Discerning God's Call in Things that are Hard to Understand

 This sermon was delivered on a Sunday when the lectionary brought up a very difficult reading from Luke 16:1-13 and we had two baptisms with many visitors!  

Discerning God’s Call in Things that are Hard to Understand

Luke 16:1-13                           Sept 21, 2025                                      by Kent Walley

 

Why did Jesus teach in parables?  Do you know?

 

Most people would say: to explain things to help us understand God and His Kingdom here from earth.  I, myself, once thought that.

 

And indeed, the parables are relatable, using everyday situations to talk about the kingdom of God.   But Jesus doesn't use parables to make things plain to us.

 

Here is His startling statement in Mark 4:11-12:

"Jesus said to His disciples, 'To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'"

 

Did you catch that?  In the Gospel of Mark chapter 4, Jesus says He teaches in parables so that people would NOT understand!!!

 

What?  Why would Jesus say something so that people would not understand?  Why confuse people?

 

There was a time in my life where I sat pondering that question for a long time.  Why would Jesus teach so that people would NOT understand?  Why bother saying anything if you don't want them to understand?

 

He explains the parables to His disciples but not to the crowds.  It is like an open secret.  He puts it out there for everyone.  And everyone is confused, but then the disciples come to Him, and ask Him to explain.  Some who listened, sought Jesus out afterward seeking to understand.  Jesus explains the meaning TO THEM.   He says that the secret of the Kingdom is given to them.  And so why tell a parable so that the crowds would not understand?

 

Do you see it?  Jesus wants people to stay after class.  He wants people to come to Him and ask Him to explain it.  Jesus' parables get us thinking, wondering, pondering so that we will be prompted to come to Him and ask.  Not everyone is ready to listen.  Not everyone is truly interested, but for those who are, the parables are like bait, meant to lure in those who would genuinely seek God in their life.  The difficult and confusing parables are actually an invitation to come to Jesus and get to know Him personally.

 

And so, we have before us today one of the hardest parables to understand.  And as we look at it together, let us keep in the back of our minds what Jesus said about why He taught in parables.

 

Let your questions, your concerns, perhaps even your discomfort this morning, lead you to stay after class, like the disciples did, let this parable lead you to pray to ask Jesus for understanding, and in doing so grow into a deeper relationship with Him which will abundantly bless your life.

 

That being said, I want to be sure you understand that I did not select this passage to be read today.  We follow a lectionary, a reading cycle and this is the gospel passage appointed for today.

 

I really do wonder sometimes what the people who put together our lectionary were thinking?

 

Here we are in the Fall.  It is a fresh start.  People are coming back from being away in the summer.  They are reconnecting with their church and then in September we read this!??

 

And what a great reading for a Sunday when we have lots of visitors for baptisms!

 

If you are a visitor, please know that we really do not always talk about money in this church!

 

Though it is remarkable how often Jesus does!  We tend to forget that.

 

So let us seek Jesus this morning --to open our minds --to hear a word from Him for each of us in this parable.

 

Jesus tells us that a manger was squandering His master's resources.  It could be that He was just inept.  Maybe, but others think that what Jesus means is that this manager was padding his own expense account, taking advantage of his position to cheat, inflating the prices his master's customers were being charged, so that he could keep the extra money for himself.  Jesus describes him as unjust.

 

He was getting up every day and cheating and squandering and getting away with it.  Day in and day out there were no consequences for his actions.  It seems that this must have gone on for a long time.  Until one day, there came that critical moment where everything in his life changed.  Someone found out and told his master.  And he was held to account for his actions.

 

The master calls him in, confronts him, and then fires him.   

 

So, to ingratiate himself to others with the hope that they will help him after he has lost his job, he calls them in one by one and reduces their bills.

 

Some think that he is just using his position one last time to cut what they owe the master.  This would be undercutting his master.  But if that is what he is doing, why would the master praise him?  For when the master finds out what he has done, he commends him for acting shrewdly.

 

More probably the manager is cutting his own, overly inflated, commission that he has been adding to the bills.  He is cutting the overhead.  This not only could earn him favor with the customers, but it would also make his master's rates more competitive.  So, his master looks better, and he wins favor with the customers.  Smart.  And master commends him.

 

Then Jesus says, "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..."

 

Here is yet another puzzling statement of Jesus.  It makes you want to look at it again and be sure you are reading that correctly.  I don't think I am being controversial in saying that I don't believe Jesus is commending being dishonest here.  With all we know about Jesus, could we really believe that He would mean that?

 

So, what is Jesus really saying?  Perhaps as some think, Jesus is using irony.   He is saying something like: “Sure try that, make dishonest wealth and use that to bribe and ingratiate yourselves to others.  Then, when your life ends, they will welcome you into their eternal kingdom.  Oh, wait a minute.  They don’t have an eternal kingdom, only God does…uh oh.”

 

In other words, think!  Think about who you really want to ingratiate yourself toward.  You might get fired on earth, but you don't want to be fired by God!  Fired by God!  That sounds like hell fire and brimstone.  You don’t want to be let go – by God… That doesn’t sound any more pleasant.  We certainly don’t want to be let go from heaven!

 

I am having some fun with the words here, but Jesus is actually making a very serious point.  Acting with self-centeredness while forgetting God in this life might seem to be desirable, profitable in the moment, but actually, it leads to ruin.  You can be dishonest.  You can cheat. You can use wealth to ingratiate yourself to others.  But God sees.

 

So don't be like the manager before he was caught...Think about consequences.  Think about what you are doing with the resources God has entrusted you with.  How are you using them not just for yourself, but to honor God and bless others?

 

Darrell Bock in the IVP commentary writes about this passage:

"People of this world think about how they use their resources.  Even if they misuse them, they still give it thought.  They think about the long-term benefits of what they acquire.  Disciples should apply themselves to honor and serve God by their use of resources.  They should think through their actions, both short and long term."

 

Think about what God would want you to do with what you have...God who made you... Who gave you the opportunity... The ability... And created the resources... He gave you life itself!

How might you use what He has entrusted to you to give back to Him?

 

And Jesus is teaching us here to not serve wealth... Don't live thoughtlessly, impulsively focused on what you can get for yourself.

 

It is not a sin to be wealthy.  But Jesus warns us time again in the gospels about how dangerous money can be, because of the effect it can have on our hearts.  Bock in his commentary writes:

"Money is evil because of how it brings out distorted values in people.  Pursuing money can make people selfish, leading them to take advantage of others, to treat other people as objects and to be unfaithful to God.  It tends to reflect an excessive attachment to the world.  So, it is better not to be attached to the pursuit of wealth.  Possessions are a responsibility.  Their use is a test of character, values and stewardship.  The one who is faithful in little is also faithful in much."

 

You were made for a higher purpose than trying to use money and take advantage of others for your own ends.

 

Ultimately your heart can have only one focus.  What are you living for?  Jesus says at the end of this passage: you cannot serve two masters.  You cannot serve God and money.  Again, Jesus is not saying it is a sin to be wealthy.  But the question is: what are you focusing your life upon yourself, or God?  Jesus is really challenging us today just as Joshua challenged the Israelites after the Exodus when he said: Choose this day who you will serve!  May we respond as he did: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

 

How do you know if you are serving wealth?  How do you know if wealth has gotten too strong of a hold on your heart, on your life, on your focus?  One way to test your heart is to regularly practice giving your money away.  As Jesus said, there is a greater blessing in giving than in receiving.  Living open-handed before God, rather than close-fisted, or grabbing is one way to help reduce the hold money can have on our hearts.

 

As uncomfortable as this subject is, Jesus wants what is best for us.  He is speaking to us in love.

 

And why does talking about money make us so uncomfortable?  Might the subject touch something within us that we don’t want to have to deal with?

 

Jesus is telling us today, that just as people in the world who don’t care about God think carefully about their money and how to use it to get what they want – so the children of light, those who are seeking God should think carefully about who they are serving – what they are living for, and make deliberate choices to focus their lives upon God.

 

So as uncomfortable and difficult as this parable of Jesus is, maybe it wasn't such a bad reading for a baptismal Sunday after all.  Because this parable, in very real-life, down-to-earth, practical ways, challenges us to consider what we are living for.

 

Today, we are about to hear two families renounce self-centered living.  Self-centered living amounts to self-worship.  They are about to pledge that they renounce all sinful desires that draw us from the love of God.  Money can certainly lead us to desire things and do things that draw us away from the love of God.

 

And we are about to hear these parents and Godparents pledging to help these children learn to put Jesus first... to serve Him, to follow and obey Him as Lord.

 

And we are about to join them by pledging to support them and renewing our own baptismal covenant in which we promise in several ways not to live our lives serving ourselves, but to serve God first, above all else and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

 

The words of Jesus echo down through the centuries right here to us this morning, challenging us to think.  Think carefully about our lives and what we are really living for.  To live for self can seem like a good choice in the moment, but it ultimately leads us away from where we really want to go.  We were made for a higher purpose.  We were made to discover the blessings that come in giving, in serving, and loving God and our neighbors as ourselves. 

 

Jesus is among us this morning echoing the words of Joshua and saying to each of us: choose this day who you will serve.  Will join me in thinking carefully about what we are about to say, and meaning it from the bottom of your heart?  Will join me in letting this baptismal covenant be the way in which we answer Jesus by saying: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”?

 

To Him Be the Honor, Glory, Power, and Praise, Now and Forever.  AMEN.