Scripture from today's sermon: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp20_RCL.html
Some say that Austin, Texas is the live music capital of the world. After spending three years there, I am inclined to believe this. It doesn’t matter where you go, what day of the week or what time of day it is there will be musicians performing throughout town. Experiencing so much live music, I learned a few things. For example, catching the warm up act at a rock show is a good thing as they might end up making it big. Also, if you are a student, you can get into the symphony for the money beneath your couch cushions. But not all the live music lessons I learned are good ones.
One time I walked into a jazz concert a little too early. I can remember listening to the different ensemble members tuning their instruments and thinking to myself, how in the heck is this going to come together? The guy on the saxophone was just blaring all by himself, and while other musicians appeared to be warming up all I could hear was the blasts of the sax. I feel like that this morning. We have four different lessons from Holy Scripture, but the one that sounds loud and off pitch is the Gospel reading. Yet, like the jazz musicians coming together, once we put these Holy Scripture in concert with one another they start to make a more harmonious sound. This morning’s scriptures possess a melody within them, but this theme is easy to miss over the gospel’s loud blasts. Let’s listen to the sweet music of all these lessons coming together.
First, in Amos: “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land… and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat. The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” The prophet Amos (one of the most ancient prophets in Scripture) spoke to Israel at a time of unprecedented wealth. Many of God’s Chosen People have turned from God to focus upon material comfort. Amos clearly points them, and us, towards the reality that the LORD is looking out for the poor, and we who take advantage of the poor will be remembered (not in a good way). The bass line of our scriptural melody is established: The Lord remembers those who harm the poor.
From today’s psalm, we continue the song, “He takes up the weak out of the dust and lifts up the poor from the ashes. He sets them with the princes, with the princes of his people. He makes the woman of a childless house to be a joyful mother of children.” Our theme sounds a bit clearer now, as we hear more parts of the ensemble. From this ancient song we hear God pulls up the poor, and sets them among the prosperous. God makes the childless house into a home full of laughter. So God not only remembers those who harm the poor, God lifts up those who are poor.
Today’s reading from First Timothy throws a variation into our melody, Paul writes, to his friend Timothy, that through prayer we all “may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” Our song is getting richer now, God not only lifts up the poor, but through the power of prayer we all are transcend into a life of godliness and dignity. We through the mediation of Christ Jesus enter into a peaceable life in God. This is a beautiful song.
So what about the Gospel? Is it just a loud saxophone-like blast, or is it like John Coltrane methodically working what at first seem to be chaotic outbursts into musical genius? In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks not to the crowds or to the Pharisees, but to his Disciples, those closest to him, telling them something between a parable and a moral lesson. The world within Jesus’ story is messy, just like the world in which we live. This land manager has made a few mistakes in his job and his rich boss is on the verge of firing him. Who hasn’t been in a similar situation at work? Somehow though, the unwise manager pulls a complete 180, transforming himself into a shrewd steward who is the paragon of faithfulness, but what is really going on here?
The rich man from the story has potentially achieved such wealth from dishonest means. Maybe he hiked up the interest rate on the amount of olive oil the farmer owed. Unlike our earlier readings, the poor are being trampled upon by the rich man. In the manager’s desperation, he sees an opportunity to make friends with this farmer, so that he will be welcomed when he has no job. Even though he has no business relinquishing the farmer’s debt, the steward cuts what the olive oil farmer’s owes in half. He most likely did this not by ripping off the rich man, but by foregoing his commission on what the farmer was to pay. In one fell-swoop the steward creatively gets in the good graces of not only the farmer, but also the rich man. He shows that he is faithful to his position, even to the point of giving up his own cut. He is no longer an unwise land manager, but now shows that he is a creative, resourceful, forgiving, and faithful steward.
Now we have a completely new layer to our melody from today: God will raise up the poor through Christ’s meditation, but we are now the Body of Christ, and we are called to be like the shrewd steward: to be creative, to be resourceful, to be forgiving, to be faithful servants of the poor. This is the music God is calling us to make with Him.
In our neighborhood, in our city, in the world there is so much messiness, just like the strange world of this parable. Yet, we are called to be creative with how we take care of the poor, for as Amos reminds us, God remembers when we do not take care of the least among us. God beckons us to be resourceful in lifting up the weak whose faces are in the dust. Like Paul reminds us, we are to pray through Christ, our mediator, to help the poor, but we are to be faithful in taking care of the naked, the homeless, the lonely, and the destitute. We might have no business forgiving other’s debts, like the steward from today’s Gospel, but I believe God calls us to participate in what Jesus did on the cross, “Lord forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We have the call to live faithfully following God, yet we are called not just to pray for the poor, but to be creative and resourceful in taking care of all those who are suffering around us. This is the song of the Scriptures: be creative, be resourceful, be forgiving, be faithful: serving the poor and loving God.
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