Luke 16 - Monday 22nd January
Today’s chapter is Luke 16
Tom writes:
Has Jesus gone loopy? Has he eaten some bad fish and started advocating criminal behaviour? Jesus is telling the shrewd manager story not because he wants people to be dishonest but because he wants to shock people into seeing what shrewdness really is. Shrewdness realises the temporary nature of a situation, it recognises there are but a few moments to exploit it and it is ruthless in doing so. Jesus is speaking into the fleeting nature of this life compared to the eternal nature of his coming Kingdom. He is urging his people to be unimpressed by anything we own or achieve in this life, and to fervently and ruthlessly sacrifice it for our own eternal gain. I wonder if you read that right? Do things for your own eternal gain. Jesus has no problem with self-interest. He just has a major problem with his children seeking benefit in places where there isn’t any; he doesn’t want us frittering our inheritance on the alluring but fleeting fancies of money and status in this life.
This nuance is really important as it shows the blooming, flourishing goodness of God. God does not want us to be ascetics by acting as if everything we want or enjoy is bad. That denies God as creator of the world and the designer of us. (Full-on asceticism is actually the root of the lie that the serpent told Eve back in Genesis 3.) But God doesn’t want us to be hedonists either. Hedonistic Christians assume that God’s presence will bring great pleasure and riches to them in every moment. An ascetic would rejoice in the poverty his master was inflicting upon him. A hedonist would be crushed by it. But the shrewd servant sees it as an opportunity. Shrewd servants spot possibilities. All the time. Even when things are going up the famous creek. This parable is Jesus’ unashamed appeal for us to get better at spotting possibilities, especially with the use of our money. Jesus wants us to look at our bank account differently. Every penny in there can be invested in getting stuff back in the coming Age. Jesus wants us to win favour and befriend and to donate for the sake of future reward. To our “christian” culture it almost seems shameless. But Jesus says it is clued-up, effective, dynamic living. So which will you choose? The limp “selfless” “christian” view or the shrewd, opportunity-obsessed call of Christ? The choice is yours. I hope you’ll be shrewd.
Question for reflection
If you had £50 in spare cash, how could you use it to gain friends for yourself?
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