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Making kingdom use of money

This week’s Gospel reading from Luke features a topic that many of us feel uncomfortable talking about in church – namely money. But Jesus clearly thought it was an important topic to talk about as around two thirds of all his parables feature money and our attitudes towards money.

Here Jesus shares a puzzling parable about a rich man (God?) and his less-than-honest manager (Israel?) who is looking after his affairs. The manager is called to account for his stewardship – how he has mistreated the wealth of his master. The manger quickly devises a crafty plan to make new friends for himself – reduce the amount of what the master is owed so that the poor debtors will be grateful and make him welcome.

The intended lesson? Use the resources at your disposal – including money – to make friends with the poor and outcast – because it is the generous and those who welcome the poor who will inherit the blessing of God’s kingdom. The parable asks we rich folk a challenging question – how are we using the resources at our disposal to welcome such people and to share God’s good news with them?

From the Minister,

The high cost of following Jesus

The bad news of this week’s Gospel reading is that there is a high cost to following Jesus. He cautions would be followers to sit down and count this cost before becoming a disciple. The cost includes putting trust in Jesus above even close family relationships, the readiness to suffer if need be, and the call to hold lightly onto material possessions. These are hard calls in our individualistic, pain averse and materialistic culture.

The good news of the passage is that God calls us to persevere in the life of discipleship even when our circumstances seem tough. The cost may be high. We may be misunderstood by our families and mocked by others. We may have to let go of things we hold dear. But this week’s psalm (139) reminds us that wherever we go, and whatever we do, God is with us, always. When we are prepared to pay the cost – and to live a life of loving, serving and caring for the least, the outcast and the unlovely – that’s when the gospel message shouts most loudly from our lives.

From the Minister,