URC Daily Devotion 3rd April 2019

I’ve noticed one word that is central to both stories:  “squander”. The son in the first story could have used his premature inheritance more carefully, and perhaps built bridges with his hurt father. Instead he blew it all. And here we find the manager, acting as middle man between patron and clients who are uncomfortable dealing directly with one another, destroying his chances of a good and steady income. Both central characters face the same dilemma of how to put things right.

Only in this case, it’s hard to think that the wronged party is going to be in a forgiving mood. That’s not the way the world of finance and business usually works! And even if Jesus’s hearers were peasants unlikely to side with the rich man, they can surely see that the manager’s so-called shrewdness is really dishonesty. And that the debtors are every bit as bad as the manager himself.

But what does Jesus say? “Make friends by means of dishonest wealth.” There surely has to be irony here. And since he compares the “children of this age” with the “children of light”, it’s pretty clear that manager, debtors and the rich man himself are all tarred with the same brush. It’s leading up to the conclusion we all dread: we can’t serve God and serve wealth.

It’s hard to get all the nuances of the text, but we shouldn’t miss the little detail of what happens if we do try to make friends through “dishonest wealth”. There’s the promise of being welcomed into “the eternal homes” – only note that the word translated “homes” is really “tents” . And even with today’s best water-proofing and UV blocker materials, tents don’t last for ever!