That's What She Said

The question about what happens when we die. Don’t we all wish we knew? Is there something, or nothing? Will we be ourselves, with all our experiences and thoughts from before, or not? What is *personal* about the afterlife, if there is one? The question about marriage is really an existential one: who am I, and who will I be, in the heart of God?

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The question about our life as citizens. If God’s reign competes with the reign of empire, where does our loyalty lie, and how are we meant to function as citizens in God’s reign? “Paying taxes” is one way to say, “But we live here; we have to get alone here; in what sense do we belong here?” This question is magnified in our context, as Christian nationalism is ascendant and we’re confused about how/whether to be patriotic, how/whether to try to influence the government, how/whether to participate in capitalism. How do we live *here* if God’s reign is *elsewhere*, metaphorically speaking?

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Chronic naivete with tragic results. Jesus is now in the final days of his life. He has entered Jerusalem, and cleansed the temple. The VRPs are looking for a final solution. Luke has just a couple chapters of last-minute sayings and stories from Jesus, and then he will be betrayed and crucified. In that context, he tells this parable, which seems thematically similar to the previous one: it concerns a wealthy ruler and his enslaved persons. But in this one, the master is not the villain, rather his tenants are. Why does the landlord continue sending his enslaved persons to the tenants? Why does he think they will behave any differently than they always have? In what way is this parable an answer to the VRPs’ question of Jesus’ authority? And in what way does it introduce how Jesus’ life is about to end?

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A nasty nobleman and those he enslaves. This is one of the ones where I struggle the most not to seek one-for-one equivalencies. Does the nobleman = God? (I hope not!) Do the slaves = us? What are the pounds? In Luke, “pound” is a translation of “mina,” about three months’ wages. Other gospels have a similar story with “talents,” or more than fifteen years’ wages. Some people have used an English pun with “talents,” understanding them as our gifts and, well, talents. What will we do with what God has given us? But Luke’s version also includes some violence. This nobleman is not well liked, and he slaughters those who don’t want to be his subjects. Luke says he told this parable “because he was near Jerusalem”—indeed, chronologically and geographically, we are very close to the start of Passion Week in this passage. The very next verse concerns his triumphal entry. What does this parable mean, in that context?

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Persistence over performance. I’m ready to give this widow a standing ovation. You? One of the tenets of Critical Race Theory is “interest convergence,” the idea that laws do not change because of the kindness of lawmaker’s hearts. They change because the interests of the lawmakers or the powerful converge with the interests of justice advocates. “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,” he says, “this widow is on my everlasting nerve.” And then we have the pray-ers. Why do you think this parable immediately follows the previous one? What common themes do you see?

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Prophets over ghosts. In what way is this parable a response to the ridicule of the VRPs? Luke tells us they were “lovers of money” (hence their ridicule in response to the previous parable about the dishonest manager). Jesus responds to their ridicule with a series of seemingly disjointed observations. John (the Baptizer) ushered in a new era, or good news over law. But the law is still active, also. And, this weird comment about remarriage. And then, the rich man and Lazarus. What is the train of thought here? The parable is about riches, surely, which tracks with Luke’s aside (“who were lovers of money”), but how does it track with any of the rest of this? And what do you make of Abraham’s assertion that if Lazarus’s family didn’t believe the prophets, they also won’t believe “even it someone rises from the dead”? Who would you believe, a prophet or a ghost?

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Too weak to dig, too proud to beg. Once again, Jesus tells this story like the manager’s response is rational. Is it? What about that line in v. 8, “the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” What does that mean? Is that true today, for this generation? And then the turn in vv. 10-11. “Whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” And so, it follows that we should be faithful with dishonest wealth? Not that we should be faithful and honest? Huh?

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Finding shit you had lost. Jesus tells these stories like they make perfect sense. “Which one of you…does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness?” But is that really the obvious thing to do? What would you do, if you were a shepherd? Or a teacher, maybe, with 99 (or let’s say 19) kids? Leave them in the wilderness? What about the other stories, do the responses of the characters make sense to you? Is that what you would do? Does it seem like the obvious course of action, or is it surprising? The RCL separates the Prodigal Son story from the sheep and coins parables. Why do you think Luke puts them together? Are they related? How?

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A collection of co-conspirators, a cloud of witnesses, the great congregation. How many workers, how many witnesses, how many helpers, how many heads-of-household does it take to make a church? Lots. How much can we learn from these names about the way the early church functioned, and the way ours could, too? Lots.

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The household code. This is the kind of stuff that makes people say, “I hate Paul.” Is it redeemable? Does it matter? Can we find there the evidence of a trajectory toward liberation, equality, justice? Does it matter?

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or PayPal, or just send a check to 6563 Teague Rd., Fort Worth, TX 76140.