Today's is a difficult gospel, the "a man can not have two masters" gospel. In it a wasteful steward is told by his master he is to be fired. He responds by rewriting loans and debts others owe his master in order to create good will among them so there will be a place for him to go after he is fired. The master, strangely, salutes his efforts as practical and prudent.
Christ is always contrasting the material and the spiritual, the worldly and the heavenly. And, of course, the worldly comes in second best. He never dismisses the world; we live in it. He just wants us to put it in perspective and give Caesar what is his and nothing more. The question underlying this is always "Does Caesar have anything, really?"
This is one of those moments where one would love to see Christ's expression as He delivers the parable. He had to be laughing. The master compliments the steward for his plan; but the master knows the plan. The changing of the debts will not work. He is not deceived and the steward's new found friends will not be friends in the end. Still, the master congratulates the steward for playing by his own rules, the rules of the world. At least he is consistent.
But he has thrown his full support behind the contestant that has already lost.
Christ is always contrasting the material and the spiritual, the worldly and the heavenly. And, of course, the worldly comes in second best. He never dismisses the world; we live in it. He just wants us to put it in perspective and give Caesar what is his and nothing more. The question underlying this is always "Does Caesar have anything, really?"
This is one of those moments where one would love to see Christ's expression as He delivers the parable. He had to be laughing. The master compliments the steward for his plan; but the master knows the plan. The changing of the debts will not work. He is not deceived and the steward's new found friends will not be friends in the end. Still, the master congratulates the steward for playing by his own rules, the rules of the world. At least he is consistent.
But he has thrown his full support behind the contestant that has already lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment