God and Wealth - Luke 16:13

WEEKLY REFLECTION | Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 18, 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the Monday evening Bible study, we were joking about the week’s selection of readings—alternately moaning about the grim first reading and psalm, and scratching our heads over the Gospel passage. Some of us suggested that perhaps periodically the designers of the Lectionary got bored with their work, and just put a bunch of random readings in a paper bag, pulling out four for a random Sunday. Another person suggested that readings were posted on a dart board and wherever the ill-fated darts landed, those would be the readings for the week. Took me back to my days as a graduate assistant, when we were accused by the undergrads of throwing their papers down the staircase and grading them by how far down the stairs they landed.  Never mind. Bible study class is not entirely serious all the time.

It IS true that the Lectionary is constructed by committees of scholars. (Remembering the old joke about what happened when God instructed a committee to design the camel…) Groups from various denominations around the world have taken part in it. Read a brief introduction here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revised_Common_Lectionary.

Because there are SO MANY different possible readings, so many possible holidays and holy days and so many different traditions, not all of the readings for a particular Sunday necessarily have a connection with each other. It’s really interesting to study the lections (readings) to see if there are themes that run through them. Sometimes, they seem entirely extraneous, but as you dig into their messages, you see that there are indeed some connections. That makes for exciting discoveries! And sometimes people try to force Lectionary square pegs into round holes and make up connections—sometimes far-fetched.

My version of that this week, is to imagine that the drafters of the Lectionary knew that we would be starting stewardship season soon, so they chose the passage from Luke 16:1-13.  It’s a very confusing parable and I’ll certainly be preaching in detail on it at some point. But if we jump to the punch line, you’ll see what I mean. “Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” And Jesus’ words in the following paragraph explain more. Take a look.

Jesus is not saying that worldly wealth is bad. He is saying that it’s a problem when collecting wealth is our priority, because, after all, it is perishable.  What we should be doing, as we collect wealth, is not to hoard it for our own selfish purposes, but to use it to further God’s purposes in the world. As Bishop Sean would say, “Make it a great day for the Kingdom!” Yes, we take care of ourselves and our families, but also put it to work for God. Our investment in eternity! So you see why I smiled when I thought the Lectionary drafters were giving us a preview of stewardship. See what connections you can make among the readings each week. Interesting puzzle.

Mo. Laura+


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