CAN WE LEARN ANYTHING FROM DISHONESTY?

A doctor, a lawyer and a manager were discussing the relative merits of having a wife or a mistress.

The lawyer says: "But of course a mistress is better. If you have a wife and want a divorce, it causes all sorts of legal problems."

The doctor says: "It's better to have a wife because the sense of security lowers your stress and is good for your health."

The manager says: "You're both wrong. It's best to have both so that when the wife thinks you're with the mistress and the mistress thinks you're with your wife -- you can go to the office and do some work.

Today’s Gospel reading is one of those biblical passages that takes some unpacking. As such it’s a good reminder that the bible is not an easy read. Even within the fairly narrow confines of the Gospels, we need to approach the text critically and questioningly. We need to look at the context, at the author, at similar passages else-where, at how each passage fits into the overall shape of the gospel story. We need to ask what it meant to the original listeners, but also what it meant to the people for whom it was written down (which in the case of this passage was probably some 50 years after the death of Christ) and of course, we need to consider what it might mean for us today, how it enables us to understand the Christian message better, to grow in discipleship, to forward the Kingdom of God in this place.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen how even very familiar stories (such as that of the Good Samaritan) need a long hard and critical look at them if we’re really to get to the heart of the message. We’ve heard how some seemingly tough if not down-right impossible passages, such as those sayings about hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, need to be carefully read as using literary tools to hammer home the point that is being made.

Here Luke seems to have among the material that he’s using to write his gospel, his account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, a rather strange parable and a series of disconnected sayings. The fact that he uses this rather odd material tells us that he regarded them as an authentic and important record of Jesus’ message. Their very difficulty points to the necessity of taking them seriously and trying to discern what Jesus intended us to learn from them.

So let’s look at the story itself. A dishonest manager to a wealthy but absentee land-lord has had his dishonesty discovered. He’s about to lose his job so has to do some very quick thinking about his future. He knows that he has no talent for manual work and the idea of taking to begging appals him. So he does what he knows best, turns his talent for dishonesty to good use. By reducing the amount that certain men owe to his master, he hopes to buy their gratitude and secure his own future. Strangely, his master, far from being appalled by this further evidence of his dishonesty, actually commends him for it.

So what are we to make of this story? Various commentators have tried to make it more innocuous by suggesting that the manager was refunding his own part pf the profits. But would the master then commend him for his shrewdness. Would he not be more likely to commend him for his turning away from dishonesty? No, it looks like we’ve got to take this at face value. And if we do so there are some hard questions to be answered about whether Jesus really means to commend dishonest behaviour.

Let’s take a step back and look more closely at what the manager is doing. Here’s a man in a deep, deep fix. He’s about to lose his livelihood, he has no other skills, no other way of making a living. He has to think fast about what courses of action are available to him. He has to act swiftly and decisively or he’s out on the street, reduced to begging. So what does he do? He uses his major talent (which just happens to be dishonesty) and turns a difficult situation around to his own advantage.

Now I don’t believe for one moment that Jesus was commending dishonest behaviour, he’s using story telling, as he often did, in a way that really grabs the audience’s attention, really makes us stop and think. The disciples, like us, would be left pondering and discussing what on earth Jesus was on about. And I reckon what he is commending is quick thinking, decisiveness and making the most of the gifts and talents that are available to you.

Jesus doesn’t ask his followers to be naïve, to pretend that all is sweetness and light in the world. He asks us to see the world as it is, to use our intelligence our shrewdness our foresight and planning to the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. We’re to hold in tension our desire to think the best of others in love and our knowledge that we’re all sinners and all will fall short of the behaviour asked of us by God. Jesus tells us to be ‘as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves’.

Being a Christian doesn’t take us away from the tough realities of life. We are just as likely to find ourselves in difficult situations as any one else. Our families will suffer problems, our marriages will come under stress, we will lose jobs, be struck with illness and disability. Christianity isn’t a get out of jail free card. What is different is how we react to these situations. And here Jesus is saying that it’s OK to learn a lesson from a rather unlikely source. Christians, too can be quick thinking and resourceful, we too can and should put our talents to good use.

At the end of this gospel reading are some sayings which tie in to the story, but which also link to some of the key themes in Luke, themes which we’ve been exploring over the past few weeks. In particular, Luke is always keen to stress the dangers of worldly wealth. For him it is crucially important to be very clear about where your heart really is. There is massive danger if your heart is first and foremost tied up with things of this world, whether that be in the acquisition of goods and possessions, or in the comfort of your family or becoming the best footballer in the district or the best singer in the choir or the greatest writer of short-stories or the local darts champion. If these things take priority then you’re not doing justice to your service to God. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work hard at our jobs, or look after our families well, or enjoy football or singing or short story writing or darts. But it does mean that these things must take their appropriate place in our lives, and that’s way behind our love for and service to God. He is our priority.

Another one of Luke’s themes being brought out here is how we use our wealth. Luke takes up the cry of the Old Testament Prophets about looking after the widow and the orphan and the stranger in our midst. He has a bias towards the poor, they are the people we should be serving and helping. That’s the use to which our wealth should be put. And that wealth isn’t just monetary, it’s also our time and our talents. Visiting a sick friend in hospital, helping out at a drop-in centre or driving a mini-bus for a disabled club are just as much about using our wealth for the furtherance of the kingdom as making a donation to Oxfam or Christian Aid. And in case you think that this is a one way traffic, don’t forget the topsy-turvy economy of the Kingdom of God. There’s a saying from the rabbis ‘The rich help the poor in this world but the poor help the rich in the world to come.’

So this rather odd story and the sayings tagged on to it are beginning to look rather closer to the central message that Luke has been propounding as he tells of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. As Christians we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, we serve a heavenly King. But we live in an earthly Kingdom where life can be tough, where there is poverty and death and disease and disaster. Following Jesus Christ isn’t about pie-in –the-sky-when-you-die, it’s about a life lived well, loving actions, and endeavouring to grow into the likeness and image of Christ using all the resources that are available to us.

Penny Sayer

Curate, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea