live a life centred around our love of money rather than our love for God. ‘Don’t do that,’ Jesus says. “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
But neither does it seem that wealth is intrinsically evil, even as it may be deeply enthralling. It seems that the shrewd manager is not an example to follow on account of his dishonesty or his manipulation, but rather offers an example of how wealth can be used—and that wealth is to be used and leveraged, not adored or loved. And what the shrewd manager does is to leverage someone else’s wealth, and the debts of others, for the sake of his own future, saying about his intentions: I will put this plot to lower the debts owed to my boss into motion so that “when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” The dishonest manager uses money to secure a future.
And this is what Jesus is suggesting we do too. Not so much to leverage our own wealth, or the wealth of others, for the sake of personal security in this world; but rather to use what we are given, our own wealth or the wealth of others, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, for the sake of God’s mission, for the sake of the healing of the world. Pursue not personal security, but a divine future, for yourself and for others.
So in part, this will be instructive as we look, as a church, at spending some of our wealth on renovating or redeploying our building. We could spend it to secure our own future. This is not a bad thing—it would be a wise and prudent thing. But we also need to be clear that, as we deploy our wealth—in the form of savings, or in the form of real-estate—our primary motivation is for the sake of God’s kingdom and God’s mission of the healing of the world.
But the parable is not just instructive for all of us together. It’s also a parable about what we’ve been given as individuals: it’s a story about our own personal almsgiving and stewardship, and the ways we can offer ourselves and the wealth we are entrusted with, whether that be money, or time, or ourselves—in small things and and in large things.
It’s a parable encouraging us to use what we’ve been given by giving it away, because giving it away for the sake of others is how we secure a heavenly reward, and take the place offered to us, by Christ and in Christ, in God’s own heavenly kingdom.
The Revd Canon Preston DS Parsons, PhD
Rector, St John the Evangelist, Kitchener
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.