Zucchini

Luke 16:1-13

This year I have no zucchini. Last year we had so much that my wife delivered it door to door to the neighbors as she walked the dog. Many more things are like zucchini than we believe. This year I didn’t find any gold in my garden. Years ago, a man named Sutter found enough gold in his creek that people from miles a round came to have a share of it. Eventually it was gone and the people of California had to go back to growing things, like oranges, artichokes, and zucchini. I don’t think it pays to pay too close of attention to how much of one particular thing we have, like gold or zucchini or money. Things come and go so quickly around here. Life is short. We are better off sharing what we have and concentrating on love.

 

There once was a man who had a lot of something, Jesus didn’t say exactly what. He hired an accountant to keep track of it. The accountant wasn’t very good and soon the man had a lot less than what he started with. Oh, well. Things come and go so quickly around here. Life is short. The man with loads of stuff, didn’t see it that way. He was angry and the accountant heard about it. The accountant could have gone and hid or tried to crook the books so it didn’t look like he had messed up so bad. That’s what we expect him to do. Its what anyone who values gold, or money, or zucchini would do.

 

The accountant instead said that his boss had the wrong attitude about his stuff and he would teach him how people who know life is short should behave. He went out with his dog and gave his boss’ stuff away to his neighbors. His boss was amazed at how little stuff remained. “This year you have no zucchini,” the accountant explained. “But, if you go out into your neighborhood, you’ll find that everyone loves you. You can go house to house and get a home cooked meal and friendly welcome. What’s worth more, your stuff or the love of your neighbors?”

 

Luke 16:1-13 is the most hated of Jesus’ stories. Most preachers avoid it. We hate it because it demeans material things. It says that those who carefully account for every cent are not being mindful of their spiritual condition. No one can serve two masters. We can either be generous or we can be frugal, we can’t be both. Jesus is saying something radically life changing. He is saying that if life is short, then we must use our material things to serve God’s purposes. God is love. One can serve God, or one can serve the common belief that money must be honored. We cannot know the balance of our 401k and the intentions of our heart at the same time.

 

I believe that few things have damaged the church’s witness more than its failure to preach against greed. Passage after passage in the Bible judges those who charge high interest rates (when was the last time you preached against usury?), who oppress the poor, who go to war for material gain. Yet the church tends to concentrate on institutional gain and preach against sexual sins. Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned for their lack of hospitality, violence, and idolatry, but how rarely do we hear the story told that way. We also rarely tell Jesus’ stories in a way that fully expresses his contempt for materialism. Read Luke 16:12. Is Jesus really telling us that our money is not our own? What is our true wealth, that God wants to entrust us with? Life is short. Share.

How is zucchini different from your 401k?
Pentecost 20