So What?
Once again, we are confronted with the
scandalously generous love of the One Jesus calls “Abba.” This
master’s praise has nothing at all to do with the manager’s history
or intent, but rather with the forgiveness that resulted from his actions.
I wonder what would happen if each of
us, as preachers, being threatened with the loss of our positions, started
to preach God’s gracious (gratuitous!) forgiveness rather than God’s
expectations or the church’s need for our money or volunteer service.
Would the lightened burden our congregations felt result in renewed ministry?
Would we feel as though we had “sold out” in order to preserve
our jobs? Would God care why we’d done it?
Anthropological Reading
Before we can begin to deal with the
reading appointed for this week, we need to answer one very important question.
Where does the parable end? With Fitzmeyer, we choose to see the ending of
Jesus’ parable as the end of verse 8a, “And his master commended
the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.”
The other sayings, while it is entirely
likely that they are attributable to Jesus, are most certainly appended to
the parable, and reading them together makes it difficult for a proper reading
of the parable to occur. The appended sayings of this parable have the feel
of ‘sermon notes’ as C.H. Dodd has pointed out.
Even ending the parable at 8a, we have
a most puzzling conundrum. A “dishonest manager” is commended
for “falsifying” (so Fitzmeyer) the accounts of his master’s
debtors. Even more difficult is the application of mimetic theory to this
parable. Still, there is ample Gospel to be heard here (especially once we
free it from the appended sayings that turn the parable into an ethical exhortation),
and mimetic theory continues to offer us interpretive assistance.
Commentators and preachers have spent
many a word encouraging their hearers/readers to make “prudent”
use of the resources available to them, so as to merit praise on the Day of
Judgment, all because of this parable. Others have speculated as to the identity
of the “honest manager” whose existence is never even suggested.
None of these approaches offers us the
opportunity to preach Gospel this Sunday. Only one does, only one is consistent
with Jesus’ teaching and way of life. Only one makes sense of the praise
heaped on the manager after he reduces the account totals for his master’s
debtors.
First, let’s bring to the fore
some of the elements of mimetic theory that we can find in the text. We are
given an initial image of two men, a rich man and his manager. The manager
is far more than an employee in this case. He is likely a slave born in the
household, one who is specially trained and educated, one who functions as
though he were the master in the master’s absence.
In this arrangement, we see emerging
the pattern of Model and Rival. Here the manager serves as a mirror of his
master, having served in his stead. He has become his master’s “double,”
even to the extent of treating the master’s property as though it were
his own. For this mimetic behavior, he is criticized. The master says that
he can no longer function as his steward, because he has behaved instead as
his double.
It is worth noting that in the master’s
response, there is no note of anger, of reprisal. Instead, he simply says
that, as the manager has confused himself with the one he represents, he will
no longer be allowed to serve in this capacity.
Threatened with the loss of this occupation,
the manager does the unthinkable. He reduces the debts of those who owe money
to his master, so as to win their favor for the time when he will be without
employment, so that they will “receive him into their homes.”
And for this, he is praised, indication that the master must have wanted these
resources used in this way from the start!
The reason for this is simple, really.
The “lord,” the kyrios, praises him because he “forgives”
debts.
It is important to remember how Luke
aligns the forgiveness of sin with the forgiveness of debt. Once we take note
of the parallel between cancellation of debt and the forgiveness of sin, the
rest of the parable becomes much clearer. Though Luke’s setting of the
parable in the context of Jesus’ confrontation with the religious authorities
(The Pharisees and scribes of verse 2) it remains likely that the “head
of household” represents those who “spoke for” God, those
who might have confused their roles, using the “property” or “resources”
placed at their disposal for their own benefit.
What Jesus’ hearers are advised
to do is to use their positions, for as long as they have them, to do what
the manager did, to forgive “debts” or sin.
In this parable, we have both the doubling
of the Model by the Rival, and the refusal of the Model to respond in kind.
The master (God) instead (mercifully) breaks the system that results in the
doubling (“you may no longer be my manager”) and then praises
the manager for giving away his resources or possessions, modeling instead
God’s lack of “desire” for those possessions.
The master’s illogical behavior
in this parable shows God’s non-mimetic nature more clearly than perhaps
any but the parable of the Waiting Father, both of them peculiar to Luke.
In both, the property of the character standing in for God is sacrificed.
In both, the character who is celebrated is initially guilty of “squandering”
that property. (The only two occasions in the New Testament in which diaskorpizo
is used in this sense of “wasting.”)
In this parable, Jesus pushes us past
the scapegoating process to the earlier conditions that lead to it; desire,
rivalry, doubling. He offers us an escape before we reach the point of needing
a victim, an escape found in imitation of the master, who shows no desire,
refuses to engage in mimetic rivalry, who finally praises the manger for doing
the right thing, even if it is for some dubious reasons.
Historical/Cultural
We refer our readers again to David Moessner’s
book on the travel narrative (within which we find this pericope) in Luke’s
Gospel “The Lord of the Banquet.” In it he points out that a major
theme of the central portion of the Gospel is the way that Jesus is received
(welcomed into) the homes of some along the way, but refused hospitality by
others. Those who “hear” him, receive him. It is no accident that
Jesus teaches this parable among those who do not accept his message of deliverance,
who do not welcome him into their homes. Following Moessner’s Deuteronomic
hypothesis, Jesus, as the prophet like Moses, proclaims the ‘holy Word’
of God that is rejected. The failure to hear and failure of hospitality are
“of a piece.”
Either
this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual
issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.
Introductory Articles
We will add articles as we are able,
or as users of the site request them, so if you have suggestions for additional
pieces, please write to us!
"Introduction
to Mimetic Theory"
"Mimesis"
"The
Scapegoat"
"The
Pillars of Culture"
"Jesus"
"The
Four Gospels"
A Brief Introduction
to Luke
What's New: (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling)
Please be sure to click "What's
New" this week or next. Michael is beginning a new course on the
thought and influence of Dietrich Bonhoeffer soon at the Mercer School.
Jer 8:18-9:1 or * Am 8:4-7
Ps 79:1-9 * Ps 113
1 Tm 2:1-7
Lk 16:1-13
(Jeremiah 8:18-22)
My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Hark, the cry of my poor
people from far and wide in the land: "Is the LORD notin Zion? Is her
King not in her?" ("Why have they provoked me to anger with their
images, with their foreign idols?") "The harvest is past, the summer
is ended, and we are not saved. " For the hurt of my poor people I am
hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not
been restored?
(Jeremiah 9:1)
O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so
that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!
* (Amos 8:4-7)
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the
land, saying, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah
small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying
the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings
of the wheat." The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will
never forget any of their deeds.
(1 Timothy 2:1-7)
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions,
so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires
everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there
is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus,
himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all --this was attested at the
right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling
the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
(Luke 16:1-13)
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager,
and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.
So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give
me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any
longer.' Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master
is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I
am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed
as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's
debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He
answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill,
sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, 'And how much
do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him,
'Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest
manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more
shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so
that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. "Whoever
is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest
in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful
with
the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you
have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what
is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate
the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and wealth."
Occasional Articles
As with the Introductory Articles, we
will add other articles as time permits or as our readers request. If you
have a suggestion for anything, please let us know.
Michael Hardin
Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?: Native American Prophecy and the Mimetic Theory presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
Michael's Essay for a Celebration Volume honoring Rene Girard
Michael's Response to Willard Swartley's Covenent of Peace at the November Colloquium and Violence Meeting
Does
Peace Make A Difference? - Michael's essay in response to Rick
Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan (which somehow never mentions peace).
An Analysis of Rick Warren - Michael's response to "The Purpose Driven Life."
"The
God of Pat Robertson" - a response to Pat Robertson's words
to the people of Dover, PA.
"A
response to Charles Stanley's "A Nation at War"
"Must
God be violent? A Diagnosis and Prescription for Modern Christianity"
The
Scapegoat: Christologies in Conflict - A Study in Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Biblical
Testaments as a Marriage of Convenience: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
Finding
Our Way Home: A Brief Note On The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
"Does
The Passion of the Christ Preach the Gospel?"
A
sermon for the holiday devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King. (requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
GRASPING
GOD: Philippians 2: 1-11 in the Light of Mimetic Theory
Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
The Dynamics of Violence and the Imitation of Christ in Maximus Confessor (St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly)
"EcoSpirituality"
Or What Happens When You Sit Down With A French Literary Critic
Jeff Krantz
Mighty
One or Crucified Messiah? Competing Christologies and the Chiastic
Structure of Mark's Gospel
There's
No Such Thing as the Rapture - A sermon preached at the Church
of the Advent, Westbury (requires Acrobat Reader)
Holy
Scripture and the Consecration of Gene Robinson - a response
to the request of the Windsor Report for a Scriptural rationale. (requires
Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
Worship - The Redemption of Desire by Jeff Krantz
Myth
and Film - a piece written for the City of Angels Film Festival
The Stations of the Cross - Rewritten by Jeff Krantz
A Dramatic Presentation of the Stations of the Cross for Youth by Barb Fabijan-Waddell
Escaping
the Power of "My" - A NonViolent Approach to Stewardship
Preaching
Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and the
Matrix
V
for Vendetta - The Name Says It All A review of the movie.
Essays, Sermons and Liturgical Pieces by Friends of Preaching Peace
"Jesus and the Gibeonites: Reading the Bible from the Perspective of the Hidden Victim" by James Warren.
Mark Heim's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement
Kate Layzer's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement (and inspiration for Mark Heim's hymn!)
Alan Cork, "Transformation" in L'Arche: A Mimetic Account presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
"The Wisdom of God's Peace" a sermon by Jim Amstutz, co-pastor of Michael's church.
Girard's Christology - Per Bjornar Grande
Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and Rene Girard - Matthew Patillo
Comparing
Plato's Understanding of Mimesis to Girard's - Per Bjorner Grande
C. Frank Terhune, an Easter Sermon: "God's Big But" (no kidding!)
Gerald Biesecker-Mast's paper from Theologia Pacis on Pacifist Gospel Epstimology.
An essay by the Rev. John Hill on Mimetic Theory and Catechesis
