Doing the wrong thing for the right reason
Sermon for Pentecost 15, 2020, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Luke 16:1-13 Reading the Gospel this morning, we have to wonder what Jesus is getting at with the parable he tells his disciples. First, we have a dishonest manager who is not taking care of his employer’s money very well, and finding out that he will be fired, tells the employer’s debtors to reduce their bills of debt. Then, the rich man, the manager’s employer, finds out what he’s doing and says that the manager has acted judiciously and wisely, instead of being angry at having been shorted money owed to him. Jesus goes on to say that it’s good to make friends through using wealth, because then you will be welcomed into eternal homes. Then he winds up the parable with words about faithfulness, honesty and dishonesty, and not serving God and money. This does not sound like something Jesus would teach when we’ve heard that dishonesty is unacceptable, and the ends do not justify the means.