We All Have a Master
Posted on Sep 18, 2016 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in each of us.
“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” (Luke 16:13). Many of us grew up remembering this text with a slightly different word at the end. Instead of the text saying, “You cannot serve God and wealth,” do you remember what that word used to be? Yes, “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” In our translation of the Luke we have the word “wealth,” but the word Jesus actually used in the Greek was “mamona” and for Jesus, was literally the personification of money. And the point being if we could understand that money had the potential to be understood as an actual being, then his followers might better understand that money, although a blessing when used properly, can become a real master. Now to put this in a little better context, not only was Jesus intending to personify money, he intended to give it a negative connotation. Mammon was material wealth that was associated with greed and more specifically with Caesar because on Roman coins Caesar’s image was on them with the claim that Caesar was a god. To bring his parable to an end, Jesus is very clear, material wealth is only good if it does not control our lives and us. You can only have one master.
Now, in our culture, we don’t like to think about having masters, because we are free, but I wonder, how free are we, really? This time of year especially I think many of us have more than one master. The family calendar is often packed with soccer practice, homework, dance classes, chores, and slumber parties, all which promise abundant life and opportunities, we hope, to help our kids get ahead in life, but often only deliver busyness. And its not just school and extra-curricular activities that consume us, our church activities can do the same for us. We can become exhausted trying to attend everything we offer right here at Salem; Sunday School, Worship, Oasis, Dinner4Eight, Confirmation, Volunteering for Pantry Pack, Children’s Memorial, Sunday evening youth activities, KLCYC activities, summer camps, Youth Mission trips, multiple service opportunities, serving here at church activities and caring for this facility… All of which, along with the other activities in our lives can become overwhelming and life-taking instead of life giving. We cannot serve two masters.
Now before I go too much further, I know this text today is very confusing and even sounds a little dis-heartening. Jesus seems to be saying its ok to get what you want with dishonest wealth. After all he did say, “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes” (16:9). So what’s up here? Is Jesus saying it is OK to be shrewd and use things gained dis-honestly to improve our lives? Yes he is, and no he’s not. The problem here is that when we get too focused on taking his words literally, we miss his point completely.
Our problem is that, too often, we want everything wrapped in a bow, and sometimes, stories, or examples are given to only make a point. I cannot tell you exactly what Jesus meant here, and I struggle with his words, but when I let those examples go and take them for what they are, with in the context of Jesus overall message, the parable makes sense.
First of all, this is a story of two dis-honest men. First there is the rich man who is making lots of money by borrowing money to people and charging interest. In the Jewish tradition, and according to the law of Moses, this was illegal, “You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite…” (Deut. 23:19-20). This man was breaking the law. The second dis-honest person is the manager for he too was partaking in this act and most likely was increasing the interest so he could make more money for himself. So, we start with a story about two dis-honest people.
So, why would Jesus do this? Well, maybe as one of my seminary professors (Audrey West) liked to say, “parables are always intended to be about something ordinary, with a surprise or twist that leads us to experience reality in a new way.” The ordinary in this story is people being dishonest with money. That’s even ordinary today! WE are all dishonest and greedy with money, aren’t we? The surprise is the actions of both men in this particular situation. The manager knows he cannot survive on his own and so he actually does something good for the people he so often took advantage of. The rich man, even though the manager’s actions cost him money, actually showed mercy. The moral of the story, when we can let go of our love for money for our personal gain and use it for the good of others and to give us a good life, then the money is no longer controlling us. Oh, I know what you’re thinking, “pastor that’s a cop-out, there has to be a deeper, more literal meaning,” to which I say, I don’t think so.
We do this all the time. I often say things that are exaggerated, or not 100% accurate, not because I want to lie, or deceive, but to make an important point. In our literalist world today, though, this sometimes gets me in trouble, because people will say, “Well, you said…” and they are correct, but I didn’t say what I said to be literal, I said it to make a point and if placed in context, then it makes sense and that is what I contend Jesus was doing with this parable.
In today's gospel Jesus point is simple, you can serve either God or Mammon, but not both. The material things of this world are powerful and offer great promises of abundance and freedom, and we seek after them and they become our god and they control our lives. They become our masters! In his explanation of the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” Martin Luther said our human desire for the acquisition of wealth is the "most common god on earth,” (BC 387:5-6).
Wealth, along with status, power, and privilege, all things we associate with the promises of wealth, is fleeting. One day this manager is on top of the world; the next he is faced with disaster, a situation from which many of us are not so far removed. Remember the financial meltdown of 2008 and the millions of people who suffered from those losses? When faced with the pronouncement that we cannot serve God and Mammon we might remember that whereas God’s promise is that his attention, care and abundance for us is eternal, mammon’s promise is fickle and untrustworthy.
Sisters and brothers, Jesus is not condemning wealth and abundance, but he is condemning the greed and false hope it creates when we allow it to be our master. Today, and everyday, you have a choice in whom you will seek as your master, after all we all have a master. Will you choose the master that deceives and offers abundance but actually brings sorrow and death, or will you choose the master that promises shalom, abundance, and an ever present Spirit to strengthen and guide you? The choice is yours. Amen.