Communion With the Christ:: A Book Keeping Trick

Jesus set out for his finial journey to Jerusalem,

where he knew that he would face his death by crucifixion. Luke:9-18

St. Luke speaks of Jesus' determination to face the cross which he knew awaited. Jesus was resolute, or determined to go to Jerusalem. This was something he was going to do.

"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem", Luke:9:51

It would be Jesus' impending death which provides the back drop for his parables of Grace. So often ,the parables are read divorced from their context when this is done their meaning can becomes diffused.

Grace

We can see Grace, beginning to surface in the parables and teaching of Jesus as time passes and as the cross draws nearer in the narrative of the Gospels. Grace begins to emerge and appear in the parables, little by little.

We can also see themes such as Lastness, Lostness, Death and Resurrection emerging in Jesus' teaching as well, but now as Jesus makes his final journey to Jerusalem, we see that Grace is on his mind and the means to extend it to humanity.

The Parable of Unjust Stewart

"Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose Stewart was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, because you cannot be Stewart any longer.’

“The Stewart said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The Stewart told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

“The master commended the unjust Stewart because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight." Luke: 16:1-13

In Context

So often , this parable is read out of its context, it is generally read as a lesson regarding attachment to the “wealth” of this life, but when we see it in and read it in the context of Who Jesus is and his mission and why he was going to Jerusalem, which was to die and cancel the IOU of sin which hung over the lives of all humanity, then the meaning is transformed.

Jesus is going to Jerusalem; Jesus is on his way to the cross the parable changes into a powerful statement of the Grace of God.

The Stewart

You see, the rich man had a right to have the debt paid, yet through the Steward’s actions, through a bookkeeping trick that debt was canceled, far reduced from the amount that was for upon those who owed it.

The accounts were settled forever and noted on the account ledger “as paid in full” by the Stewart. By all rights , the rich man should have received his payments from the those who owed him the money, and though he does not receive payment, we are told that he commends the Stewart for his shrewd handling of the matter.

Our Dept: Paid in Full

When we read this in light of what Jesus was about to accomplish for us all on the cross, the meaning stands out. This parable is about the forgiveness which Jesus has brought to us, all by Grace. Jesus has canceled our IOUs through a divine bookkeeping trick. Our dept which was greater than any of us could pay is now canceled.

The rich man had every right to collect what was owed him, but he did not, this speaks of the right of the Great God to receive what is due him. We all owe him more than can be pay . God has the right to have justice, but through Jesus that IOU that hung over us was canceled just as the debtors in the parable owed. The truth is, that it would have been just for him to collect, but he allowed the action to stand un-revoked.

Jesus is the Stewart

We are told in the parable that the Stewart was going to loses his place, Jesus did just that, in a-way. Jesus divested himself of the glory of deity, while still retaining his deity fully and took on our humanity and dwelt among us. For just a short time he parted with the glory of his deity and walked among us, all due to our need for hm, that is, our in indebtedness, our inability to pay what was owed is why. John: 1:1,14, Philippians:2:5-9

Jesus, as did the Stewart, made away for all of our dept to be paid, even as God the Father, as did the rich man in the parable, had the full right to his full just payment, but through Jesus our accounts have been settled. Paid in Full.

Just as the Stewart called the debtors of rich man to himself and addressed their accounts with them then canceled them. Jesus’ dose the same.

Jesus calls each of us and asked us "how much do you owe?" The Stewart provided the means of cancellation, so does our Lord Jesus make it possible for us to go free of the IOU which hangs over all our lives. The Steward does for the debtors what Jesus has done for each of us.

They owed, yet through the bookkeeping trick of the Steward they were free of their debt. The reality is that they, and we, owe, but through Jesus we can released and have that IOU gone for all time and eternity.

Jesus calls us and lets us know that he has canceled our debts of that which we all owed to God. God had a right to have it paid and so, the Grace of God is in one sense "unjust” in the way that God could have demand that we ourselves paid it to the full but he chose to show mercy over "justice" .

Tetelestai

Jesus on the cross, as he died was announcing the canceling of our debt, using the "Red Ink" of his own blood covered all our sinfulness and blotting it out for all time and eternity, providing salvation to any and to all who will just receive it by grace.

Jesus, we read, utters the phrase “it is Finished” . The Greek is "Tetelestai which means "paid in full”, it is completely accomplished there is nothing else to be paid nothing now owed on all of our accounts. Jesus alone has accomplished everything needed for our salvation is done.

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the spirit" John :19:30

The IOU

This is what St. Paul was alluding to in his epistle to the Ephesians Christian and to Christians throughout the ages.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians: 2:8-13

St. Paul again expounds on the debt that humanity owed to God, this was charged to all of us due to our inability to follow the law perfectly. We could not do it. The Law was like that ledger of the rich man which reflected that there was payment due.

St. Paul wrote that the Law "brought death”; It demanded the payment of our lives but Jesus reconciled our accounts us to God.

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" Colossians:2:14

Through Jesus, the IOU of the Law, has been removed that we might walk in the newness of life, a life free of the Law's claim over each of us, now we are free to extend the love of Jesus into the world around us.

Mammon

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

This new debt free life given us by Jesus Christ, is that we have been set free to live by and through Jesus. St. Paul speaks of it in many of his letters. We are free, to be who we were meant to be in Jesus. We are now able to set our minds on those things of God, the things which are above. Now set free from the earthly materialism, that is Mammon of this world. Jesus frees us to have our attachments and wealth in the union we now have with him, that which is Eternal.

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Colossians: 3:2

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:" Matthew:6:20

Into Their Houses

The Stewart, quickly assess the situation, and considers his future disposition and came up with the forgiveness plan to cancel the dept, so that he might be taken into their houses when they learn of the release of their dept and out of their appreciation, they will take him. This is what happens as well, when we come to see the forgiveness, we have in Jesus that is, our dept is canceled, we take him into our lives. Jesus is taken into our lives, we are his and he is ours.

Praising The Steward

After this forgiveness is brought to light and the Rich man discover it , he commends the Stewart's actions.

“The master commended the unjust Stewart because he had acted shrewdly."

This speaks to us of the highly exulted place that the Father has bestowed on Jesus Christ, for being the very one Who brings salvation to humanity though His death on the cross, which cancels our dept and removes the outstanding IOU.

"And whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Matthew: 23:12

"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.Why God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: " Philippians:2:8-9

No one Greater and Higher has come lower; only to be raised higher above all other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saint And they sang a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped." Revelation: 5:6-14

How Much Do You Owe?

When the Gospel is preached, we make friends of the children of this world, when they hear that invitation to come to Jesus and they can have IOUs canceled. The Gospel asked each and all of us, "how much do you owe?" and provides the means for the eternal cancellation of our dept through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise God for the unjust Steward for he has canceled our debts and settled our accounts forever.

Benediction: May we each and all, be ever graceful for the divine bookkeeping trick which has canceled our dept today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen