People of Means or of Meaning?

More on the Corrupt Steward in Luke 16:1-13...

The Steward acts like there will always be a tomorrow.  He acts like there will never be a final reckoning.  So he goes merrily along, getting all he can while he can.  Then the reckoning comes.  This is part of the good news in the parable.  There will be a time when God sets all wrongs right.  There will be a time when all the accounts are balanced.  We Christians know this because Jesus Christ is risen, and the reckoning has already begun

We must keep our own accounts with an eye toward eternity.  Nothing good will be lost.  Everything bad will be left behind.  All accounts will be settled.  And the house never loses.

What is the purpose of wealth, in Luke's framework?  Wealth is for welcoming, not for wasting.  If stewardship is using God's gifts for God's goals, then welcoming is high on that list of goals.

Sarah Dylan Breuer notes that this parable is at the center of an "urgency sandwich."  It is surrounded by the language, she says, of a limited time offer.  Acting "shrewdly" in the parable means that we know what time it is in our lives and in the world.  Tomorrow is going to come.  In fact, in Jesus tomorrow is already here.  After all, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them!

So money is to be used, not worshiped.  It is to be used for God's purposes, or it will control us.  Either our money will serve our faith or our faith will serve our money.  Money is not bad.  Like all other parts of creation, it is good when used for God's purposes.  Money allows us to live well, but it is temporary in its value.  Tomorrow is coming.  Money creates opportunities to love our neighbors well, but it can also blind us to them (more on that in the next parable).  Money can build bridges to others or destroy those bridges.

So we don't have to make the same choices as the Corrupt Steward.  We can, however, follow his example.  We can realize what time it is.  We can begin to act like the Master matters.  We can begin to act like tomorrow is coming.  We can become people of meaning and not just people of means.

This parable is not about salvation by works.  It is about our response to God's generosity.  Will we swim with the current of God's purposes or against it.  How we use our possessions will demonstrate our priorities and shape them for the future.