Trinity 9

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft 2 Sam 22:26–34; 1 Cor 10:6–13; Lk 16:1–13; Ps 51:1–12; antiph: v. 18   –     8/17/25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Someone once said about this Gospel text: “The sons of this world or age are wiser than the sons of light, for they can see what the sons of light so often fail to discover, that duty to others is necessary, that if a man does not do it he must at least make the best pretense he can. What is the moral of it? That we are to pretend a virtue we do not possess? Is it not rather this, that if it is wise to seem good it must be truer wisdom to be good without need of pretense? The sons of this age, its politicians, its tradesmen, its rulers, and its successful men have learned the necessity of virtue as a cloak; let Christians learn to wear it next to the skin. We are stewards. then let us show faithfulness both to God and man. Let our love of the brethren be so real and beyond all doubt that it may give us confidence towards God, and we may have many to receive us into the eternal habitations, and our works of love may follow us before the judgment seat of Christ.” (Lindeman)

Before Christ, at this time of teaching, stood two groups of people, the one was the self-righteous, wealthy Pharisees to whom Jesus would next deliver the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus—which we read back in June—, the other group consisted of sinners and tax collectors who had recently believed in Jesus. Today’s parable principally concerns the second group.

Now, Jesus is not teaching these sinners and tax collectors that they should live in the earthly-minded way they had before, but rather Christ points to the prudence of this manager, the same earthly prudence many of them used in their days of sin, and Christ points to that prudence alone as the lesson. His hearers were formerly men of the world, but now they are children of light, nevertheless Jesus would not have them forget their former life but rather employ what was good and worldly-wise for the sake of heavenly goals than that of love of money, which used to rule them. Previously, this second group had employed their earthly skills and knowledge merely to build up an earthly life in the fallen world; but now Jesus teaches them to use the means of this fallen world to prepare for their heavenly life, by investing with the things which will perish with this world, money primarily, in other men so that those men too may believe in Christ and so on the day of Judgment, welcome the tax collectors and former sinners into their heavenly home.

Whether, dear children of light, you are wealthy like the Pharisees, well employed like the tax collectors, or poor, Christ’s parable applies also to you for you were once sinners. Wealth, as I have often told you, like poverty, is not innately sinful; nor is either financial situation something to be proud of. Rather, remember always that what you have is from God, as the first article of the creed teaches and 1 Cor 4:7 teaches: What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? This is equally true of riches as it is of poverty. God has given as He in His unknowable counsel sees fit to each. Rather than be proud of your finances, remember what Solomon said in Proverbs 30: Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God (7–9), and The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all (22:2). As C.F.W. Walther says, Anyone who calls the difference between rich and poor injustice, “insolently calls God the Lord Himself—who has the power to do what He wishes with His own property—unjust, for God Himself has ordered this difference among us fallen men.” (2.78)

We have no claim against God as regards even the smallest drop of water. He provides to one whatever He wills and to another something else. “Though before men we are owners and masters [of what we have], before God we are nothing but managers.” With this parable Jesus wishes to warn us and to encourage us. First that we remember we are not masters but managers only. Second that we should use our “goods in such a way that we reap eternal reward.” (78–79)

Regardless of whether God has blessed you with much or He has blessed you with little, God has given you wealth, strength, and or skills for the sake of your unbelieving neighbor: let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need (Eph 4:28). What does charity mean to the one in need? It means that when he sees your love and kindness he does not see you, but rather he sees Christ in you, as Jesus teaches in John 13: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (34–35). Through charity, whether with your money or time or strength, you show by your actions, by your works as the Reformers would say, that you are truly Christians by faith. You will soften the hearts of the unbelieving so that they too may believe and be saved.

By the nature we have received from Adam, our hearts are selfish and full of self-love. Walther observes, “If there were no mine and yours, if there were no law which protects the possessions of the one from the rest, if all had equal right to everything, all would want to enjoy everything but only a few would work for the benefit of all. Complete equality would not turn the earth into heaven. It would rather turn the earth into a hell.” This is why God gave the command not to steal and, not only wrote it on our hearts, but publicly and solemnly proclaimed it through Moses. He set a fiery hedge of protection around the possessions of each person, house, home, garden, field, and property, just like the angel guarding the garden (78). But God, in His wisdom, has not given private property to be used by each man only for himself, as our sinful hearts wish, but rather what Christ has given us is for the sake of building His kingdom.

This world is not our final home, but a temporary camp, where we live as strangers. St. Peter says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul (1 Pt 2:11). If our hearts love our land, wealth, station, or any earthly thing overmuch, we do not live as sojourners here on earth but as permanent residents, which means we will perish with the world. All God has given us in this life is only for sustaining this life while God gives us breath and for bringing the lost to the church. Our hearts must learn this lesson, and our hands must act according to Christ’s parable, to use our earthly treasure shrewdly because we will all be brought to account for what we have done and for what we have not done. If we have used what God has given for Christ’s church, then we have treasure in heaven. If we have not, then our treasure perishes with the world on Judgment Day.

Walther again says, “So you see, if God has made you steward over earthly property and gifts, the great danger for you is that you may be summoned someday for a strict accounting and be rejected as an unfaithful steward. But [these possessions] can and should make it possible for you to earn for yourself eternal, heavenly treasures. Every bit of property which is loaned to us by God is a pound from which we should collect compound interest in heaven. Each is a precious seed from which we should expect an eternal harvest, if we have sown properly here.” Thus rejoice if God has given you any skill, office, or wealth, since you have the opportunity to use it for God’s honor and your neighbor’s benefit. Only guard yourself against greed on the one hand, and wastefulness on the other. Be satisfied with what is given to you. See yourself as God’s treasurer who can be “a father to the poor, a comforter to widows, a benefactor of the needy, break your bread with the hungry, give the thirsty drink, clothe the naked, refresh the sick, lend to the needy, those who are in misery bring into your house, dry the tears of the weeping, still the sobs of the forsaken, and thus make for yourself friends of the unrighteous mammon in heaven. And when you will suffer need, when in death someday you will leave everything behind and quit the world as poor as when you entered it, then [those you have served] will receive you in the eternal mansions. As you were rich in temporal possessions, so you will also be rich in the eternal treasures of heaven.” (83–84)

Does this contradict the Gospel of faith Christ crucified for sinners? No. “Bear in mind, there can be two reasons why God will receive us into the eternal mansions, either someone has gotten us admitted into it, or someone certifies our claim to be admitted. Either He is the Lord of heaven or a servant. Now Christ alone has earned admission into heaven for us. But no person will be admitted but he who has witnessed that he actually believed in Christ. And these witnesses are our brothers whom we served on earth without possessions and gifts.” Then cling to Christ who died for your sins, set you free from sin, death, and the devil. Only through the work of Christ on your behalf are you given righteousness, eternal life, and salvation. All that I have taught you about using the earthly possessions that God has given you is merely an instruction on living by faith. If you fail to use your earthly possessions as God desires perfectly, yet are you not still baptized into Christ? Has He not promised that, though you are weak and by nature sinful and unclean, that He will never leave you nor forsake you? That He has washed away your sins, given you a new heart which is neither selfish nor self-interested, and made you a child of God? Yes, while you remain in this world you will be tempted, your heart of sinful flesh will scheme, yet your new heart in Christ resists your old sinful nature, reminds you daily that your old sinful nature is drowned in the baptismal waters, and clings to Christ crucified for you, and strives to live by faith. Remember your Baptism, trust in Christ who died for you and rose from the dead, and know that because of His great mercy He is preparing a heavenly home for you and for all who believe. Therefore, “Let us make friends with our unrighteous mammon and all that we have, so that we will not be ashamed at the gates of eternity. All those whom we here have unselfishly served will rejoicing come to meet us, tell loudly before all the inhabitants of heaven what we have done without property, and the Lord Himself will say to us, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’ (Matthew 25:21). Amen.” (83–84)

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen