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The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007 Ordination of Louise Christensen
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
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Time after
Pentecost – #25(c) In the scripture, Jesus tells his disciples this crazy and aggravating parable about this dishonest manager who is going to loose his job—and rightfully so—It says “he was squandering his master’s property.” So, in a sort of last ditch effort to secure a future for himself by trying to make some friends, he (ironically) uses his soon to be lost position to forgive the debts owed to his master. That is, he makes friends in the world by drastically reducing what is owed by his master’s customers, and therefore, by dishonestly defrauding his master. And then…the really infuriating thing is…he gets praised by his former master for his shrewdness/ or his cleverness. What Jesus is describing here is not right. It’s not just…It doesn’t make sense… but it should. Because it’s the world we live in. It makes me think of the Oakland Raiders of the 1970’s Owned by a notorious character named Al Davis. Now back then, the Oakland raiders were also praised…they were good, they were successful. Al Davis had this famous motto: “Just win, Baby.” Now, Davis was and always will be a street fighter who sees rules as impediments to be stretched or broken. It was the Raider offensive lines of the 1960s who perfected the art of disguising illegal holding. “It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.” Raider defenders were known for playing dirty… they brazenly crossed the line between aggressive-but-clean hitting to vicious cheapshots that were successfully used to intimidate opposing players and/or put them at unwarranted risk of serious injury. “Just Win, Baby.” Oh when will we learn? Again and again, Jesus tries to tell us this same thing that just doesn’t get through very easily: “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world, but forfeit your life/soul?” (the soul—the seat or center of your life that transcends the earthly (BDAG) “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life/soul does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Yet there are countless examples of this “Just Win, Baby”, ends justifies the means attitude which indicates the way in which humanity has lost touch with morality: There are many, many examples: Politicians-who have all but given up on ethics, in order to maintain their popularity, or their jobs; Pop musicians who come out on stage wearing nothing but their underwear, because they realize that sex sells; retailers who turn their heads in order not to see that their suppliers are dealing from sweat shops in inner cities and third world countries—virtually promoting slave labor; and even church’s who, having lost perspective, would do anything to get people in the pews—even sacrificing the message of the gospel-toning it down because it’s not what people might want to hear. The world works this way, and at the center of it all and as the chief example and motivator of all the worlds wickedness, there is this thing which Jesus talks about in the Gospels more than any other one topic…mammon—or money—the ultimate symbol of this inherent wickedness of a fallen creation. When Jesus says “dishonest wealth,” which is more literally translated “Wicked mammon” he is not challenging our ethics when it comes to money, he’s reminding that money is not ethical. Think about it: There is nothing fair about money. The lottery has no regard for character and neither do most family inheritances that have been passed down for generations. Money has no regard for justice or contribution to society. If it did, teachers would make a lot more than they do and pop-singers would make much less. In it’s application and everything about it, money does not signify character either. And we all know, no matter how much of it we may have, it does not make us better people. That is, the more money someone has, does not directly correlate to the amount of honor he or she deserves. But often times, unfortunately, the amount of money someone has, does correlate directly to how much honor someone receives. It is in this sense that money is called by Jesus “wicked.” What’s more, money is easily made into an idol to be worshiped, an idol that prevents people from seeing God or acknowledging the truly valuable treasures that God gives to the community. However, and this is the main point—the challenging message of today’s Gospel, money is what G-d has (in varying degrees) given us to work with in this world. Wicked mammon is was God has given us to work with in the world. And speaking to his disciples, Jesus warns them, “If then you have not been faithful (to God) with the “wicked mammon” entrusted to you, who will entrust to you the true riches? And brothers and sisters, it is true. There are much greater treasures than money (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). But Jesus asks us, if you have not been faithful with “worldly mammon” (which is only given to you temporarily) how can you be trusted with the inheritance that God wants to give you? The real inheritance. The eternal inheritance!? This, then, is the challenge of discipleship for each of us to go home and reflect on and pray about today, as I see it: We have been claimed by Christ through the promise of our baptism—we have been made saints for the world – workers for righteousness in the kingdom of God. We have been promised much greater things than money…But, we still have to live in this sinful world—and in our hands (hopefully) we still have to work with this wicked mammon. This is the human situation. This is the challenge to his first disciples and to us: Can we use this stuff—this wicked mammon, which God has entrusted to us, in our service…not only to ourselves…but in our service to God? Can we, in this wicked and cruel world that values success above all else—a world that rewards even respects success no matter the ethical cost—a world that so easily overlooks the needs of people to focus upon personal opportunity--can we as Christians (as the church) use our own “wicked mammon” in our own clever ways—to do God’s work? Yes, brothers and sisters, we have to. The need is so urgent. By the worlds standards it doesn’t make sense what we do, but we do it anyway. Charity. We have to. Christian giving, is the world’s only hope—it does what no government could ever do to help the people who are poor and are hungry. It is the cleverest use of wicked mammon that has ever been come up with, because…, like in this parable, there is nothing to be done against generosity. The servant has been generous with his property—it puts him in a bind. He can’t revoke the generosity, because his clients already love him for it. There were some Muslim’s a while back, who saw and perhaps even understood the wickedness of money and thought they could solve the problem by blowing up the world trade center, with all those innocent lives sacrificed for their cause. But again, and obviously they were missing the most important thing—Jesus Christ—who warns that wicked mammon will tempt us to sacrifice our morality and ethics too: And, in my estimation this is exactly what happened—all nobility of their fanatic cause was lost to the senseless death, and atrocious murder of September 11. The good news found in our Christian faith, is that there is another way. It is the way of generous giving and charity—it is the way of peace. May this be our way…for the sake of Jesus Christ. -------------------- Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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