LK 16: 1-13 

Laterally Luke..Pentecost+15…Revised 2019

Which way of preaching Jesus’ yarn best furthers our understanding of, commitment to, the coming of God’s Rule on earth as it is in heaven?’ There are many suggestions as to how best understand what many think of as a problematic yarn; but let’s keep it simple, as Jesus always intends His teachings to be.

Does the heart of what Jesus is teaching us today come in v.10? “Someone who can be trusted in very small matters can also be trusted in large matters, & someone who can’t be trusted in small matters can’t be trusted in important matters either”?

Don’t get bogged down in how the offender ‘cooks the books’. That has nothing at all to do with the point Jesus is making, which I take to be that we need to be as honest as He Himself is. As YHWH God is. Jesus wants us to examine our behaviour, not the chap in the yarn’s. By extension, He’s inviting us to examine our Christian Communities’ behaviour. Are we - His Body on earth - as scrupulously honest in our everyday dealings with others as He expects us to be? 

Jesus doesn’t ever seem to be too perturbed about money or possessions except that we use them in trustworthy ways appropriate to behaviour YHWH God expects of us. Taking a cut from what’s not ours - in any sense - is a no-no under all circumstances. If we cheat anyone in any way it’s not only that person, but YHWH God, too, & ourselves in the process, we’re robbing.

Are we absolutely trustworthy in our marriage, family, & all our other relationships? In all our business dealings? How far could we keep expanding this list?

If people can’t trust us, why should they trust the God we preach & worship? At the moment, increasing accusations  & revelations of abuse are rapidly adding to the dis-distrust the community at large has come to have of us & our churches! 

Churches of all stripes are beginning to pay the price for abusing children & others. Holy hands are being thrown up in horror at what compensation is beginning to cost. Property is being sold, or ear-marked for selling, & that cost will flow on to parish budgets. Virtually every denomination has been, or will be, affected.

Brian

Afterthought: Our use of the word ‘denominations’ for the divisions in our churches, & the fact that’s our term, too, for divisions of cash, connects us directly to today’s yarn. No amount of financial compensation, though can make up for the way victims have been treated, damaged, & discarded. Does the fellow in Jesus’ yarn not come out looking better than those who have victimised others in our churches? Are you & I showing ourselves clearly enough to be the ‘children of light’?