"Peace and Quiet"
"Once upon a time there was a rich man who had a manager…." Even still, I suspect, those words "once upon a time" bring us to a certain. We curl up on the couch, snuggle into a rocking chair, settle back for a good story, our minds open to a different reality. In that frame of mind, the details don't all have to add up. It is the heart of the message that is important. So it is with this difficult gospel story. It is at the least a very strange one, and one that commentators and theologians go through great contortions to have come in line, and make sense. St. Augustine said of it: "I can't believe that this story came from the lips of our Lord." The questions bubble up about honesty and faithfulness, God and money. Is Jesus really urging us to be dishonest? Money is something the church has never learned to be easy about. In talking about issues of stewardship we are downright apologetic. Far too often when it comes time to do the annual stewardship campaign we speak in a whisper, and get it over with as quickly as we can, with as little fuss and fanfare as possible. Ironic given that over one third of Jesus' teachings and stories centered on money and wealth.
In its own way, the epistle lesson presents difficulty with this question: What does it mean to pray and give thanks for those in high positions so that we "may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity?" The text comes from a time when Christianity was the minority. Christianity was a crime punishable by death. The Roman Empire feared the Christians. Here, the author urges the church to prayer for those in charge so that they might be able to live without fear and persecution. Again, there is the irony of where this text has landed today. Christianity is legal in this country. We are no longer the persecuted minority. Now, this lesson is too often used to justify blind obedience to the powers that be so that order might be maintained. We become nervous when we see the church speaking out about social issues, and challenging the powers and principalities of the world. The accusation is leveled that the church is becoming too political. Why can't we just go about our business of worship and have some peace and quiet.
At first these two texts don't seem to have much in common. Yet, underneath both of them is the question of how we as the church will relate to the world. In asking that question, both texts disturb and sting us with their words. Both these texts have been misused by the church to justify a "whatever it takes" mindset. Timothy is pointed to when we are urged to live out our faith under the radar, quietly supporting the authorities of the world. We are to be private Christians so that we might find peace and quiet. The parable in Luke is used by the church to justify bringing people in no matter what the cost. Martin Luther King, Jr says of that mindset in his essay "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence: "The end is preexistent in the mean[s]," In an article in The Christian Century, Christine Pohl writes: "when we fail to recognize the close connection between our goals and the ways in which we seek to reach them, we are in danger of losing those goals. We become comfortable with the moral shortcuts and gradually conclude that small acts of dishonesty and minor indiscretions don't matter when the purposes are sufficiently large. An approach to ministry bounded only by "whatever it takes" invites moral as well as spiritual disaster." (The Christian Century, August 29-September 5, 2001, p. 13.)
Woven into these disparate texts is then this question for us: "What does it mean to live faithfully" in the here and now. The author of Timothy urges us to lift up prayers for our leaders so that we can live a quiet, peaceful, dignified life. It is an appeal given to the followers of Jesus Christ who lived risking persecution and possible death. Remembering the context of this exhortation then, we are called to pray beyond "mere chaplaincy." In other words, we don't simply lift up the well being of the world's leaders, but lift them up to the light of God. Our prayers for peace and quiet become prayers for the peace and quiet of the world. When we as Christians are accused of being "too political," or being too disruptive…well, maybe we should start taking that as a compliment that we are being faithful followers of Jesus Christ. This morning we baptize three children, publicly marking them as children of God. For us, baptism occurs in the context of Sunday morning worship. That is because it is not only about the parents who bring Abigail, Dean and Sofia this morning…it is also about us as we covenant together. How will we raise them to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ….and what kind of world do we want to pray into existence for them.
And from our parable? Biblical scholar Sarah Dylan in her master's thesis on this parable writes: "So here's the big question that I haven't seen commentators in print ask:
Q: What, precisely, is it that the steward does, albeit without authorization and with deception?
A: The steward forgives debts.
The steward forgives. He forgives things that he had no right to forgive. He forgives for all the wrong reasons, for personal gain and to compensate for past misconduct. But that's the decisive action that he undertakes to redeem himself from a position from which it seemed he couldn't be reconciled, to the landowner any more than to the farmers. So what's the moral of this story, one of the stories unique to Luke? It's a moral of great emphasis for Luke: FORGIVE. Forgive it all. Forgive it now. Forgive it for any reason you want, or for no reason at all." As the forgiven and reconciled people of God, we have more than enough reasons to be faithful in our forgiveness. And that more than anything else is what this story about. Not a license to use whatever it takes to trick people in, but a license to forgive as we have been forgiven. We are called to be faithful with the love God has given to us...to "spend" it on others.
These texts disrupt and disturb. Their challenge is to learn what it means to live as stewards of God's kingdom. The peace and quiet we yearn for is found in the centering love of God in Jesus Christ. As we have been forgiven, we are to forgive. And what we find in that love and safety we are called to bring to the world. To disrupt and disturb, to comfort and give rest, entrusted as stewards with no less than the love of God for the world. Go forth with that awesome responsibility to the places God sends you.