Sure glad I'm not preaching on the texts for this Sunday....ah, the joys of having another pastor here!
Just returned from the Anchorage-bowl pastors text study (which I often refer to as "me and the white-haired guys") where we discussed the texts for this week.
Luke 16:1-13, a weird parable about a dishonest manager, who, when accused and basically fired by his master, does something quite odd. This dishonest manager summons his master's debtors and cuts back on the amount that each owes. So, like, one owes that master 100 jugs of olive oil and the dishonest manager says, "Okay, make it fifty." Kind of a weird-o story, I'd say.
So I'm not preaching, but if I was, I might say what I said last week during my sermon: Parables are not moral lessons about you and me. Parables are about God and the strange ways God works in the world.
So who is God here? Is God a master firing his dishonest manager?
Or is God the "dishonest" manager? Is God the one who doesn't play by our rules but who is always reducing debts for all of us, who need forgiveness and mercy? This is more consistent with the witness of Jesus Christ.
Since I don't know all the answers, I'm glad Glenn is preaching...
1 comment:
You are sounding a lot like Capon in his "Parables of Grace" book. He suggests that the "unjust" steward is actually Jesus, a scandalous criminal relieving debt and doling out grace... I think it makes sense.
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