TGBC: unconscionable
The Good Book Club
Tuesday, March 13. Luke 16:1-18
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’
Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. - - -
- - - I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly” … for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.’
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.
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‘The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.
‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
THOUGHTS FOR TUESDAY. This unconscionable parable is so beyond the pale, so totally beyond rationalization (as Luke tries somehow, almost desperately, to rationalize by the sayings following it) that it’s a benchmark in scholarly criticism for what is genuinely from the mouth of Jesus v.s. what was placed on His lips by the evangelist (gospel writer) or by the early church. That is to say, when we come across something so outrageous that we know Jesus couldn’t possibly have said it, that’s a sure sign that He absolutely DID say it. Otherwise the evangelist would have left it out, or the early church would have deleted it. So, Jesus really said this? I’m afraid so.
What could Jesus possibly have been not thinking? Your answer is as good as mine. I’m thinking maybe he’s saying, “When you’ve so totally screwed up your life that there’s no good way to make it right, just do the best you can and move on.”
That’s my take on it. The traditional answer, that Jesus (the master) liked that the dishonest steward shrewdly collected on uncollectible receivables by discounting them, is a stretch too strained for me. It would be silly to try and force something reasonable out of chaos.
The bit about John the Baptist and the Law and the Prophets catches me up short. I have no idea; it's your call, make what you will of it.
And, sorry, in our day and age, the absolute forbid on divorce is ridiculous, a cultural matter that evolves with society and time. Black or White is out: what conscionable human wants an abused woman (or man) to remain in an abusive situation? Among other societies, that was a history of deontological Roman Catholic legalistic abuse of the Irish people where the clergy were oppressive. If a rule or law is evil, disobey it and force its change. Even in the Episcopal Church, in my memory this is how we came to ordain women - - by defiant disobedience. Perhaps this also is how the most inhospitable canon forbidding us to serve Holy Communion to unbaptized persons will be, is being, overthrown and overturned? We simply welcome ALL to the Holy Table that is not our property to withhold, but the Lord’s possession. This bread means Jesus loves you. I bid you come.