“THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WELCOMES YOU”
Saint Luke 16: 1-9
9th Sunday after Trinity: 29 July Anno Domini 2018
Father Jay Watson SSP
Jesus is telling this parable to the “12.” And since God the Holy Ghost had one of them Peter, share the event later with Saint Luke, the truth of Christ comes to you as well.
If anyone could be called the “sons of light” it would be the Disciples. For did not another of them record their Rabbi speaking: “I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” [Jn. 8.12] And again in the prologue to His Gospel: “In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men.” [Jn. 1.4] In the God/Man are Light/Life! And His life he gives for the world. And those, like the “12,” like all of you, He gives Himself to in predestinating, calling, Redeeming, and Sanctifying, so that Saint Matthew can record Him declaring: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill can not be hid.” [Mt. 5.14] It was Jesus Who allowed His precious Life to be extinguished on The Tree of the Cross, the Tree of Life chopped down by the Father’s righteous justice against your trespasses that is only Light of Truth. The God/Man lifted high upon the pole, snake-bit for you and drawing all men unto Himself.
To be a planet reflecting the sun, the sun must first shine upon the object to be affected. To be a Christian first The Christ must come and adopt you into His heart. To be a son, to be a child, means the parent gives birth; he son, or daughter, does not cooperate or chose the conception—the nativity. Thus the “12,” like you, receive the mercy of God by way of the faith which He first gives them—Grace-to receive His light and life. Monergism—one actor. This of course is the Holy Spirit working faith in you, in Holy + Baptism by way of the external Word. Made sons from the eight-sided womb of The Groom’s Bride—The Church.
But what of the “sons of the world?” Well, yes, everyone starts out as a “son” of the world. But in Christ’s parable the term is used to identify the great mass of unbelievers, rejectors. At other times The Lord is even more direct with His language. The “sons of the world” are the brood of vipers, they are the sons of Satan. Harsh but true. This is the stark reality of “either/or,” there is no via media, no middle way. It’s either Light or darkness, Life or death (i.e. damnation).
In Christ’s story the “sons of Belial, or the world” are to be sure, shrewd and clever. The steward caught in defrauding his master, shows resourcefulness, guile born of desperation, and, well, outright “chutzpa.” He “forgives” debts in his master’s name, but without his master’s foreknowledge or permission. This shows cunning and self-preservation, but not love, not sacrifice. Like a socialist, it’s always easy to give away someone else’s property to signal faux virtue. Only God can truly forgive debt, cut costs—the cost of sin which is death; and He does it by cutting His only begotten Son.
And remember, in the parable the “debtors” still had to pay—reduced obligations—but still THEY had to pay THEMSELVES. This is the sinful synergistic, works-righteous concept of getting out of a debt from devilish sins.
But Christ says to the “12,” and to His entire Church, for do not the “12” typify the restoration of the Sons of Israel in His own Body—He Who IS the True Israel of the Father, He says “make friends for yourself by unrighteous mammon.”
Now you know full well that The Lord speaks definitively AGAINST mammon, worldly lusting and coveting; He speaks against un-righteousness, sin! So, what does this mean? And who are the “friends?” You are the friends and your fellow redeemed are your friends—it’s the family of faith.
Jesus spoke to the “12:” “henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends.” [Jn. 15.15]
How Christ feels and deals with you so ought you to mirror, shine His light and life to your fellow friends/Saints: “greater love hath no man than this, that a man layeth down his life for his friends.” [Jn. 15.13]
To use unrighteous mammon is to use those things given you in an unrighteous world—a fallen and sinful and decaying world. They are still gifts from God. Adam working a dying earth to eat bread from a thorn infested wilderness—still received the unrighteous bounty, and because it was from God it was gift used by Adam and his descendants—Who were God’s friends, for the furtherance of their earthly lives and for the Kingdom—their eternal lives. There you have it. Use your mammon, your money, your time, your talents, your money, for your friends and those whom you desire to become your friends. Use your resources to love your neighbors as yourself. Provide aid and comfort whenever you can—food, clothing, shelter, a shoulder to cry on, an arm and a fist to defend when called upon. This love in action is sacrificial, the fulfilling of the Second Table was only Done in Full by Christ, but you can nonetheless mirror and echo His love as you love His other friends. And the unrighteous cash that you give to His shepherds and His Bride—the Church—the individual parish will also be used for the friends who will receive you into their houses. Your money actually buys the oil and the wheat for The Word of God to attach itself to. The oil typifies the Sacrament of Baptism, the Sacrament of Absolution, entrusted to the pastor. The wheat typifies the Sacrament of The Altar wherein the bread of wheat becomes The Body of God.
The everlasting habitations? Being welcomed by “friends?” Yes angels. Yes The Blessed Trinity. Yes the entire host of Sabaoth and all your fellow Redeemed who have gone before you, do truly welcome you this morning, and every Mass day, into the Banquet Hall of the everlasting habitation, of Christ’s Presence, for you. You are received into their home and yours at the altar where you receive Christ your Righteousness—Your forgiveness and Peace.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
Email the webmaster.Contact Augsburg Lutheran Church: (913) 403-6194