“Denarius and the Evil Eye” Matt. 20.1–16 Pent 12B Aug. ’24

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace from God our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Gospel from Matthew 20, which you can follow along in your bulletin below the sermon title: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” (Matt. 20:1). The message is entitled, “Denarius and the Evil Eye,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                “For the kingdom”? What triggered this parable? Well, that whole episode of the rich young man, who couldn’t get into the kingdom because he wasn’t free enough to turn his back on his money and importance. He had Jesus right in front of him with open arms, and that didn’t free him up to leave it all and run with Jesus!

3.                Then Peter said in reply [to Jesus], “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly [Amen], I say to you, in the new world [regeneration], when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matthew 19:27–30)

4.                What does this mean? So then comes the parable: That certain householder went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. “After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” “And going out about the third hour he [the landowner] saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.” (Matthew 20:2–5)

5.                Now the householder is starting to sound a little impractical. Where’s he going with this? “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ ” Ever get picked last for a sandlot baseball game? They were still hanging out where day-rate workers hung out because no one saw any use for them. “He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ” (Matt. 20:6–7)

6.                One hour to quitting time. By the time the guy punches in and gets his apron and tools it’s going to be time to quit! The householder was either stupid or was intentionally out to make a point, and we know he’s not stupid. So here it comes. “When evening came, the owner [lord] of the vineyard said to his foreman [steward], ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first’ ” (Matt. 20:8). Notice how the lingo changes all of a sudden? What happened to the “master of a house”? Now he’s “the ‘owner’ of the vineyard.”

7.                By changing the title of the employer, Jesus is telling us what the parable is about. He’s not pushing communism. This isn’t a parable about how we’re supposed to run our vineyards. It’s a parable answering Peter’s question: “What do we get?” “Pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.” The lord of the vineyard wanted the 6-a.m. guys (the “Peters”) to see what the latecomers got paid. “And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius” (Matt. 20:9). A denarius!

8.                “Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more” (Matt. 20:10a). Look at what he gave those guys! They just got here! This guy is generous! If that “lie-about” got a denarius, can you imagine what we’re gonna get? “But each of them also received a denarius” (Matt. 20:10b). A denarius! They were insulted! I’m no Wall Street whiz, but at 6 a.m. they were thrilled to work for a denarius, and now at 6 p.m. the denarius had devaluated significantly. And once you hear their complaint, you know the Lord Jesus is talking about religion. He’s talking about being a Christian. Because it sounds so familiar! “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” (Matt. 20:12).

9.                In an effort to avoid the point, the Talmud retells the story with the owner commending the laborer for doing more work in two hours than the others did in a full day. But that’s not part of the parable. The householder called the unwanted near the end of the day. That’s the point. They somehow got this idea that he came seeking them because he needed them! We may also assume the householder profited from the workers working in his vineyard. But that’s not part of the parable either. My dad started me out in his Tobacco shop when I was 18. He didn’t do that for himself. Things were harder for him with me there, not easier. It took longer to show me how to do it than just to do it himself. None of that was for him. It was for me, so I wouldn’t stand idle all day, like those day-rate workers in the parable. And I understand that now.

10.             There was once a sign in my Grandpa Taggatz’s workshop: Shop rates: $30/hour $50/hour if you want to watch $75/hour if you want to help. But it’s true! You, young Christians, you sit here today as 6-a.m. disciples of Jesus not because he needs your help. This is all for you, so that you can know him here, you bear the heat of the day, not idle, but with the Lord of the vineyard, hearing his words, which are spirit and life, speak to you, so you can live the life of the world to come with him, here and now, and go into the marketplace with him to rescue those who are idle. The lord of the vineyard didn’t raise up the 5-p.m. guys to be equal to the 6-a.m. guys. He raised up the 6-a.m. guys to be equal to the 5-p.m. guys! “The last will be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:16).

11.             The denarius was a gift! But they were insulted. So he answered one of them and said, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” (Matt. 20:13). He calls him friend, but it’s so sad here. Because the Greek word used here for “friend” is not the regular word translated “friend.” This word occurs only two other sad times in the New Testament. “And he [a king giving a wedding banquet] said to him [a guest], ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ ” (Mt 22:12–13). The other: “And he [Judas] came up to Jesus at once and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, do what you came to do’ ” (Mt 26:49–50). “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” You were fine with that until you saw me being good to someone else.

12.             So he told the 6-a.m. guys, “Take yours and leave. I wish to give to the 5-p.m. guys as I give you.” I don’t ever want to hear my Lord say, “Take what belongs to you and go,” like being thrown out of the wedding. Or to Judas. Sad and scary! Then he said, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” (Matt. 20:15). And, we can translate, “Or is your eye evil because I am good?” Remember the prodigal son’s older brother? He had that same evil eye. He didn’t believe in grace. A party? For him? You’re kidding me, right?

13.             This isn’t the first time Jesus talked about an evil eye. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy [sincere], your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad [evil], your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Mt 6:22–23). And here’s the worst part of having an evil eye. All the blessing of God goes right by your eye and you don’t even see it. The lord of the vineyard says, “Friend, all that time it was you and me—you and me in church, you and me in the Word, I in you, you in me, you and me loving others. Was it all nothing to you?”

14.             St. Luke’s account of the thief on the cross illustrates this parable. “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). If anyone ever punched in right before quitting time, it was this guy. He lived out his own disaster, right up to that moment, and he winds up with the big denarius! And I know that theologians like to call this a unique gift of salvation. But they all miss the point. The salvation of the dying thief isn’t unique at all. It’s just shows so clearly how it really is for everybody—that everybody who goes to heaven steals heaven on her or his deathbed. We’re all 5-p.m.ers! The denarius was a gift! Jesus died on his cross for the privilege of giving it. Jesus bore the heat of the day, the day that the Lord had made and earned that denarius, that gift.

15.             And those of us who have been so blessed that we’ve gotten to spend more time in the Lord’s Vineyard, not alone, not careening toward hell all our lives, not lost and without hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12) but Christians all our lives, like you kids, disciples all our lives, not only workers in his vineyard but also branches in him who is the vine, kids, Being with Jesus Is the Denarius!

16.             Coming into his vineyard at 6 a.m. isn’t an insult. It’s a blessing! And we won’t bear the heat of the day forever. There’s a day coming when Jesus will remake all things. When he began answering Peter’s question before the parable, “Amen I tell you, that in the regeneration,” there’s this beautiful word: regeneration. It literally means “Genesis again,” beginning again, the new creation. When the Son of Man sits on his throne in glory, the twelve will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for [Jesus’] name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mt 19:29–30).

17.             We will live to see the Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory. And we won’t care about first or last, because we’ll be so glad to be remade as we were meant to be in him. And we’ll be so glad for every hour, every minute we spent in this vineyard with him while the day was still hot, this vineyard right here, burdens and all, while so many still stand idle in the marketplace, waiting for us, on behalf of the Lord of the Vineyard, to call them to joy. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

“Grace & the Double Standard” Matt. 18.21–35 Aug. ’24 Pent 11B

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for today as we continue our sermon series, Parables for Pentecost, is the Gospel from Matthew 18:21-35, and I’ll quote from it as we go, beginning with verse 21: “Then Peter came up and said to him [Jesus], ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ ” The message is entitled, “Grace & the Double Standard,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.” We just said it. In view of the rabbis teaching to forgive three times, Peter ramps it up to an impressive seven. Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times [seventy times seven]” (Matt. 18:22). The point is, forgiveness is more like hard work than it should be for Peter, and for us. How come?

3.                Obviously, because we and Peter are too much like the guy in the parable. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants [slaves]. When he began to settle, one was brought to him” (Matt. 18:23–24a). We’d never go to God on our own to settle up accounts. Most people don’t want to hear about God or talk about God, because all they can think of is, “He wants to settle up, and it’s been a while. When I see the actual number, I’m going to faint.”

4.                Like the guy in the parable: ten thousand talents in debt! A talent was about the Seventy-five pounds. So two talents was a pretty full wheelbarrow of coins. He owed five thousand wheelbarrows of silver coins! Which, of course, he couldn’t repay. It wasn’t a hard amount to pay. It was impossible. That’s the whole point. “His master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made” (Matt. 18:25).

5.                Now the slave makes an intelligent move. He quickly got into a kneeling position. “So the servant [slave] fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything’ ” (Matt. 18:26). The lord of that slave—his heart broke. “Pity” or “felt compassion” isn’t the best translation. The word there means “his guts fell out.” Or to use a familiar equivalent, “his heart broke.”

6.                This is what God is like. Heartbroken. We ask for more time to pay, that he’ll be fair. But, instead he is heartbroken over us and makes the whole thing go away. And we are made whole by his huge heart. And we, sinners that we are, parade like royalty into paradise on what appears to be a red carpet! We are sinners treading the scarlet road to paradise on shreds of God’s broken heart.

7.                And he let him go!—the text says He “released him and forgave him the debt” (Matt. 18:27). He sent away the debt. That’s what “forgive” means in the Greek word aphiemi. Not ignore the sin. Not trivialize the sin. Not excuse the sin. But send the sin away. The way you send your garbage away. It’s still garbage, but now it stinks somewhere else. So the whole horrible thing is sent away somewhere, and you’re off the hook. The fact is, it hardly seems fair. And the slave, with joy, skipped out into the street sobbing gratefully saying, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins!” Didn’t he? No.

8.                “When that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii” (Matt. 18:28)—$17.93! When someone is forgiven more, they love more, right? Not this guy! And bullying him, he began to choke him, saying, “Pay everything you owe!” This guy was just forgiven 600,000 times as much as he was strangling his colleague for. What’s wrong with him?

9.                “So his fellow servant [slave] fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you’” (Matt. 18:29). Now his own same exact cry for mercy is played back to him, to jog his memory, what with the five minutes that just went by. Surely now his heart will break. “He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt” (Matt. 18:30). Why did he stop singing his new creed? “I believe in the forgiveness of sins!”

10.             Did he forget so soon? Do we forget, too, once the last hymn ends and we hit the road? We are fallen sinners like Peter. Do we imagine that the Master sends our debt away because the Master is a fool? But when we send someone else’s debt away, that means there is no justice. Suddenly, it’s not fair. And if our resentment tamps down the joy of forgiveness with a sense of fairness, our souls will turn their backs on the joyful Savior and rejoin the walking dead.

11.             “When his fellow servants [slaves] saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master [lord] all that had taken place” (Matt. 18:31). And every time it happens in this life, those who know the real human King are deeply grieved, because they understand the cross. They know God is no fool. And they know there has always been justice, even though a wicked unforgiving servant didn’t have to experience it.

12.             Where did that ignorant man think all that debt was sent? He never thought about where. There was another hymn he never sang:  Ye who think of sin but lightly Nor suppose the evil great Here may view its nature rightly, Here its guilt may estimate. (LSB 451:3) The highest thought a Christian can have is to meditate on the cross: justice-mercy-unfairness! They were grieved over the action of their fellow servant, who believed that just because he wasn’t brought to justice, there was no justice. Who believed that to be merciful was to be a fool. He wouldn’t adore the unfairness of God. It’s the sin of unbelief, unbelief in the forgiveness of sins.

13.             “Then his master [lord] summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant [slave]! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me’ ” (Matt. 18:32). It’s as if the Master said, I knew I would have to eat 10.76 million to be merciful. Did you think no one would have to pay for that just because it wasn’t you? “And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant [slave], as I had mercy on you?” (Matt. 18:33). I brought you into the promised land of grace, mercy, and peace, where hearts break and sins are sent away. Was it not necessary that your heart be broken? Was it not necessary that you send your fellow servant’s sins away? Was it not necessary since now you could afford it? Since it wasn’t you that had to pay for their sins?

14.             The end of the story isn’t pretty. The king said, “You obviously don’t believe in the forgiveness of sins. You believe in justice? Justice you shall have...” And then comes the divine wrath, the full debt returns, and he’s handed over to the torturers, that is, hell. “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:35). Forgive them and mean it. “How? I want to mean it, but I’m really scared because even when I think how much God has forgiven me, I still hurt, and I can’t act like this person didn’t sin against me. I just can’t believe God expects me to ignore what the person did.” He doesn’t.

15.             God does not make light of your pain. He is much more offended by sins against you than you are. There’s a difference between trying to ignore what someone did to you and forgiving that sin. Forgive means “give it forward,” in Greek, to “send away.” Send where? If you don’t know where your own sin was sent, you don’t know what grace is. When the Lord says, “forgive,” he is not asking you to make light of some sin against you. He is telling you to take the whole horrendous crime against you and send it to the cross, where the real King takes the hit for all the debt. Lay it on Jesus. Because this is grace: we believe that “one has died for all, therefore all have died” (2 Cor 5:14).

16.             In frustration with theology, you may ask, “How do I send sins to the cross?” Real theology is the most practical of all things. There’s an “exercise” my pastor taught me to believe one died for all, therefore all died: Go out on the street outside your house and look at the telephone pole, way up at the crossbars. Picture that person who sinned against you nailed up on that cross, because that’s what the Father saw when Jesus was crucified! That person who hurt you: paying. Can you see him or her struggling against the nails, pushing up to get air?

17.             That’s gross and uncalled for, Pastor. Is it? I thought you wanted justice? Whatever the person might have done to you, this is too extreme. God says, “Nothing is too extreme for the one who hurt my beloved!” You want justice? Here it is! Let this do your heart good! Send the sin to the cross—from your heart. To send it away means to forgive—from your heart. It wasn’t an exercise for God. It was the reality, so that just as he sees all sinners paying while Jesus dies, so when he looks at any of us who have been baptized into Jesus’ death, he sees the life of beautiful obedience that Jesus lived, and he credits it all to each of us and counts us innocent.

18.             It all starts with God’s broken heart, and the sending away of our sin, and then our broken hearts, and the sending away of their sins. “Send away our trespasses as we send away the sins of those who trespass against us.” And it all ends again with God’s broken heart, where all the sin is sent. No more sending away, but Jesus is handed over to the torturers until the last penny is paid, and all the weight of the sin sent there is on that heart of Jesus, until his heart breaks, bursts! “One of the soldiers pierced his [Jesus’] side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (Jn 19:34).

19.             It’s not fair! It’s the Sacraments! Send your brother’s sins to the cross of Christ as you live in the waters of Holy Baptism, which come from that broken heart, and as you drink of Holy Communion, which comes from that broken heart! Welcome to the land of grace, mercy, and peace, where hearts break and sins are sent away. We believe in the forgiveness of sins. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

“The Shrewd Steward” Luke 16.1–14 Pent. 10B, July ’24

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Gospel from Luke 16, and let’s get right to the difficult verse, verse 9: “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth [wicked mammon], so that when it fails [runs out], they may receive [welcome] you into the eternal dwellings.” The message today as we continue our sermon series, Parables for Pentecost, is entitled, “The Shrewd Steward,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Today’s Gospel forces me to face at least three things about Jesus’ teaching that are going to help me with verse 9. First, we pastors preach mainly to one group, and we’re all on the same team—same beliefs, same goals. But when we’re talking about Jesus’ hearers, welcome to the big leagues. Most of the time, he was addressing two or more groups, goals, beliefs, disciples, and enemies. He even had two kinds of enemies that didn’t even like each other try to gang up on him and trap him in his own words. We just got through looking at the parables that Jesus spoke to both the sinners and the religious leaders, and when he was done: the sinners believed in him, which is what he wanted, and those with religious pride wanted to kill him, which is what he wanted. Something for everybody.

3.                The second thing is that Jesus used a lot of bad people as positive examples. When he was teaching us to be persistent in prayer, remember the man who wouldn’t give bread to his friend in the middle of the night, but finally would give it just to get rid of him (Lk 11:5–13)? If persistence works with a bad person, won’t it work with God, who is good? Then there’s the “treasure hidden in a field” (Mt 13:44). Here’s a guy who knows the land is worth more than the owner does and makes it his life’s work to get it! That’s bad. That is a sin against the Ninth Commandment. And in the parable, God is the buyer! But, again, he uses the savviness of sinners to illustrate even God’s desperate act of love.

4.                Which brings me to a third thing about Jesus. 2000 years ago, in Galilee, Jesus was smart. He knew the stunts people pulled in business. He was smarter than everyone else, and more clever. Wise as a serpent, and innocent as a dove. The reason he didn’t sin is not because he didn’t have the skill or opportunity. He didn’t because he wouldn’t. He loved his Father too much to sin against him, and he loved you too much to let you down.

5.                So, Jesus spoke to multiple audiences. Here in Luke 16 Jesus spoke to his disciples, but when he’s done, we find out in verse 14 that there were eavesdroppers: “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.” Do you think that Jesus was smart enough to know who was listening and to include something for everybody?

6.                In this parable, Jesus talks about money, because he knows what is near and dear to our hearts. He uses a man who’s a scoundrel as an example. Remember, Jesus made up this story, because he knows real life in our world. The manager, or steward, was in a crisis. He was reported to his boss as squandering his possessions, and he knew he was not in a position to deny it. All he had was a pink slip and the logbook to turn in. Did he decide to admit what he was and get his hands dirty with good honest work or at least come clean and ask the boss for mercy? Heck no. He appealed to his god, mammon. If you enjoy plots that twist and turn, this guy is poetry in motion.

7.                First, he approaches those who owe his rich boss money. He makes friends for himself by discounting their debts. He does it one at a time, so each thinks he’s special. Take your bill and knock off half, buddy! Now they love him, so maybe he’ll have a place to live and work once he’s fired. They love his rich boss too, because they think this kind gesture was the boss’s idea! Now the boss is in a pickle. How will it look if he goes through with firing the steward, right after he lowered their bills? Does he then tell his customers the truth about their bills? They’d all hate him. And, just in case his new friends weren’t grateful enough to welcome him into their homes, he had dirt on them! He’d involved them in a criminal conspiracy, to set them up for extortion later. Remember, he had them take their bills and lower them.

8.                We call it conspiracy to defraud. And the employer praised the dishonest steward for his cleverness (Luke 16:8a). “Do you believe this guy? He’s been bleeding me dry, and the day he’s exposed and fired he picks my pocket on the way out! Bravo!” Takes one to know one. “To their own kind, the sons of this world seem more clever than sons of light” (Luke 16:8b).

9.                What a pathetic ending! The schemer, the blackmailed, and the pragmatists, all handcuffed together in greed. Who would even dream up a story like this? Jesus. Because he knows how the children of this world think. And there’s something for everybody. So, what’s in the story for the eavesdropping Pharisees, who loved money? Of course, when Jesus talked about money, the Pharisees smiled, as in, “If you’re so smart, how come you’re broke?” These words were directed at them, those Pharisees, and all who worship the god of money: then use wicked mammon to make yourself friends. What kind of friends? Friends in low places. Then be children of this world. Let them call you clever, so that when the money runs out, your friends will take you with them into eternal housing. He’s talking about hell.

10.             And what’s in the story for the disciples, the children of light? He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. If you couldn’t be trusted with wicked mammon, who’s going to trust you with real wealth? If you couldn’t be trusted with somebody else’s property, who’s going to give you something for your own? (Luke 16:10–12).

11.             All this money and stuff we thought we owned was somebody else’s property all along. Christ is the sole owner. All human beings are managers of some part of his property. No one’s got any choice about that. We can be honest managers or dishonest, trustworthy or untrustworthy, but if we’re human beings, all things we have he’s richly given us to manage for the moment. And his orders are pretty simple: Don’t waste it. Enjoy it, but don’t squander it on yourself. For the moment, money’s powerful, so enjoy doing good with it. For the moment, money’s necessary, so give it to those who need it. Make money! Just don’t keep it all. Don’t obey it; manage it—for the moment that it’s in your hands. Great. That just leaves the 6000 pound elephant in the room: Who are any of us to play the role of a child of light?

12.             Let’s not lose the big picture. Where was Jesus on his journey when he told this parable? He was about to enter Jerusalem, to die on the cross in order to make you a child of light! That’s what makes you a different steward, that you should be rescuing people on God’s behalf with his goods! Baptized into his name most holy!

13.             But it’s way bigger and better than being made stewards of the stuff he owns. He owns you. He owns me. St. Paul writes, “You are not your own; for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor 6:19b–20a). Jesus is the owner now. He redeemed us, purchased and won us. You are a steward of . . . you! We’ve been entrusted with real wealth! Forgiveness, life, and salvation! So Be Shrewd like That Steward in the Parable.

14.             What about those of us who agree that we should live as children of light, but our performance has been more like children of this world? What about the books we’ve already cooked? Be shrewd about believing him when he says, “though your sins are like scarlet,” write down “white as snow” (Is 1:18).

15.             What if I mess up again? I have no faith in me. Good! Be shrewd about trusting Jesus to get you home! Even now, O child of light, Jesus is smart enough to notice when we pull stunts on ourselves. You know, the psalm says darkness and light are the same to him (Ps 139:12). It means he can see in the dark! Just because I can’t see in the dark doesn’t mean he doesn’t see all the games I play. That’s why he says, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8).

16.             So, the stewards now are smart to realize the Owner can see in the dark, and they come out into the light. “You know all things, Lord. You know I’ve sinned.” The Owner says, “What have you wasted or squandered on yourself? Quick, write down ‘Nothing.’ ” He says, “How have you sinned with my property, that body I redeemed? Quick, write down ‘Not at all.’ ” And it must be okay, because he’s the Owner. His sacrifice settles all accounts. His death balances all books. The blood of the Owner cleanses us from all unrighteousness. His love writes “Well Done” on everyone who believes him. It puts eternal life into our hands, for us to take hold of. Even pastors are stewards of these mysteries.

17.             The “one God, . . . one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5) was crucified like a scandalized steward, and, as if it were his life that was at stake, asked, “How much do you owe?” We said, “All of it, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Take your bill, and make it zero, child of light.” Be shrewd. Do it. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.