A Famine Not of Bread

"The Parable of the Dishonest Steward" by Eugene Burnand Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus] also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Ta...

"The Dishonest Steward" by Eugene Burnand Click here to listen to this sermon. [Jesus] also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, a...

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! The parables of our Lord are wonderful teaching devices, not least of all because they make us think. And our text for today is certainly one of the most difficult to understand and interpret. But one of the characteristics of parables is that they contain a “crack” or something unusual that makes the reader realize that this is not a story that comes from human experience. For human experience cannot teach us the “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” In this text, the obvious jarring note is the reaction of the master who, instead of raging against his steward, “commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” It is difficult to see how we might reconcile this with a righteous, holy God. But that is our task as we explore this parable from Luke 16:   “  There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that ...

The text for today is our Gospel, Luke 16:1-13, which has already been read. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I’m on Facebook.   My wife says it’s a waste of time.   I think she’s worried that I might reveal too many details about our life to the whole world.   I justify my use of this media with the fact that I am able to keep up with friends and family members, many of whom I haven’t seen for years.   And because a great deal of my “friends” are fellow pastors, I also get a chance to sharpen my pastoral skills by engaging in theological discussions. Last week I responded to a posting of an article from Christianity Today , entitled “What Makes a Good Bible Study?”   The author concludes: “Remember that the point of all Bible study should not be to simply impart knowledge.   It should produce change.”   Therefore, one should “look for a Bible study that digs into the meaning of the tex...