TITLE: “One Thing’s Needful ”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read, the parable of the unrighteous servant. We focus on the words of Jesus: And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

At first glance, this is one of the hardest of Jesus’ parables to understand. What is the point of this parable? Are we to model ourselves after the unjust steward, and go cheating our employers so that we can gain benefit from others? Obviously not. The seventh commandment commands us not to steal or defraud. Are we to be wise in the ways of the world, and try and make the church more like a business that operates in the dog-eat-dog categories that we see all around us? Again obviously not. Be ye not conformed to the world, as Saint Paul wrote in Romans.

So what is Jesus getting at? Let’s recap the story briefly. The steward of the house is accused of wasting the master’s goods. So the master tells him that he is going to fire the steward, and that he has to clear out his accounts. The steward is at a loss. He hadn’t prepared for this. He won’t work. He’s ashamed to beg. So this unjust steward does the one option left for him: he goes and cheats his master out of money owed him, in order to curry the favor of these other people. One owes 100 measures of oil, so he cuts the bill to eighty. Another owes 100 measures of wheat, and he cuts the bill to fifty. When the master of the house finds out, he can’t help but compliment the steward on his shrewdness. Why? Because he had done the one thing that He could to insure the well being of his future. No matter the risk, this steward was so confident in the mercy of his master that he just went right on ahead and cheated him.

So it is that Jesus says that the point of the parable is this: And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

This is what it means. The master commended the unjust steward, because he understood that the most important thing was to insure that he had a future, and that he would be taken care of in the long run. That was what the unjust steward was commended for. What Jesus is saying is that the children of this world understand that you do whatever it takes to insure your future, for that is what finally matters.

But the children of light, the Christians, don’t get this basic fact of life. They are deceived and distracted at every turn. Where is your future? Your future is in Jesus Christ as your receive Him in the proclamation of the Word of God and in His Holy Sacraments. That is your future, and the future of your family. This should be your greatest priority, to insure that the Gospel is proclaimed to you and to your family. That is more important than any money, wealth, house or anything else you wish to give your children. Think of the words of our hymn for the day:

One thing’s needful; Lord this treasure Teach me highly to regard;

All else, though it first give pleasure, Is a yoke that presses hard.

Beneath it the heart is still fretting and striving

No true lasting happiness ever deriving.

The gain of this one thing all loss can requite,

Can teach me in all things to find true delight. (LW 277:1)

Why is it that we Christians don’t understand this? Think of your own life and your priorities. In terms of money, we spend a fair amount to put a roof over our head and food on the table. Then we spend money on clothes and other amenities of life. Most Americans spent 10-15% of their income on entertainment or some sort or another. Then if anything is left over, we give to the church. A dollar here, two dollars there, and somehow this is doing our Lord a great favor. Where is your treasure?

The same may be said for our time. How much time do you spend teaching your children the Christian faith? I’m not asking about time you spend at church or doing things at church, although I suppose we could ask that. I mean simply teaching your family the faith. Do you pray together? Do you read God’s Word together? Do you teach your family the great hymns of the faith? I suspect that for most of us, we spend a lot more time watching television that we do teaching and hearing the Word of God.

Now I know this is hard to hear. It’s hard to preach. But the question remains: where is the one thing that is needful in your life? Think of our Epistle lesson, which we’ll talk about more in Bible class. The people of Corinth had become complacent. They forgot that they were so dependent on God that they couldn’t make it themselves. They fell into temptation, and so they failed. They forgot that the only way of escape is through the blood of Christ.

This draws us back into our Gospel for today. Jesus says, And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say if you fail; no, he says when you fail. All things in this life come to an end. As weak, sinful human beings, our lives are frail and seem to fall apart at every turn. Jesus in our text calls us to put our trust in Him, and not in the things of this world. Don’t be so possessive and greedy with the possessions of this world, because they won’t gain you eternity in the end.

So let’s revisit our parable again. What was it that made the unjust steward go and cheat his master? The unjust steward so believed in the mercy of his master, that he felt he could cheat him and STILL come out okay in the end.

Have you figured it out yet? In one way, you are the unjust steward. You squander the gifts our heavenly Father gives you left and right. Whether they are the little things, like the possessions of this life, or the big things of forgiveness and salvation, you have tossed these gifts of God aside like they were nothing.

But the Gospel in our text is this. Our heavenly Father is the merciful master. His Steward, Jesus, cancels your debt. He forgives your debt that you cannot pay. Even though you don’t deserve it, He brings you into His house and gives you eternal life. That is the Gospel. Even though you and I don’t deserve all of the great things He gives us, our heavenly Lord still gives them, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Our Father looks at the cross, and honors Jesus’ canceling our debt. You are free!

This is Good News, my friends! It isn’t too late. For just as the unjust steward used the things of this world, oil and wheat, to further His own good, so also our heavenly father uses the things of this world, bread and wine, to bring about the forgiveness of your sins. He gives you a portion of His treasure, and an eternal inheritance.

So come to the Lord’s Table. He gives you these great things, so that your faith will be strengthened, and you will trust in Him for all things needful. Count all other things as loss. Jesus Christ has come to you today. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.