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| Parable of the Unjust Steward |
1st Reading
(Track 1): Jeremiah 8:18—9:1
In powerful poetic
verse, God (and/or the prophet) expresses deep grief over the alienation of the
people, which cannot be healed. The people summon God (verses 19a & 20) in
the old reliable ways, but they have been rendered impotent by their idolatry
(verse 19b). That they do not understand only adds to the grief. Verses 9:1
& 2 utilize Psalm 55:6-8 to sharpen the grief. God would have it otherwise.
God would have there be a balm in Gilead, but there is no medicine available to
cure the abandonment of God by the people. God must judge this poor people, but
he will do so with great grief.
8:18
My joy is
gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. 19 Hark,
the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in
her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their
foreign idols?”) 20 “The harvest is
past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” 21
For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has
taken hold of me. 22 Is there no
balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor
people not been restored? 9:1 O
that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I
might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!”
Psalm 79:1-9 (Track 1)
Psalm 79 is a psalm of the exile. Jerusalem and the temple
are no more. The loss has meant shame and even death for Israel. The poem turns
on verse 5, “How long…” Ultimately it is God who has been defiled, so Israel
summons and expects their God to act. Verse 8 begins the necessary process of
repentance by God’s people. They must own the disaster that has befallen them.
Related to the previous reading, this is a follow-up. Israel is beginning to
grasp that God’s grief must become theirs, because only then can there be
newness.
1 O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance;
they have
profaned your holy temple; *
they
have made Jerusalem a heap of rubble.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants as food
for the
birds
of the air, *
and
the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the field.
3 They have shed their blood like water on every side
of
Jerusalem, *
and
there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, *
an
object of scorn and derision to those around us.
5 How long will you be angry, O Lord? *
will
your fury blaze like fire for ever?
6 Pour out your wrath upon the heathen who have not
known you *
and
upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your Name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob *
and
made his dwelling a ruin.
8 Remember not our past sins;
let your
compassion be swift to meet us; *
for
we have been brought very low.
9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your
Name; *
deliver
us and forgive us our sins, for your Name’s sake.
1st Reading
(Track 2): Amos 8:4-7
Amos prophesied during
the long and peaceful reign in Israel (the northern kingdom) of Jeroboam II
(786-746 b.c.e.). Amos was not a
professional prophet, but a shepherd from a small village called Tekoa. He was
called from that agrarian vocation to deliver harsh words in a time of
plenty. Yet there was not plenty for
everyone, and such was his primary message. The plenty had been built on the
backs of the needy with dishonest practices. In the eyes of God and the prophet
this was a major violation of the covenant, one for which the nation will be
judged harshly.
8:4 Hear this, you that
trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the
land, 5 saying,
“When will the new moon be over so that we may sell
grain; and the sabbath, so
that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the
ephah small and the shekel great, and practice
deceit with false balances, 6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” 7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Psalm 113 (Track 2)
Psalm 113 is a song praising the Lord as the helper of the lowly. In Jewish tradition, it begins the “Hallel”
psalms, used in connection with Passover.
Psalms 113-114 are traditionally recited before the Passover meal, and
psalms 115-118 afterward. The Hebrew word “Hallelujah” literally means “Praise
the Lord.” “Alleluia” is the
latinized form of the word.
1 Hallelujah! Give
praise, you servants of the Lord;
*
praise the Name of the Lord.
2 Let the Name of the Lord
be blessed, *
from this time forth for
evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down *
let the Name of the Lord be praised.
4 The Lord is
high above all nations, *
and his glory above the
heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord
our God, who sits enthroned on high *
but stoops to behold the
heavens and the earth?
6 He takes up the weak out of the dust *
and lifts up the poor from
the ashes.
7 He sets them with the princes, *
with the princes of his
people.
8 He makes the woman of a childless house *
to be a joyful mother of
children.
2nd Reading: 1
Timothy 2:1-7
A large portion of First Timothy offers instruction for Christian
living. Here we have a plea for prayer,
particularly for political rulers, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life.” The writer then goes on to make
clear what for him is “the truth,” i.e., acceptable teaching: “One God, one mediator, himself human, who
gave his life as a ransom.” These are
among the statements in the New Testament where one can begin to see the
development of a creed.
2:1
First of
all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings
be made for everyone, 2 for kings
and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This
is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come
to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For
there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ
Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave
himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an
apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in
faith and truth.
Gospel Reading: Luke 16:1-13
Many throughout the
years have called this “the hardest parable.”
It raises several problems, fundamental among which is the fact that
Jesus seems to commend dishonesty. Or
does he? Perhaps the master was overcharging interest and the manager is making
that right? And what does Jesus mean by commending the dishonest manager’s
shrewdness and criticizing his followers for their lack of it? Jesus tells us
to “make friends” by means of “dishonest wealth.” Is that the opposite of
putting them into debt? The last saying seems to be tacked on here by Luke
since it doesn’t exactly relate to the parable.
But it is a familiar saying that delivers a strong and clear message:
“You cannot serve God and wealth.”
16:1
Then Jesus
said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges
were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is
this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you
cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then
the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the
position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am
dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by
one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’
He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you
owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your
bill and make it eighty.’ 8 And his
master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the
children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than
are the children of light. 9 And I
tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when
it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. 10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is
faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest
also in much. 11 If then you have
not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true
riches? 12 And if you have not been
faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave
will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
The Scripture
quotations are from the New Revised
Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are
used by permission. The Psalm is from The
Book of Common Prayer. Commentaries are copyright © 2019 Epiphany Esources,
67 E. Main St., Hornell, NY 14843, www.EpiphanyEsources.com. All rights
reserved. Permission is given to copy
for group study. Bulletin inserts are
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