Would Anyone Recognize You?

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said to the power brokers of His time, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke tells us that “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at Him”). As a people of a generation which has transformed “greed” from vice into virtue, are we scoffing at Jesus’ warning?

In today’s Gospel Lesson, Jesus tells a parable to those money-loving Pharisees. A steward employed by a rich man is accused of squandering his boss’s assets. The dishonest steward realizes he is about to be fired. What to do? A job digging ditches might be available, but he has no taste for manual labor. And he can’t see himself becoming a common beggar, so he figures out a clever but thoroughly fraudulent scheme. While he still holds…