Treasure in heaven - part 1 (text)

Informal Sermon - 23/09/07 – Trinity 16 (Proper 20) – Year C
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull 9.15am Eucharist
Readings: Amos 8:4-7 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13
(Approximate text – notes not used)


Now I wonder if you can work out who this character is? [Image 1 – Grumpy Scrooge]
This is Scrooge from the Charles Dickens Novel, A Christmas Carol. And what do we know about Scrooge? [What does he say – Bar Humbug!] We know that he is a bitter and twisted old man who only cares about money. All he thinks about is his accounts; he even does his accounts late on Christmas Eve. He also thinks about how to save a few pence here and there by not putting any fuel on the fire. Now Scrooge is an example of someone who lives his life for money. Let’s remember that, and we’ll come back to Scrooge in a few moments.
Now, I would like to thank the young people of Club 1 for reading our gospel for us today. They have been studying this particular gospel story this month, and now we are going to reflect on it together…so that’s good isn’t it.
But there’s a bit of a problem. And the problem is that today’s gospel reading is a very difficult gospel reading.
So I wonder if Club 1 found it difficult?
[hands up club 1 if you found it a difficult gospel reading]
[why did you think it was difficult ?]
Personally, I find it a difficult parable because when you first read it, it looks as though Jesus is telling us to be dishonest. Hummm! Let’s have a think about that.
First of all let’s just remind ourselves of the story. A rich man has a manager who he employs to look after his business affairs. But then people start telling the rich man that the manager is squandering the rich man’s money – he is being very wasteful with it. So the rich man decides to sack the manager. He says bring me all the accounts and hand them back over to me, because you are to be sacked.
And the manager is very worried because he is about to lose his job, and he does not know how he will get by without it. Then he has a brain wave. The last few hours that he his in charge of his master’s money he spends giving away his masters money, and in this way he makes some friends for himself, who will look after him when he has no job. And then the strange bit. The rich master commends, that is he praises, the dishonest manager. If I was the rich man I would be very cross with the manager, who is being blatently dishonest, but instead what does the rich man do?
[He praises the dishonest steward – for being shrewd]
So is Jesus telling us to shrewd? Is he telling us to be good at looking after ourselves?
I think Jesus does want us to look after ourselves and he recognises that in this earthly life we sometimes need to be shrewd in the way that we do that. In Matthew’s gospel (10:16) Jesus tells us to be cunning as serpents and innocent as doves. So we have to be innocent, but when we are dealing in the affairs of this world we also have to be shrewd.
So is Jesus is telling us to be shrewd, so that’s aright then, isn’t it?
But is it alright? What about the bit where he says, “Make friends for yourself by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”
Is Jesus telling us to be dishonest? Does he want us to be like Robin Hood, steeling from some people and giving to others?
Well it is pretty clear that Jesus does not want us to be dishonest. In this very passage he says that people who are faithful in small things are also faithful in large, and people dishonest in small things also being dishonest in large. So Jesus does not want us to be dishonest.
What, then, does Jesus mean by “Make use of dishonest wealth”?
Well I think he means ordinary money, worldly wealth that you and I understand as nice houses, smart cars and big bank balances. In fact many bible translations translate this as worldly wealth, not dishonest wealth. In the eyes of Jesus, worldly wealth is not really ours; it s just lent to by God. All things come from God, and we give him what is his. (c.f. 1 Chronicles 29:14)
We arrive on this earth as little babies, with absolutely nothing; not even clothes. Our parents look after us and give us stuff and we learn how to make things and how to earn money and how to get the things we need. But then when we die we leave the earth with absolutely nothing. Even our bodies turn to dust and ashes. In the eyes of Jesus, all worldly wealth is just something lent to us. It has no lasting value. It will pass away, or even if it does not pass away we will lose it when we die.
Jesus is always pointing out the contrast been worldly wealth and wealth in heaven. He says do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where it can be destroyed by moths and rust and where thieves break in and steel it; rather store up treasure in heaven where there are no moths or rust or thieves, so that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matt 6:19-21)
By contrast what Jesus really values he calls treasure in heaven. Treasure in heaven is the acts of generosity we have done, the times we have stood patiently by with those who suffer, it’s the efforts that we have made with the people we find difficult, it is all acts of love we have done great and small. And this treasure in heaven has eternal value and it is much more truly ours then anything we might own on earth.
And so this is what Jesus is saying – use your earthly wealth to build heavenly wealth, by serving other people on earth, by building up friendship and community on earth. [It didn’t cost the dishonest manager anything when he gave away his masters money, but it did buy him friends. So Jesus invites us to use our earthly wealth that is leant to us, to buy friends in heaven. We loose our earthly wealth anyway when we die, so it is a much better idea to use it to buy wealth in heaven.]
And this brings us back to Scrooge. [Image 2 - Happy Scrooge] Now in the story of the Christmas carol Scrooge goes through a conversion experience. It is a difficult and frightening experience involving three ghosts, but Scrooge has a complete change of heart. He starts to care about other people. He starts to give away his money. He starts to be generous. He starts to build up treasure in heaven. And as he does all this, he starts to find his happiness again.
So let’s be happy, like the converted Scrooge. Let’s think of our money and our wealth as something that is lent to us by God. Let’s use it while we are on this earth, to build up treasure in heaven.