There is a Balm in Gilead

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13

The parable of the shrewd manager is very confusing to me. Yesterday while writing my sermon I agonized over this text, wondering just what is Jesus trying to tell us with this rather odd story. So here we have a manager who is in charge of a rich man’s property and it is his job to go out and collect the rich man’s debts. The manager squanders his master’s property and he is about to lose his job.

Anxious about what his future might hold, he decides to win the favor of the debtors by reducing what they owe to his master. The manager thinks that if he cuts the master’s debtors a break that they will feel obligated to help him out when he loses his employment. You know the old saying, if I scratch your back, you’ll scratch mine. Now some have said that the discount in the loan is the manager taking out his commission and all things being as they should, the manager would keep his job as well as get a pat on the back from his master. However this is not the case. The text does not tell us if the manager gets his job back. Instead his master commends the manager for being able to milk the system to his advantage. But Jesus tells us this is only a short term fix. The moral of the story that Jesus gives is this, “Whoever is faithful in very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” In bible talk what Jesus is saying is that little things mean a lot.

Throughout the summer we have explored how Jesus used the method of storytelling to preach about what God’s Kingdom will look like when God’s reign on earth is complete. The purpose of the parable was not to make Jesus’ audience feel good but rather to make them think, to even make them feel a little uncomfortable. Jesus provides in each of his parables a twist so as to make his listeners scratch their heads and go “huh?” The twist in the end of this parable is Jesus talking about the difference between being faithful or being dishonest. Sure the manager garnered the obligatory support of the debtors but how long will this last.

The challenge for us in this text centers upon acquisition and the use of wealth. Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus continually warns his followers to not make an idol out of wealth. Here he is telling his followers that there are people who know how to acquire and use wealth to weld power and influence and that it might a good idea for his disciples to be wise to how the rich and powerful play the game. However, the bottom line is always the building of God’s kingdom here on earth. How are we sharing what resources God has blessed us with so as to continue the realm of God on earth? Are we just running after the next quick fix or are we looking for sustaining change toward the good of all God’s creation?

Today the world seems to be spinning out of control with violence, corruption, poverty and despair. We are still deep into the “great recession.” Our nation’s leaders are still unable to come to a consensus as to how to use our nation’s resources to solve our problems. Drug use is on the rise, violent crime is on the rise, poverty is on the rise and we wonder how we got into this mess. Like Jeremiah we cry out, “For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.”

The older testament text this morning is a conversation between Jeremiah and God. Some note that God is like a heartsick parent, seeing that God’s children are heading for trouble, but must helplessly stand by while they suffer the consequences of their bad choices. God recognizes and embraces the pain of God’s children and God promises to continue to be present, however God is not going to swoop in like a superhero and save the people from their own demise. (1) Indeed, the nation of Jerusalem is on the road to self destruction because of their disobedience to their covenant that they made with God. In her commentary on Jeremiah, biblical scholar Kerra Becker English states, “The Temple that was supposed to be a place of peace had become a palace for the powerful here on earth. No longer were the orphans, widows, and foreigners shown the hospitality of God’s love. No longer were the warnings against stealing, murder and adultery heeded. No longer did God have primary place in the people’s worship or in their lives.” (2) Jeremiah was sent to deliver the message of God’s tough love and he was distressed. Even though he pleads with the people to “break ranks with this earthly authority and be subject to the divine will” (3) the people did not listen and now they are facing eminent destruction. Jeremiah asks the rhetorical question “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?”

In a competitive culture that pressures us to serve the master card rather than the master God it is hard for us to transcend our own needs to survive at any cost and to work towards God’s aim for the good of all creation. So many of us are living close to the edge, for example Americans are working harder in this decade than in any other time in the modern age and yet many people are only one paycheck away from becoming homeless. We have become a divisive nation where we live in a culture of Red States and Blue States, Liberals and Conservatives, the haves and have nots. We are entertained by television shows that vote people off the island until a lone person is left to collect their reward for being able to “outwit, outplay and outlast” the other players. We live in a world where people live in isolation, unable to find meaningful connection with other human beings, easing the pain of alienation through self medicating with alcohol, drugs and other forms of addiction. “Is there no balm in Gilead?”

Smalltown Cong. is that balm for many of us. Every week we share with each other our joys and concerns and pray for each other, not only during Sunday worship but also through out the week. Whenever one of us is struggling, this church community is quick to surround that person and take care of them through their difficulties. However, while we are extraordinary in our efforts to provide for the needs of each other we still need to reach out to those whose are in need of spiritual growth. This morning’s epistle reading reminds us that everyone is in need of prayer, from our most powerful leaders to our least powerful and everyone in between. God “desires that everyone will be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” My brothers and sisters in Christ, there are many people hungering to hear that they are beloved children of God not because of what they own but because they are God’s own. There are people who are hungering to belong to a community of faith that knows who they are and whose they are. All these things can be found in this community of Smalltown Congregational Church.

Yes, there is a Balm in Gilead. Come and find comfort here.

May it be so.

Amen.

(1) Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming. (Grand Rapids, W.B. Eerdmans: 1998), 92.


(2) Kerra Becker English, “Ordinary Time 25 or Proper 20” The Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 3, Year C. Beverly A. Zink-Sawyer ed. ( Nashville, Abingdon Press: 2003), 143.

(3) Ibid., 143.