“Mammon of Unrighteousness—His Eternal Flesh and Blood Oblation”
2 Samuel 22.26-34; 1 Corinthians 10.6-13; St Luke 16.1-9; Psalm 54; TLH 366
the Sunday Sermon preached for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity
at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church—UAC
by the Rev. Frederick E. Davison, Pastor
August 17, 2003
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Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus the Lord. [Amen.]
The sermon for the Ninth Sunday after the Holy Trinity is recorded in the Holy Gospel appointed, the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke chapter 16th, with particular focus on these words:
“…Make friends to yourselves of the mammon of unrighteousness…”
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. [Amen.]
“There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, ‘How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.’
“Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. Ah, I know what I am going to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.”
He’s faced the facts of the matter. He doesn’t argue about the fact that he’s wasted and plundered part of his master’s goods. Apparently it is pretty obvious. It must be a rather well and widely known fact—the master had heard. And for him the gig was up. He was done. What was he going to do? The solution was beyond him. The situation was out of his control. His stewardship was going to end and there was no doubt about it. He needed to act and he did it “quickly.”
“So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, ‘How much owest thou unto my lord?’ And he said, ‘An hundred measures of oil.’ And he said unto him, ‘Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ Then said he to another, ‘And how much owest thou?’ And he said, ‘An hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said unto him, ‘Take thy bill, and write fourscore.’
The question is why? Yes, part of the why’s been answered: ‘so that he will be received by them into their houses…” First, when the Lord comes to accuse the unrighteous steward, he doesn’t throw him into jail as by rights he could have. This unrighteous steward’s lord is a merciful lord. And his mercy is apparently wide and well known, for his tenants do not question his unrighteous stewards actions. It is in fact, the unrighteous stewards’ lords’ mercy that he counts upon. It is the lord’s mercy that makes his actions makes sense. It is his lord’s mercy that this steward banks on when he figures out what it is he is going to do.
Counting on his master’s mercy, he figures out his plan. His first judgment he looks at purely pragmatically. It uses simple worldly common sense—“What will I do?” He is in such dire straits that he even thinks about such distasteful options as the Prodigal Son in the parable just before, but these for him are no option at all. Although he is an unrighteous steward, he is brutally honest with himself about his situation: “I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.”
And his lord—that is the lord of the parable—commends his unrighteous steward for being “wise.” Not for deceit and deception, but in trusting in his mercy, the unrighteous steward would see not only how mercifully he treated his steward, but also how kindly the master treated his debtors as well.
And the Lord Jesus applies this teaching toward His disciples saying, “the children of this world are *in their generation* wiser than the children of light [are in theirs].
So often when taking up this teaching of Jesus, we are amazed that Jesus would seem to commend unrighteousness. But even our little guys here know that can’t be true. They know that if Jesus said, “keep the Commandments”—and He *does*—there is *no* way He is teaching us to bear false witness, or to steal, or anything like it. So what *is* He teaching?
This unrighteous steward was brutally honest with himself. He knew he was. He knew that on *that* account, he was liable to the judgment of his master, and further, when that judgment was made, he was threw. So he was, first of all, honest about his master’s judgment of *him.*
But the second thing his master commends is besides being honest about his master’s judgment, he was honest about what that meant. There was nothing *he* could do *himself* to get out of it. But, there *was something that his master could do for him.
Using and building on his master’s widespread reputation as being merciful, he showed his master’s debtors mercy hoping and counting on the fact that maybe the people would expect he had at least some small part in convincing him to cut his debts. After all, when the debtors dealt with the steward, they were dealing with the master himself. So when the unrighteous steward forgave part of the debt, the debt was truly forgiven. And should the master reverse his steward, his reputation would be harmed. Yes, this unrighteous steward was worldly wise—that is what Jesus is commending. He commends the unrighteous steward for trusting in his master’s mercy as his only means for making it in the end.
So also He commends such thinking to his disciples—and also to the Pharisees who are listening in. In effect, Jesus is saying, “You know of your impending judgment. In spite of all your best attempts to hide, to conceal who and what you are. In spite of your best outward behavior, you know that you are sinners. And there is a judgment that likewise awaits you.”
If unrighteous steward’s can read the signs of the times and act accordingly so that they can assure themselves safety in their *own* worldly situations—after all the Commandments have not changed; that unrighteous steward is *still* unrighteous and at the last day *will* be judged for cheating, lying, and stealing. But the point is, if unrighteous stewards can trust their earthly masters in their time of “crisis”—remember the Greek word for “judgment” is “krisis”—if the unrighteous can use worldly goods to make friends for *temporal* good, how much more can the Sons of Light, the True Believers in Christ, how much more able are they to recognize the signs of the time—this most critical time: Messiah has come—and *also* make friends? But not earthly, but eternal.
“Make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.” Yes, of course, use your money, not just *some* but throw caution to the wind and lay it all on the line. Put every energy you have toward “making friends” unto eternity. Of course the twist is, you, just like that unrighteous steward, there is nothing you can do. “Make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.” That mammon, that “wealth of unrighteousness” is Christ. He, in His own Body, not just represents, He is no mere figure of unrighteousness, but the Scripture says, He “became unrighteousness.” And so then the Son of Man, our dear Lord Jesus, being baptized in the Jordan in fulfilling “all righteousness” became the “mammon of unrighteousness” that He may hang on a cross and in His own Flesh fulfill all Righteousness and there become an eternal oblation, an eternal offering of peace to His father that we, unrighteous stewards all, might be declared righteous in His sight all the days of our life.
Yes, indeed, our dear Lord Jesus in His own flesh, is every mercy, every kindness, every compassion so much more than any earthly lord or master, but indeed *He* is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. And He comes to us His Flesh and Blood that we who are by nature unrighteous, might be in Him the righteousness of God. “Make to yourselves friends” No, just like in the parable, the making friends came not from within, but from without.
These “friends” you are to make cannot be found within for indeed in this parable our dear Lord points us not to our works, our own merits, our own abundance of worldly wisdom—no indeed at least one point of comparison is that we all are likewise unrighteous. But the great wealth, the superabundance of the Sacrifice of all Sacrifices—the wealth of unrighteousness—was put to death in the Flesh of the Father’s One and Only Son—that those who look to Him, and trust in His mercy, may likewise partake of their Master’s Good that they may be welcomed into eternal habitations, to the glory of the Father by the Flesh and Blood of His Son. God grant us to be suchwise shrewd that we may again this day partake of the Mammon of Unrighteousness—His Eternal Flesh and Blood Oblation—both to our temporal blessing and eternal good, for Jesus’ Most Holy Passion sake.” [Amen.]
In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Ghost. [Amen.]
The peace that passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! Amen.
Pastor Davison
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church--UAC
6843W 400N
Kokomo, IN 46901
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“Many good men have testified publicly and thanked God for this great blessing, that on many points our Confession’s teaching is better than that which appears everywhere in our opponents’ writings. And so we shall commend our cause to Christ, who will one day judge these controversies. We beseech him to regard his afflicted and scattered churches and to restore them to a godly and abiding harmony.” [Preface to the Apology]
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