You’d be shocked at how much ink has been spilled over both our lesson from Jeremiah, as well as our gospel today.
Scholars fight back and forth, line by line, over whose line is whose in Jeremiah
—it is after all, a conversation between God and God’s peoples, spoken internally, inside,Jeremiah
Likewise, in the Gospel there is broad disagreement about what kind of manager this man is
—cleaver, wise, or dishonest…
But, among all the spilled ink,
the fighting over particulars, is a larger question.
What kind of God is our God?
Jeremiah reaches his answer after a back and forth rattling around in his soul, that goes something like this:
-Where is God in this suffering?
-God is punishing you.
-God has punished us long enough.
-God wails in anguish with you!
Then God, God’s people, and God’s prophet
all three… weep for those who have suffered and have died.
After this strange prophetic,
internal back and forth,
Jeremiah knows,
in the center of his being,
that God is a God who identifies with the people,
who feels for His people,
who cares for God’s people in a heart wrenching, eye watering, kind of way.
Our God is that kind of God.
And Jesus has been making a similar case about God
—that God as he knows as Father,
is a God of almost embarrassing abundance,
embracing with grace,
all those who yearn for his face,
especially the least, last, and lost.
As you might remember Jesus has just finished telling a series of parables defending his ministry among sinners and tax collectors
Defending this stewardship… management… of God’s grace
after being condemned by the Pharisees.
Jesus responded with parables about a lost son, a lost sheep, and a lost coin.
Now, Jesus tells another parable
—and this is a strange one,
vats of ink spilled on this parable, as I said before…
Jesus flips the script saying in essence, “I do what I do because I know my vision of God to be true!”
But, he adds, “Even if I’m wrong
—even if your way of understanding God is right,
my ministry is still effective and true.
It still pleases God!”
Let us pray
Let’s try to hear this Parable with Jesus’ ministry front and center.
Let’s hear Jesus tell the story those who oppose him are telling each other…
Let’s hear Jesus tell the Pharisee’s Parable.
God gets wind of the Religious Authority’s grumbling… their saying that:
“Jesus… this man claiming Messiah-ship…
claiming that he is the steward of God’s bounty…
This Jesus is squandering God’s grace and goodness.
He’s lying about God’s nature,
his real master is the Devil himself!”
So, God goes and summons Jesus and says:
“I’ve heard you’re spending the treasury of Heaven,
the goodness of God,
on those who are undeserving.
Show me your books,
for you can no longer be my Messiah, my manager, any longer.”
Jesus rushes back to Capernaum and crunches the numbers and bring God some spreadsheets.
Cost-benefit analysis and return on investment,
so God can audit Jesus’ ministry.
The Tax Collector owes God 100 vats of oil, he pays Jesus with 50.
The Sinner owes God 100 containers of wheat, Jesus accepts 80…
To make everything balance out, Jesus calls in all his clients…
he heals Peter’s Mother-in-law, cures the lepers,
heals the man enslaved by the centurion and the widow’s son…
Each one praises God for a transformed life
and forges new relationships with their neighbors.
Isn’t that how it actually works?
Actual life transformation is rarely imposed by hard rules or stern warnings…
(sure you can keep the cat off the counter when you’re watching, spray bottle in hand…
but that’s not sustainable, or healthy)
You can maybe gain compliance,
but not transformation
—not goodness…
Fresh obligations sink people,
But love…
love launches people!
Transformation comes from loving stability and trusting relationships.
A space from which to explore and innovate,
Where you can make mistakes and it won’t be the end
Where you can make a renewed life your own!
These folk, who Jesus frees…
they are unchained from their burdens
—believe God,
trust God’s mercy!
Even though Jesus was too “free” with God’s goodness…
No, scratch that! because Jesus was too “free” with God’s goodness…
the chorus of praise, the sinner’s rejoicing
—it was so loud that heaven shook…
This mercy led to manifold honoring of God and loving of neighbor.
More blessed was heaven by this,
than all the tight-fisted hording of God’s goodness by the Pharisees
and all those who have shrunk God down so small.
If this ministry of Jesus, with such bountiful fruits, is dishonest, or unfaithful, or the squandering of the treasury of Heaven
—may we all be so dishonest and unfaithful!
May we all squander so well!
You hear it, right? Even if the Religious Authorities are right about
the What kind of God is our God? Question…
right about the character of God
—and they are not
—the way Jesus administers God’s Kingdom
—Jesus’ stewardship of God’s possessions,
his management of the Kingdom of God
—is far more effective than the micromanagement and law-sickness that assumes stinginess and scarcity,
that assumes God is a tight-fisted titan
hording grace and counting every penny against us.
How much better is all this,
if Jesus is not only being effective,
but also honest!
Jesus is being honest when he describes God,
Jesus’ stewardship, management, ministry,
is faithful to who God is,
Jesus is, in fact, the ultimate experience and example of God’s actual character!
Jesus is the invisible God made visible for us.
What kind of God is our God?
Our God is a God who is open handed, merciful, and generous.
Our God searches for the Lost.
God squandered His very self for the sake of those He seeks!
God takes on our life and lifts it to eternity.
God makes our every moment into ceaseless praise.
A+A
