Indebted to each other

Luke 16: 1-13
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
September 18, 2022

Photo of two $100 bills, one of which is burning, an assortment of coins, and a small tea light candle.

When Jesus spoke in parables, he did it to provoke as much as to teach. What provokes us often reveals not only our values but who we are as human beings, our relationships to each other and to the earth. When you and I are challenged we are more likely to ask the difficult questions and listen to the answers than when we are validated. Think about it. We learn so much more when we begin with “I haven’t the faintest idea what this means” than with “I know exactly what’s going on”.



After reading this story again and again this week and repeating it several times in my head, I grew to understand that this shrewd manager is the complicated hero of this story. At first glance we may find it difficult to identify with this manager. He’s not just shrewd, he’s self-serving, and didn’t I say last week that a sinner is anyone who looks out only for themselves and not for the community. Even though Jesus was speaking to people in his time, with their worldview, to help us along, I’d like us to hear this parable as it could be told in our time, in a few different ways, with the manager as the obvious villain we assume him to be.



There once was a wealthy CEO of a securities firm that sold mortgage-backed securities, more than its books could handle. The debt load was higher than the worth of the company. When the CEO found out about it, he instructed his manager to fire most of the debt management employees. When the CEO could no longer ignore the inevitable collapse of his company, he instructed his manager to contact other traders and to offload as much of these debt-ridden securities as possible. The manager did as he was instructed, even though he knew it could trigger a stock market crash and ruin hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives.

Quote by Adam Smith, from Theory of Moral Sentiments: "This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition...[is] the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments."

There once were 7 railroad companies that were responsible for all the freight transportation in one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. Last year, profits for the two largest carriers jumped an average of 11.8% totaling $44.3 billion. Much of these profits came from cutting costs, including jobs. An automated system was installed for efficiency but any disruption by railroad workers to the very tight schedule—like a family emergency or doctor’s appointment—meant disciplinary action or even termination of employment. Working conditions became more dangerous for overworked train staff. Management and union representatives negotiated for new contracts for more than two years, but differences could not be resolved. Workers were left with no other option but to threaten to strike. Yet in even in the face of what could be a supply line catastrophe, because of the 1926 Labor Railway Act, the lawmakers of this wealthy nation could force railroad workers to remain on the job, increasing the heavy load already being shouldered.



In this same wealthy nation there once was a governor who cruelly mismanaged migrants petitioning for asylum in his state. He put them on a plane, promising them jobs and housing when they would arrive in what some have called a shining city on a hill, only to fly them to an island with no planning, no permission, squandering $12 million dollars of taxpayer money as a political stunt. This governor did not even call ahead to arrange for the most basic of needs to be met when they arrived.



In the parable the master praised the shrewd manager because he made his master appear generous. The shrewd manager is a complicated hero because even though he squandered his master’s property, rather than creating more debt, he erased some of it. Rather than squeeze the debtors for more and increase their suffering, he alleviated some of it.



Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase The Message ended the parable this way:



“No worker can serve two bosses:
[They’ll] either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
You can’t serve both God and the Bank.”



We live in a debt-based economy, one that ensures that the poor will indeed always be with us. It has shaped the way we think, our ethics and morals, how we treat one another, how we determine what is valuable. In a debt-based economy everything that is necessary for living must be earned—housing, education, healthcare, food—or you take on debt to pay for it. In debt-based economy just about everything is quid pro quo. Mercy is not only hard to find, it is a weakness. Not only is dependency despised, interdependency is devalued. Wages for workers are stagnant while costs rise as do profits. We cannot help but serve the bank. When we exploit wealth, we can sure that at some point it will turn and exploit us.

Cartoon drawing of our economy. At the top of the picture: The abundance of God's creation. Enough for everyone. Rains into unjust human systems which funnel resources to mostly a few, defended by police and military, a lot of waste, with most folks getting a trickle from above and from waste. And the waste runneth over.

This nation began with the debt of the labor provided by 4 million enslaved people who were the literal backbone of our nation’s economy. Then when they were freed, policies and laws were put in place to ensure that most would remain poor or do hard labor in prison, their education would be deficient, their voice would be underrepresented, and their trauma would continue for generations. But even before that, this nation began with the debt of the land and the debt of Indigenous people that have been living on this continent for over 10,000 years.



It's important to acknowledge these truths because based on our history the wealth of this nation is dishonest wealth. So, when Jesus says we are to make friends by means of dishonest wealth, we are to shape our thinking to that of the shrewd manager. To not seek after more wealth and power but as poet Wendell Berry put it, “take all you have and be poor.” To acknowledge our relationship to power and how that shapes our values. To find our survival in easing of the suffering of others and building community. To realize that we are indebted to each other and to the earth. To release what we have and redistribute our wealth and privilege to repair and to forgive debts, to set the prisoner free and the enslaved to liberation, to proclaim the year of jubilee.



This year we gave 10% of our capital campaign monies to scholarships with the NAACP, the Nanticoke and Lenni Lenape tribes of Delaware. We supported their annual powwow with an ad in the program and some folks attended the event in what will hopefully be an annual tradition. This afternoon at Community Day we’re going to invite the community to choose which of our 13 mission partners will receive an extra $1000 gift. We support Hope Dining Room and the Empowerment Center not only with our money but with our time. Our church doesn’t have an endowment fund as a cushion, rather we raise the money we need every year through pledges. Our small church does so much good.



Some UCC churches have been raising money to erase medical debt. Still others are turning their buildings into affordable housing. I am wondering when will churches have a fund to take care of church folx when a big bill could mean homelessness. Sometimes I think we are reluctant to release what we have because like the manager we worry who will take care of us. Read that line again about dishonest wealth. We are not to make friends with the wealth, but to make friends using our dishonest wealth. We are called to build community, releasing what we have into the community, squandering our mercy and making friends.



May it be so. Amen.

Benediction taken from “The Mad Farmer’s Liberation Front” by Wendell Berry



Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.


So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
Practice resurrection.