Pasta for Your Thoughts...

When it came right down to it, I couldn't talk Melanie into painting her face. So disappointed...

However, on our way to the Colt's game we did continue to discuss this parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16. One of Mel's comments was, "That's just kind of a strange parable..." I have to agree. It is not one that just jumps right out and says, "Here is your bible lesson of the day!" The bible lesson is in there, it just doesn't jump out immediately.

I mean, when you read it, there are all kinds of things that seem to not jive with what you would expect from the bible, (thus the tension of the passage). Here we have a property owner who pretty much gets hosed twice by a less than exemplary manager... and commends him for it! If we make the logical leap that you would make with most parables and assume that the property owner in the story represents God, then we have God condoning dishonest and irresponsible behavior. Not likely.

So the inescapable conclusion is that the property owner does not represent God in this story. And that is what leads us to the idea that this is another one of those "parables of contrast." The behavior of the characters in the story shows us not how we ought to act, but how we ought NOT act. The manager was irresponsible with his masters' resources in the first place, and that drove him to further action that only made things worse. Faithful managers of the master's resources find no need to take the kind of action shown in the parable.

But, the manager did figure one thing out, (well, ok, two things). The manager knew his days were numbered and he knew that the money was going to run out. The property owner had given the manager a period of time to "get accounts in order", and then the manager would not have access to it, (the money) any more.

Are we really much different? In terms of our life on this earth, our days are numbered. And the access we have to the earthly riches around us will end. (Of course, we look forward to a day when we are surrounded by the riches of heaven which makes this world pale in comparison.) So we come to these two conclusions- we won't be here forever and we won't take anything with us when we go. Nothing really new there. But, these two conclusions should move us to action. We are not going to take the earthly riches with us, so we may as well use them while we are here for the best purpose we can find.

We can afford to be kind and generous with what we have. Jesus always was. And you will notice that Jesus did not offer himself only for those who He knew would respond. He gave His life once and for ALL. If He can do that, then we can use
what we have now to help people along in this life. And, to bring them to Christ.

I want to return for a moment to my analogy from Sunday that came from, (gasp), Star Wars. When Han Solo says, "Thanks for coming after me", it sounds pretty routine. Like, "Thanks for the ride". But the truth is that Luke, Leia, Chewy, and Lando went to extremes to get Han out of clutches of Jabba the Hut. There was an elaborate plan, they got thermal detonators, they had voice changers, they had disguises, they traveled for light years... this was no routine thing! They put it out there! Not everything went perfectly, but they laid it all out- they were all in- they sold out for the cause. And because they did, Han was freed.

Again I say, we are not so different. There are people in the clutches of Satan all over the world. We can use the resources we have in this world to free them. The challenge for all of us is, just how sold out will we be?

We all have to answer the question of how we will use our resources here. We have to provide for our families. We have to render to Caesar. But one thing that comes from this parable in Luke 16 is that we must also manage to use worldly wealth in such a way as to make friends in heaven.

Just Keep Swimming...

Jon