Raul Garcia III

Family of God Lutheran Church

September 18, 2016

Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost

Let us Pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you my Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

What a Gospel lesson? I must have read this parable about 100 times and read countless commentaries about the parable. What is Jesus trying to tell us in this story? Jesus gave us about 40 parables in the New Testament and were designed to reveal the truth to believers.

The gospel parable of the Shrewd manager was a hard parable to grasp but here is another folklore story that could make it easier.

This German fairy tale tells the story of a fisherman who one day caught a fish who begged him to release him because he was really a prince. The fisherman willingly did so, but when his wife heard about it, she made him go back and ask the fish for a nice cottage to replace their shack. Despite not wanting to do so, he did, he pleaded to the fish out in the sea, “Fish o fish out in the sea, come and hear my humble plea, Isabel my wedded wife doesn't like our kind of life.” The fish popped its head out of the water, “How may I help you?” He told the fish the wish and it was granted. He was thrilled, but after a week, his wife wanted a palace and demanded he ask the fish for one. Despite not wanting to do so, he did, he pleaded to the fish out in the sea, “Fish o fish out in the sea, come and hear my humble plea, Isabel my wedded wife doesn't like our kind of life.” The fish popped its head out of the water, “How may I help you?” He told the fish the wish and it was granted. He got his request, but his wife was not long satisfied. She sent him back numerous times asking that she be king, then emperor, then pope. More unwilling each time to go back, he consented, and every time his request was granted. Still, his wife found no satisfaction. She wanted to rule the sun and made her husband return to the fish. Despite not wanting to do so, he did, he pleaded to the fish out in the sea again, “Fish o fish out in the sea, come and hear my humble plea, Isabel my wedded wife doesn't like our kind of life.” The fish popped its head out of the water, “How may I help you?” He told the fish the wish and it was granted. This time, however, the fish told him to return home to his original shack where he and his wife lived from that day. Because she never found happiness and contentment with anything, she had nothing in the end.

Do we need to be dishonest and shrewd like the wife or the manager from the parable? Maybe, maybe not. I think this parable and story is a lesson of being humbled by God. The manager was dishonest and was making extra money from the owner. So when the owner finds out that his employee was being dishonest, the owner started to question his employee. The manager in his own mind decided maybe wealth or money is not what he needed. Maybe I should be happy with what I am able to have. There is also an element of forgiveness in the parable. The forgiveness of the debt the customers owed so that their bill can be paid. The owner was still getting his money but the manager maybe was not going to get his cut or his percentage of the sales. The manager’s attitude changed about having wealth. Wealth was no longer the “god” in his life. Is there anything wrong with wealth? I don’t think so. Our Lord gets it. He understands that life in this world is dependent upon some form of exchange, and we live and breathe and move with those exchanges. It’s really a strange thing to tell a story or read this parable where everybody is sort of relatively corrupted, but that is exactly the point Jesus is making. Jesus taught from aspects in his life that were normal. But every once in while He turned life upside down and said things that might have seemed strange. Like this parable. Jesus talked about an unjust judge in Luke 18 as well as this shrewd manager. So there were times when Jesus used bad people to make His point. If we really think about it, who are we in both stories?  Sometimes in our life we are one of these characters and we don’t know it. I know I have been one of these characters. Sometimes we act shrewdly. Sometimes we are selfish people. I know I am 100% guilty of being selfish and looking out for number 1. Me. Sometimes I get caught up with the me in my life. I’m like the movie star Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie Jerry McGuire where he makes his agent yell, “SHOW ME THE MONEY.” This is how the world operates sometimes. There are people at the top of businesses and banks who are corrupt and using every device that they can use to get what they want. Honest or dishonest, whatever it takes to secure the future for them. Like I said looking out for number one. Here is a story of one time where this was the most unselfish thing someone did for me and it still gives me chills talking and thinking about it. There was a time when I was in Africa and I was in the market shopping for supplies of fruit, chapata (bread), chicken on a stick, and other food. We went to the market so we can bring food to the hospital for the patients. In Africa, you pay for your time before you go in the hospital and if you have food you bring it with you and if you don’t, you don’t eat. I was walking around the hospital and entered the maternity ward. Moms everywhere, holding their babies and smiling. It was beautiful. Seeing life. As I was walking I was drawn to this one mom and her baby. I walked over to her and said you have a beautiful baby. What’s her name? She looked at me and let me hold her baby and she said to me. You name my baby. You give her a beautiful name. I stood their holding this little baby and a thousand things were going through my mind. Like my own children it took Rhea and I a long time to think of the names of own children. Now someone asks me to name her child and she has no idea who I am. I look at this beautiful baby and thought Raul would be a great name but she told me to name her. So, Raul was out of the question for a little girl. So I gave her the name Ruth. The matriarch of the old testament. Ruth means “woman of noble character.” What a great story. This woman had everything she had in her arms and just gave it to me to let me name her. What an incredible moment in my life that I will never forget.  

In verse 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.

 

I know you can be wealthy. There is nothing wrong with wealth. When that is what we are fixated with and our ultimate goal. That is when we can’t have both. We lose our focus on what really matters. Let us use our money, possessions, our wealth, knowledge and most of all our faith to make this world a better place. God has blessed every single one of you. You can look at your wealth as a means that God has employed you to be his servant here on earth. For us to make this a place that is safe, a place where we don’t see racial colors, a place where there is no injustice, a place that is unselfish, a place in which we have enough food for our brothers and sisters. A place where sinners are welcomed and we can worship together.

That is the number 1 we should be looking at. That is what Jesus wants us to know.

Amen.