Resident artist Jeanne Harris Weaver, member of St. David’s by-the-Sea in Cocoa Beach, shares her oil painting talents. “Go Fishing” hangs in the narthex of the church where Weaver describes the congregation as “fishers of men”.
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 20
Year C
Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and wealth.” God or stuff: Which will it be? We can’t have it both ways.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus commends an unjust manager. He was not justifying his cheating but complimenting his cleverness and understanding of his needs when his manager threw him out! Jesus basically tells him he did a good job, as earthly jobs go, in securing for himself a place of refuge and friends who would be there for him when he would have no place to go. And Jesus says: “Good for you…but I hope you know what you’re doing, because…you can’t have it both ways!” His manager was choosing sin over righteousness. Our God is a God of mercy and love, but there clearly are consequences for forgetting about God, for depending too much on earthly things. God says: You can’t have it both ways!
Some time ago I heard a story about a woman who was trying to help her son get on his feet. They made an agreement regarding money: He would deposit a specific amount of money into the bank, and she would write his checks for him until she felt she could trust him to do it himself. Sounds fairy simple. The day came when he was supposed to deposit the money. He didn’t. She called him to find out when he would make the deposit. He said he hadn’t done it that day because he was working, but he said he would do it the next day. The next day came. He didn’t make the deposit. She called him again. He said he would definitely do it the next day. He didn’t. She called him again. This time he said a friend who had helped him in the past needed some money. The son knew it was a problem, but he lent his friend money anyway with the assurance that he would get the money back by the end of the week. The end of the week came. The deposit was to be made. It wasn’t. Finally, after a week of phone calls, total exasperation on the mother’s part, and threats of bodily harm to her son, the son admitted that he had used the money the week prior to repay a loan. So much energy expended on what? Wouldn’t the truth have worked better? The son needed to repay a debt, and he wanted to keep his mother happy and steer clear of confrontation, but…he couldn’t have it both ways.
So how can we be sure we’re using our gifts rightly? How can we be sure that we’re expanding our energy in the right direction? And if we should find ourselves going in the wrong direction, how do we find our way back? Paul gives us the answer in his letter to Timothy.
At first glance, Paul’s letter doesn’t seem to fit the pattern of “you can’t have it both ways.” But the connection is this: wrong choices put a barrier between us and God. Sin misuses our gifts as it did for the Israelites during the time of Amos. But when the doors close, we must look for the window. And that window is prayer! Paul tells Timothy how to get back on track. God reprimands His children and then tells them: Pray…and you’ll find Me again. I never left—you did!
This morning’s collect sums it up: Lord, help us to not be anxious about the stuff of the earth, but to be anxious about the stuff of heaven; and even now when earthly things seem to be passing away, help us to hold fast to that which endures—heavenly things. Our God is a God of mercy and love, but there clearly are consequences for forgetting about God, for depending too much on earthly things. God says: You can’t have it both ways! But why would we want it both ways. Jesus is the way—the only way. Why would we choose any other?
The Rev. Elizabeth Nelson is the rector of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lake Placid.