Is God on the Mantle? A sermon inspired by the parable of the Dishonest manager.

What a difference a week makes, last week we have the beautiful stories about  a  God who doggedly pursues, who chases after us when we've gone astray- a God who Luke describes as  a shepherd who leaves his flock of 99  and takes an incredible risk to go after the 1  and only sheep who’s left the safety of the flock,  a God who Luke describes as a  woman who lights a lamp- who flips over the cushions of her couch- who’s digs through every junk drawer in her kitchen looking for that all important lost coin.   

What a difference a week make because we go from those stories of a God who passionately pursues relationship with us  to what Rudolph Bultmann describes as the problem child of parables-  a parable with contradictory messages.   

A parable on the one hand that speaks about making friends by means of dishonest wealth- [not what you’d expect Jesus to be preaching] and the other hand a parable that reminds that you can’t serve two masters-  you cannot serve  both God and Money.  Today we encounter a Jesus who is speaking out of both sides of his mouth.  

One commentator I heard this week said this might just be Jesus speaking sarcastically--just as we might have trouble judging sarcasm in an email- sarcasm may not translate across two thousand years. 

Another commentator I heard reminded me that parables are meant to summarize the entirety of the Gospel message- and sometimes like today  a parable give us something inexplicable that we may never fully understand when we try to decipher it with a 21^st century mindset.   

When I was a kid I vividly remember the day I won my first swimming trophy-   I was 11 or 12 I came in a came in 5^th place at our championship meet in Western Massachusetts in the 50 yard breaststroke.

I remember that day coming home and rushing in the door putting that little tiny trophy- fifth place- trophies are usually pretty tiny-- up on the mantle over our fire place so that everyone could see it  and see how good of a swimmer I was. 

It wasn't long though before the sweetness of that moment wore off and I wanted more- I wanted another trophy.  When I got the second one that went up on the mantle too.  Eventually though the mantle wasn't big enough and I wasn't happy unless I was getting the next trophy or winning the next race.

There are things in this life that seduce us into believing if we just have more of them -- if we just have this or that- we will be happy- we will be secure- we will be liked- we will have value.  Unfortunately at times-  we become a slave to those desires-   they cause us to work 50- 60-70 hours a week, they cause us to neglect relationships, to misplace priorities-  they cause us to hold on tight rather than to let go and be generous.   

At the end of the story Jesus gets his ducks in order and challenges his followers by reminding them that a slave cannot serve two masters- they cannot serve both God and wealth.   this is a parable is an invitation to reorder our lives-   an invitation to doggedly strive after riches that don’t perish, strive those treasures that do not rust or decay,  - this is a parable that invite it listeners to choose to doggedly strive after relationship with God.

This parable invites us-To put God up on the mantles of our lives.  

Again and again our faith tells us that when we put God up on the mantle, when we doggedly strive after that relationship    the peace that God promises, that peace that passes all understanding begins to flow more and more into our lives-- our faith tells when put God on the mantel of our we begin we begin to find forgiveness for those things that we can’t imagine God in his right mind forgiving us for.  Our faith tells us that when we choose God we find life- abundant life. 

Your presence here this morning say to me that you have chosen God- that you have chosen to stop everything else in your life and put your relationship with God on the mantle .

The challenge though comes when we walk out those doors into the world and all of sudden there are other shiny things, other things that demand to put up on the mantel of our lives.   It won’t be easy to keep God up there.

But when we choose virtues like Generosity over keeping our fist closed up tight  we put God on the mantle, when we choose to sprinkle into our days moments of prayer and quiet contemplation-  we put God on the mantle—when we choose forgo vengeance and  instead offer the olive branch of forgiveness- we put God up on the mantle. When we choose to open our lives to love our neighbor as ourselves- We put God on the mantle

It won’t be easy—we will fail- but the good news is God loves us even in failure.  The good news is God gives us another chance to be put back up on the mantle.

AMEN