Whoever Is Faithful in a Very Little Is Faithful Also in Much; and Whoever Is Dishonest

"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much

IN the name...

So, long, long ago I was a student at Georgia Tech. And while there, I was a member of a fraternity, which explains why I barely transferred out of there just a little bit ahead of my failing grades. Now I lived in the frat house, and I had a roomate. His name was Eddie, but everyone called him Coke Spoon.

This was a time when cocaine was on the upswing with up and coming yuppies, and Coke Spoon was a player. He was able to get his hands on any sort of drug you might want. But Coke Spoon didn't limit himself to just the drug side of crime. He was just a natural born criminal generalist. When given the choice between doing something honestly and doing something criminally, Coke Spoon would always choose the crime.

And here's the thing, he wasn't in it for the money or the power or because he was being blackmailed or whatever. He did it for the sheer joy of it. He was a criminal, yes, but that man was the most joyful criminal I think ever lived on this planet. He just delighted in it.

One year, it was time for our homecoming game, and we were playing Air Force. And the theme for the homecoming parade was the Middle Ages. Somehow, I had missed a frat meeting and found myself appointed float chairman, responsible for designing and completing my frat's homecoming float.

Well, we were all engineering students, so of course the floats had to be complicated extravaganzas with moving parts. And while the design was nice (a giant yellow jacket knight with a moving sword, stabbing an Air Force eagle), the fact is we needed a motor to make the thing work. And we couldn't find one.

And that's when Coke Spoon stepped up and said he'd be back in a little while. He went upstairs and changed into some workman's coveralls, came back down, grabbed our toolbox, and off he went, down the street, just as happy as could be. And in a couple of hours, he came back with a perfect motor. We asked where he got it, and he said, “Simple. I went to the laundromat, put an out of order sign on a washing machine, pulled it out, and took out the motor. Right in front of people sitting there doing their laundry.” He was so happy. He did what came naturally to him, and here we had just what we needed.

When homecoming was over, he took the motor back, put it back in, and removed the sign. Coke Spoon might have been a criminal, but he was an honest one.

I have no idea whatever happened to him. He's either a super rich mobster or sitting on death row. But whatever, I can still imagine him waking up every morning, just ready to meet the new day, with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.

Now I don't think Jesus is telling us to enter a life of crime in this parable. But I can't help but think a little of Eddie in this dishonest and shrewd manager.

Here we have Jesus telling us a pretty weird story, and we have trouble with it, because it almost seems like he's praising some rather shifty behavior. We have this manager, the dishonest manager. He's been working for his master for quite a while. And given the economics of the times, he's probably putting the squeeze on the tenants, charging them a little extra, pocketing the difference. Making a living in a place where living is so hard. But there seems to have been some sort of downturn, a recession maybe, and he's found out (or probably the master always knew, but now times are tight and someone needs to be blamed.

So, the manager does what he does best. He wheels and he deals. “Tell you what, Aaron, give me half of what you owe, and we'll call it even. But Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me. But, until that day, accept this justice as a gift.” Ok, that last part is from the Godfather, but the thing is, he makes a friend who owes him a favor, and the master gets something when he could have ended up with nothing. And the tenant gets a break. Win-win-win.

So, I'm thinking about this all this the other day, and I put it aside for the night to go to a meeting. We are saying Compline to close of the evening, and when we get to the Lord's prayer, it suddenly hits me. As Episcopalians, our version of the prayer goes, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.' But the other version is, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

Forgive us our debts. Give us a break. Cut us a deal. And it falls into place. Friends, we are all over this parable. We are the harsh master who sticks by the rules and demands our way as long as we get a benefit from it. And we are the dishonest manager if it helps us get our way, and we are the grateful tenant when somebody does us a good turn.

But God is all over this parable, too. God is the one who has every right to be a harsh master, expecting us to live a righteous life, and Jesus is the manager, coming to us and saying, “Look, let's see what I can do to help make this work for you.” And the Holy Spirit smiles just a little bit when someone is forgiving, no matter the reason.

This parable is crazy fun!

But it's also serious. Because what the dishonest manager does, by giving the tenant a break, is allows the relationship between the master and the tenant to continue. If the debt is not forgiven, then the tenant is in default, and the master will throw him off the property, will cast him out. But the manager works out a deal...the manager IS the compromise. And the relationship between the master and the tenant is preserved. The relationship between God and us is preserved.

And Jesus lives out for us this very important lesson: sometimes you just have to bend the rules. Yes, God is perfect and we are sinful, and God will reject us. But with Jesus, God bends the rules. Yes, when someone does wrong he should be punished, but with Jesus, God bends the rules. Yes, if you owe a debt, you must pay, but with Jesus God bends the rules. The amount paid is not nearly as important as keeping up the relationship. Just like the shepherd searching for the sheep last Sunday, this manager preserves the most important relationship we can ever have.

And our job? Simply rejoice, with all that implies. Wake up like my old friend Eddie. Every day, a joyful new experience. Our debt is forgiven. Pay it forward.

Now, I hope most of us are not leading lives of crime, but whatever we are doing, do it with joy. And pay it forward. You see, we can follow Jesus' example, we can be shrewd managers, too. We can be forgiving, too. We can be generous, too. We can be hopeful, too, that it will work out even if it's not all we are owed.

That's what being here in this church is all about. That's why we give. That's why we give. That's why we come here to worship and sing and pray and love. That's why we recharge our soul batteries here at this altar. That's why we go out from here, into the world, holding each other accountable, but always ready to forgive. Passing that love of forgiveness, that love of redemption on to everyone we meet. Because God our Father...our God father...is calling in that favor, the favor to love others as God loves us.

And that's a debt we should repay. Joyfully and fully.

Amen.