With some stories you expect to know the outcome from the get-go. It is, as if you are set up in advance.
You think ahead. You figure it out.
You are certain of the outcome. And there can be no deviation. “You get it”- totally!
This was the way – with the story that Jesus tells in today’s gospel text.
People were not stupid, they could figure it out – they knew exactly where he was going and what the final outcome would be.
Although they were wrong. They were mistaken.
There is a master and a steward. Or a master and his manager.
Right from the beginning you already know where your sympathies lie. Your sympathies lie with the underdog.
The underdog would have to be the steward of the so called master.
From the premise, you know who to root for…The master accuses the steward (or the manger) of cheating him.
As the assembled crowd grows uneasy. They can relate more easily to the manager or the steward – then they can to the master. The manager was more like them.
He was probably a slave or a freedman. And if he was a slave, he was probably working to buy his freedom. If he was a freedman, he was lucky…and like everyone else – he was just trying to keep his head above water.
With the accusation – you could hear people beginning to take sides.
The manager is told to turn over his books and he is immediately fired.
Where is there justice? Where is there a fair hearing? When does he get to explain himself?
Just so you know: In a class-based, patron/client culture, the “wicked master” and the “poor unjustly accused and put upon servant” are stock characters.
The hearers of the story – will be expecting “the bad man” to get his comeuppance and the “good victim” to be completely exonerated and justified by the end of the story.
And of course, you know the “bad man” is the rich guy and the “good victim” is his poor-put-upon manager.
But there is a startling-subtle-shift in the story. It is hard to catch – and that is why you have to be a good-active-listener.
The character of the “good victim” shifts when, by his very own admission, he is more like the master, than the hearers would like to hear.
He actually says, I am too weak to dig and too proud to beg—what will I do?
He says it out-loud – for all to hear!
People are now greatly confused. What is up with this story? There are twists and turns that are unseen and now it is not going as expected. What gives?
Our underdog that we originally thought was the hero – in need of justice, is too lazy to do an honest day’s work and is too arrogant to ask for help.
All of a sudden there is a lot of shifting of feet and shifting of eyes—“what kind of story is this?” What is going on?
The manager steps forward center stage in the story and helps them out – he has come up with a scheme that will help him pull one over on the master and get paid himself.
But when the master finds out – what the manager has done, he isn’t looking all red in the face and foolish or down and out like they had expected…
Instead he is impressed and praises the manager for his resourcefulness.
The manager is sly. He is not the hero, he is not the underdog! He never was!
The hearers are left confused and wondering “who is the good guy” and “where is there justice?”
And then Jesus himself seems to hold the dishonest manager-steward up “as an example” of “how one should behave” – if they want to be welcomed into the Kingdom of God.
Everyone seemingly is left confused…the crowds and the Pharisees together. I can see them all throwing up their hands, scratching their heads and stroking their beards and saying, “what did he just say?”
It was an invalid argument and an invalid story, with an even stranger ending, with the words, “You cannot serve both God and wealth.”
So apparently it is all about the choices that we make in this life. Choose integrity-every time! Wisely choose.
A word to the wise is: Choose God! Choose goodness! Choose smartly!