Nearly a third of everything Jesus said in the Gospels has to deal with money and positions. Many Christians prefer to avoid the topic altogether, suggesting that money and finances should be compartmentalized from the story of Jesus. Because like politics, money is a “third rail” in the contemporary church. That would be okay, if the other 2/3 of Jesus’s teaching in the Gospels wasn’t about politics and our relationship with God and with other human beings!
According to Martin Luther, “money is the most common god on earth.” This parable told by Jesus, as recorded in Luke (16:1-15) is exposing a concerted policy of exploitation of the poor. Charging interest is forbidden in the Bible when loaning money, with nearly 100 references in scripture. The issue at hand is about caring for the marginalized in speaking out against the practice of indebting persons. Such practices may also have been criticized because of the potential of destroying relationships in community. Early remarks in the Torah are about keeping the people Israel pulled together in the light of their relationship with God. Early Christian communities pick up on the Torah Tradition and use this in Christian Tradition texts as well in responsibilities in serving Jesus.
This parable is a difficult text, but it an important window on the ethics of money and community. Judaism and Christianity seems to prefer community over money. This does not suggest that we are to ignore the economic sphere, but rather keep it in its proper relationship to other concerns including the care and treatment of people especially workers.
It is the care of the workers that is offered that the shrewd but dishonest manager gets credited with producing cash for the Rich owner by slashing interest rates only getting back the principle which was loaned. Perhaps this is a commentary on “Why Charge Interest in the First Place” as a Gospel/First Century Christian and ultimately a Jesus value.
The closing commentary of the Pharisees laughing at first is disarming, until one remembers that sometimes laughter is experienced as a defense mechanism when something hard must be embraced. Could Jesus have been telling this parable in such a way identifying the collaboration of Temple and Pharisee cultures with Rome as a form of usury? So hold on to verse 13 as a clue to what Jesus is trying to get across: No servant can serve two masters; for a servant 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.
Today is Commitment Sunday, a day where we commitment ourselves to create community and enhance the ministry that God has called us to be engaged. The institutional church needs always to check itself around the notion of ethics, love, community and wealth. We are committed to striking the right balance and to create authentic Christian community in honesty and integrity. Thank You for helping us live out that mission!
1Specifically, what concerned Luther most in the sixteenth century may have been the emerging capitalist system’s system of charging interest on loans. See Terra Rowe,” Protestant Ghosts and Spirits of Capitalism: Ecology, Economy, and the Reformation Tradition,” dialog 55 (2016), note 27, p. 60. See also “Radicalizing Reformation, Provoked by the Bible and Today’s Crises,” http://www.radicalizing-reformation.com.
2www.openbible.info/topics/charging_interest