Can We Talk About Money at Church?
Over the next few weeks, folks who attend churches following the Revised Common Lectionary (a pattern of readings following the church year) will be treated to a number of parables in Luke’s Gospel that have to do with money. Luke, more than any of the other Evangelists, seems quite interested in helping Christians think through the relationship between their faith and their finances. And so he shares a number of the stories Jesus tells about people and how they handle their money.
Of these parables, one of the most confusing is the one about the “Dishonest Manager” which is the reading appointed for this Sunday. It revolves around the fate of a manger who was caught mishandling a rich man’s wealth and was subsequently fired. Too weak, as he says to himself, to do manual labor and too proud to beg, he starts cutting the debts various people owe his master in half, hoping that they would then feel obligated to provide for him after his dismissal. Up to this point, it’s an interesting story, as we watch this guy wheel and deal with what remains of his influence to try to protect himself. But then the parable takes an unexpected twist, as the owner (often the character in parables representing God) finds out what his manager is doing and instead of chastising him further he praises him. More than that, Jesus also lifts him up as an example for “children of the light” to follow.
So this week, preachers all over the country — if the don’t flee to another reading — are going to try to answer the question of why the owner praises his dishonest manager and what we’re supposed to make of it. To be honest, while I and others can make some guesses – that he is now using his position not to gain wealth for himself but to help others – they really are just guesses. So I’ve suggested to preachers that they turn this parable over to the congregation and ask folks what they think. Moreover, I’ve suggested that maybe the confusing nature of this parable is an invitation to begin a discussion about the sometimes confusing relationship between our faith and our money.
But here’s the thing: most of us have been trained since childhood to believe that money is personal, private, no one else’s business, and that it’s something polite people don’t talk about. Which of course makes talking about money at church very, very hard. At the same time, one of the things many of us report needing help with is precisely thinking about money from the perspective of faith – how much is enough, how much should we share, how do we teach our children, grandchildren, and the emerging generation Christian values about handling money? In fact, my friend Nathan Dungan says that one of the most pressing questions of this generation of parents is how to pass on values about money. (Nathan is the founder of the wonderful organization Share, Save and Spend and the author of Prodigal Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM
So here’s my question: would you be open to your pastor inviting you into conversation with other members about our relationship to money? If not, why not? If so, what would be helpful? And if you are preaching, what keeps you from starting this kind of conversation?
I know this is hard stuff to talk about. We tend to derive so much of our identity – too much of our identity! – from the money we have and spend. But if we keep silent, we pretty much reinforce the idea that our faith really doesn’t have anything to say to the economic realities and challenges that we all face and can give us no guidance when we think about making, sharing, spending, and using money. Do we really want the coming generation to grow up in a church like that?
Let me know what you think. Trust me, it’s not just me who’s interested, a whole crop of preachers will be following this conversation closely as I’ll link your comments to my Working Preacher column this week. Thanks for your candor, your questions, and your faith.
It’s a tricky thing. I’ve actually been warned by my council of 2 years ago not to talk about money. It’s seems a pastor did and someone got offended and walked out. I’m in a rural setting, and the combination of German/Norwegian heritage and the farmer’s deep privacy on money makes this an especially sensitive issue in my context.
So, my tactic has been to take those gospel texts that require serious gymnastics to be about anyone besides money and say, “Hey – no one likes to talk about this, but here’s Jesus talking about our relationship with money. We need to listen to what he’s saying.”
So far it’s been working. It’s not quite as far as I would like to go in connecting faith and money, but it’s a baby step. Maybe because no one is walking out, I’m not going far enough?
David, as a pastor I am going to attempt to engage my congregation in conversation over this parable. I’m nervous and a little anxious about what might happen but I feel the Spirit leading me in this direction.
As to the reason behind the owner’s praise, I agree that theories abound. One that my pericope group is tossing around is — that if this owner is intended to represent God and God is other. Then God’s ideas about money are completely different from ours. Consider the parable immediately before this one — the prodigal father — who seemingly squanders his forgiveness (recklessly and lovingly) on the returning son/on the relationship. Perhaps that’s how God wants us to dispense our money — with reckless mercy. Since God’s attitude toward money differs greatly than ours, God gets upset in the parable when someone acquires money dishonestly in a manner that benefits only themselves. But if that wealth (which doesn’t belong to the manager in the first place — it’s the owner’s) is squandered to benefit others (in the reduction of the customers’ bills — in the showing of mercy to them) then God is delighted because relationship wins out — even if part of the manager’s reasoning is self-preservation. It’s the action not the reason that God/the owner is delighted with. In addition, because the customers don’t know that the manager has been fired yet, might not the owner’s delight also be because that now (due to the manager’s actions) the customer’s think more highly of the owner. As such when we show reckless mercy to those around (when we spend money for the sake of the other with Christian rationale) might that not lead others to think more highly of God (the one who blesses us with all our money).
Will – thank you. Your insight into what might be the difference between why the dishonest manager is praised by the owner is very compelling: “Since God’s attitude toward money differs greatly than ours, God gets upset in the parable when someone acquires money dishonestly in a manner that benefits only themselves. But if that wealth (which doesn’t belong to the manager in the first place — it’s the owner’s) is squandered to benefit others (in the reduction of the customers’ bills — in the showing of mercy to them) then God is delighted because relationship wins out — even if part of the manager’s reasoning is self-preservation.” The idea that the rich owner is happy with the use of his money to benefit many rather than only the one manager, strikes a cord with my struggle to answer the question of why the manager is praised. Almost a bit (‘Robbin Hood-esqu!’)
At first I thought, ‘If that was the desire of the owner all along, why keep accounts of debt in the first place? Why not just give his riches away to people as they had need of them?’ Yet God, (if we are assuming the rich man is God,) has always relied on US as disciples of Christ, to do important work in his name! If threatening the manager with losing his personal ‘gravy train’ is what compels him to have mercy on others is what it takes – and it OFTEN takes having our ‘plenty’ threatened to finally look at life differently – then God’s objective is, in a very round-about way, achieved.
It’s this next statement which initially troubled me: “It’s the action not the reason that God/the owner is delighted with.” Is the old cliche ‘It’s the thought that counts,’ actually more of a secular ‘Get out of jail free’ card than an actual truism? If we believe the thought/intention/reason for a deed is less important than the action itself, how do we square that with the adage that “God knows what is truly in your heart. That matters more than what others see and think about what you do…?”
But, then I started thinking about my children, youth, and even adults who, at first, grudgingly engage in a work of service, outreach and compassion out of little more than being ‘shamed into it'(for whatever reason: Confirmation project, community service requirements for school,) by others who are involved and excited about it. So often, that excitement is contagious, and the Holy Spirit does amazing things in the hearts of the reluctant! They end up realizing that they got more out of it than those they were serving.
So, again – thank you. I’ve found your comments and insights both challenging and very helpful!
Will … I, too, this your pericope group has discerned the owner well! That makes a whole lot of sense when you consider how anti-cultural Christ’s comments on resources were (e.g. the impact of the widow’s mite; the importance of the lavish anointing of Christ with oil). It seems we have become far too focused on stewardship of money (mostly with a personal, secular view), and far less focused on a more kingdom-spending approach. Is it possible that culture has co-opted stewardship in order that we struggle to give a little, all the while missing the important fact that none of it is truly ours.
I am not the senior pastor at my church, but I try not to shy away from discussions on stewardship when teaching and preaching. However, I sometimes temper my thoughts so that I do not get far ahead of my senior pastor. My perspective is the initial discussions are not about stewardship. They are about being a disciple, being sold-out for Christ, etc. If people can become true disciples then the stewardship pieces will more naturally flow.
From a more secular perspective – this gospel struck me anew this year. I’ve been working on collecting accounts receivable from my late husband’s law practice, and repeatedly I’m making a deal for less than the amount owed. But a bird in the hand really is worth two in the bush. As a businessperson, I have much more respect for the client who at least tries to pay part of the bill than the one who doesn’t return my phone calls. So on the one hand, I can imagine the owner being thrilled that at least these accounts have paid SOMETHING! We don’t know how long these accounts have been sitting unpaid, and the restoration of the owner’s healthy bottom line could have been a game changer.
Instead of squandering more of the owner’s money, the manager seeks to restore some of it. One could argue that the accounts receivable the manager collected should have been in the overall accounting to begin with, but until you’ve actually collected payment, it’s just on paper.
But on the other hand, I really like Will’s idea that relationship wins. “Reckless mercy” is such an interesting way to consider spending money – particularly when it’s juxtaposed with another way, with “reckless abandon.” It’s a great way to re-orient the way we’ve always thought about this text. Might “reckless mercy” spending be related to giving a banquet and inviting those who can’t repay you?
Love this comment. Thank you Mary.
Suggesting for those who will preach to read all the books by Christopher Clif and, in addition, the book “the Fear of Beggars.” I read the latter quite a long time ago, the other books (and even more) recently. I retired in 2009, July 1.
I think one of the keys to understanding this parable of the dishonest manager is that Jews believed only God had the authority to forgive sins. With the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus is portraying a loving father who forgives his son because he is so glad the son is alive, not dead. The son has repented and so is welcomed back.
The parable of the dishonest manager is another view of forgiveness. The dishonest manager does not have the authority to forgive debts, nor even to reduce the debts, but he does so for his own well-being. He has selfish motives, and he is not pure, but he is still forgiving. Isn’t that the way forgiveness often works in our real world? We’re not perfect, and our motives are often mixed, but forgiveness is still a wise and good thing. We don’t want to carry burdens of anger and unfulfilled vengeance–we can just let it go and move on.
Perhaps Jesus was hinting that he was the “dishonest manager” in the story as the Pharisees were very suspicious of his forgiving sins when he didn’t have the rightful authority to do that. So, he was making friends on earth with all those people he was healing (even on the Sabbath).
Don’t you just love these stories?
I think it was Robert Ferrar Capon who first intrigued me with the idea that the dishonest manager could actually be Jesus. The allegory breaks down a bit for me with the idea that his boss initially threatened to fire him for doing things dishonestly. (But then, how many fathers & sons who are in business together don’t experience a ‘difference of opinion’ about how things should be done…? ~;-)
Actually, the NRSV doesn’t say that the manager was dishonest. It only says that charges of dishonesty were brought against him. My Greek isn’t good enough to find out what the actual wording is in the original. If the steward was not actually dishonest, what sort of interpretation does that put on this difficult parable?
I wondered about that too, and was going to suggest that we call that verdict into question, but then I noticed that in verse 8 Jesus also refers to him as the dishonest manager, so I thought there was perhaps something to the charges. Still a fair question, I think, but that’s why I ended up accepting that verdict. Thanks for commenting, Diana.
This is the third Sunday of my 20-month residency or internship as an M.Div. student in the United Church of Canada. My pastoral charge is a lovely rural church in the middle of fertile prairie farms, currently experiencing the best harvest in more than 20 years. I’ve been having nightmares about this pericope but will tackle it, nevertheless. ‘Fools rush in’ perhaps? David, thanks to your “Dear Working Preacher” column, I’ve decided to begin with acknowledging faith and finances as f-words that make some of us as uncomfortable as that other f-word. I am intrigued by the idea, Cindy, of identifying Jesus with the steward; it makes a lot of sense to me. I’m looking for advice about a question/answer session. My instinct tells me to wait until the congregation and I know each other a little better. But I’m wondering if there is a way I might manage the risk but still invite the congregation into a dialogue? Any thoughts?
Kathleen,
I suggest a coffee hour discussion session before or between services. Sitting around the table together with a drink and some food and inviting, asking, letting parishioners know you value their take on the parable. A few general questions on a small sheet of paper as starters/supports is always good. Before you begin invite God to be present in you discussion as you seek to grow and to know the Lord more deeply. Peace to you! Bed of luck in your studies, I’m currently in my 2nd semester of a low residency Mdiv at CDSP in Berkeley.
Ryan
Kathleen-
One way to ask questions without asking questions is to write the question in big letters on a clipboard. Give it to children (who can read) to ask an adult or two during the children’s message. They are more apt to answer when a kid asks!
This passage reminds me of the disconnect we have between our lives inside and outside the church building.
When I go to visit someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer, I rarely hear them say, “My body may die, but my mind, heart and spirit are just fine!”
The various parts of who we are (spiritual, mental, physical etc) are all interconnected. I think it’s why God says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength) He wants ALL of us. Fully integrated and functioning as His beloved in every area of our lives.
So to me, although I know it’s a less than comfortable topic – I see it as one of those things that we ignore it’s like ignoring how you are thinking and feeling about a cancer diagnosis…. eventually it will create problems!
I guess the only other thought, at the moment is that Jesus talks about money and wealth a lot. It must be important to Jesus, and therefore it should be important to us to at least think about it.
Though ‘discussion’ and back and forth is not common in our church during sermon time, perhaps it is precisely dialogue which will bring up the things people are uncomfortable about and from there we can, perhaps, with some focus on Jesus, not us – preach and teach and learn together what scriptures say about this uncomfortable topic??
Sadly, many churches/pastors/leaders treat the teaching of matters related to money/possessions in such a way that, intentionally or otherwise, they are perceived as doing so solely for the purpose of increasing giving in their church.
When we teach this subject openly, honestly, candidly, first based solely on God’s word and what He desires for us (not from us), our people listen intently, learn from it, and thank us. A few teaching principles that I have found that people connect with:
1. God is Generous: Incredibly generous. He created us in His image. Therefore He created us also to be Generous!
2. When we give (from a proper heart) we are giving to God, not to the church, the pastor, the leaders, the project . . . but to God! Exodus 25-35, God told Moses to tell the people (those who were willing) to “Bring me an offering.” The money would be used for the building of the tabernacle, but it was brought to him. In I Chronicles 29:9 after David and his leaders had given generously for the building of the temple, “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given willingly and wholeheartedly TO THE LORD.” Yet the money, possessions given to the Lord were used for the building of the temple.
3. We must truly believe, as we teach, that we are doing so because of what we want for our people, not what we want from them.
Mary, Reckless Mercy is such a powerful image to me. Thanks. I’m starting our congregations stewardship focus for this season with the theme of Generosity. Reckless mercy seems so appropriate as I look at how we in our church and nation have been blessed materially, but also calling us to look at the spiritual freedom from being controlled by wealth. I’ve always appreciated Harry Wendt’s idea of God as Creator and Owner of all that exists and how generous God is in sharing all things with us. Therefore we too are to share all things with others. He wants to change the creed to include the term Owner. Especially I believe this is called for in this time of great inequity of resources in our nation as well as around the world.