Friday • 11/11/2022

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 88; Joel 2:28–3:8; James 1:16-27; Luke 16:1-9

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

roper 27 in Year 2 of the Daily Lectionary. 

Joel provides the chief Old Testament text for Pentecost (see Acts 2:17-21). Today’s Joel passage is also a text vindicating God’s people in their sufferings, and promising retribution against those who have sold them “to the Greeks”: who “have divided my land, and cast lots for my people, and traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it down” (Joel 3:2,3,6). In some respects, our Savior wins for us forgiveness; in other respects, vindication. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, poured out in our hearts, to remind us that Christ is both our Substitute and our Champion. 

James highlights the invariable goodness of God. The “Father of lights” provides every good gift (it’s not a bad idea to begin each day with an inventory of thanksgiving, by the way!), including rebirth by the Word of God into a whole new personal identity. According to James, we are part of the vanguard (“a kind of first fruits”) of a new humanity (James 1:18). Then James offers a meditation on dimensions of that “first fruits” life: 

• the freedom of offering a measured response (“quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” — James 1:19).

• the “perfect liberty” that is found in reading God’s word the right way—liberty, first, in seeing myself for who I really am (James 1:23-25). This is one of those many places in James where, with “eyes to see and ears to hear,” one discovers a magnificent invitation to cross-reference Paul: “…with unveiled faces, [we see] the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, [and] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Characteristically, James puts this transformation in terms of being a “doer” of the word, and not merely a self-deceiving “hearer.” To which Paul—and the church historical—adds a hearty “Amen!” 

• the right to the claim of being genuinely “religious” (please note, in passing, that the Bible has no patience with the idea that you can somehow be a “Christian” without being “religious”—that’s a meditation for another day). The “religious” life consists of “caring for orphans and widows in their distress, and keeping oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:26-27). Exactly what James’s Elder Brother had said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful” … and … “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:7-8). 

So much goodness to ponder in James. Don’t read it in a hurry!!!

Luke. And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly… — Luke 16:8. If there were a contest for Most Challenging Parable of Jesus, the hands down winner would be today’s Parable of the Shrewd Steward. I offer a couple of keys to interpreting it. First, unlike other parables that invite us to compare figures in the story with God or Jesus (e.g., in the Parable of the Sower, the Sower is Jesus), this parable doesn’t work that way. This parable is not saying God will let you finagle your way into heaven through shifty financial maneuvers. Expect from this parable a more limited, indirect, and non-allegorical point. 

Second, take in the story itself. 

The business manager of a rich man’s vast agricultural holdings has been fired for “squandering” assets. Told to leave a final accounting on his way out, the crafty manager devises an ingenious plan. He goes to two tenants and allows them to reduce, on the strength of their signatures (not his — he’s been fired!), to reduce their indebtedness by significant amounts. Both these debtors are working large and productive tracts of land—large enough and productive enough that these renters might themselves be in need of a business manager. That could be good for a recently fired manager, especially one who can’t dig and doesn’t want to beg. That’s potentially pretty smart. Not only that, in the shame-culture of the Near East, the rich man is not likely to renounce the generosity the manager has made it look like he (the rich man) has extended to his clients. I like the way commentator John T. Carroll puts it in the New Interpreter’s Bible One Volume Commentary: 

The rich man, his hands tied by the manager’s generosity—he would not dare reinstate the forgiven debts, thus forfeiting honor in the community—can only commend his cunning manager. Ironically, the manager wins his master’s praise by doing what got him fired, squandering the rich man’s property. 

The poignancy of this parable is the statement: “And his master commended the dishonest (adikia) manager because he had acted shrewdly (phronimōs). Within the limited scope of this parable, we are given a case in which a person who to this point had known only how to use money wastefully learns how to use it “shrewdly.” That last word is worth a closer look—“shrewdly” is not the best translation. The Greek word phronimōs is an adverb, and it is normally translated “prudently.” One of the principal virtues in the contemporary world of the New Testament is “prudence,” meaning: rightly relating to reality. 

Rightly relating to reality implies, first, an understanding of reality. For believers, the “children of light,” reality looks a bit different than it does for “the children of this age.” Christians understand that there is a spiritual dimension to life that provides a larger context for events and actions. Jesus reminds his hearers of the long-range destination “eternal homes.”

Utilizing the resources under his control, the dishonest steward acted with an eye to his future. With our own resources, we are encouraged to do the same. The day may well come when we arrive on “the other side,” to discover that an investment in the well-being of someone here on earth pays an unexpected dividend: we are known and welcomed in heaven by the very recipients of our support!

Luke is all about a theology of wealth—of its right use. Just as James is concerned that right “religion” involves the use of wealth to care for widows and orphans, the Jesus of Luke’s gospel puts a premium on the same thing. In fact, it’s not accidental that Luke follows this parable with the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (which will be included in this coming Monday’s readings). Stay tuned. 

Meanwhile, the question for each of us is: as part of a new humanity, how might I use my resources for the bigger picture? How can I contribute to a declaration that Christ lives, he reigns, and it all belongs to him anyway?

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+