https://app.dropwave.io/episode/5059cb90-38a2-48f2-ad33-382fb8b61a4d/trinity-9-ad-2025.mp3

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The steward stands accused. He’s wicked. He’s wasteful. He’s about to lose everything and be fired. The day of judgment is coming for him, and he will be held to account. But what does he do? Does he try to defend himself? Does he point to all the good things he did as a steward? No. Instead he tries to cover up his sin… with more sin. To hide his own waste — to provide a soft landing for himself — he steals even more.

I don’t know if he thinks he can trick his master, but he certainly thinks he can escape responsibility. So he uses the master’s mercy as an excuse for more theft. He takes advantage of the master. In this way, he demonstrates that he is a bad tree which produces bad fruit, like we heard about last Sunday. But the master commends the unrighteous steward: You didn’t work all that hard for me, but look at how hard you worked for yourself.

The people of the world love money and power and self-preservation and being liked above all else, so they will put everything in service to their goal. If it means sacrificing someone else’s fortune or reputation to get security for themselves, they will take that option. Some will even risk getting caught doing what is evil to have a few dollars more. They chase after promises of increased quality of life, more satisfied emotions, a better romantic life, and more money.

They don’t just sit around and wait for these things to come to them. They chase after them. They expend all manner of resources to get what they want. They readily sacrifice time with friends and family, sleep, comfort, and convenience. They give up personal safety, financial stability, and vacations. They forsake short-term pleasures to gain long-term rewards. They give up many good things to gain what they believe is better. Sometimes they make poor sacrifices. Unrighteous mammon can make even the most moral and ethical man blur the lines to get just a little more profit or to begin to say ‘did God really say?

Yet what they work for with great effort quickly and easily goes away. Saint Paul says it this way: they run their race for a laurel wreath — a crown of leaves — something that will go away. You might be able to preserve that award for a time, but eventually it will turn to dust. Those who strive after the things of this world will be gravely disappointed. As they lie in their graves, they will have none of the things they labored for. Jesus tells us this in today’s Gospel. He says, ‘when it fails,’ — not ‘if.’ ‘When.’ It’s guaranteed. We brought nothing into this world, and it’s certain that we can take nothing out of it.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls mammon, ‘unrighteous.’ Mammon is all the "stuff" that God gives to support this body and life. It’s not inherently evil. But we are. We love mammon. We love money. That disordered love is a root of all kinds of evil. We use mammon and money to accomplish our selfish desires. Love of money causes people to cheat one another. It causes husband and wife to argue. It causes people to sue one other. It causes people to feast sumptuously every day, while the beggar at the door is given next to nothing.

Yet Jesus is not condemning money. He knows that the rich can enter the kingdom of God. Today He is instructing about the proper use of mammon. And He’s especially interested in how mammon is used zealously for your eternal benefit. So our He sets before us an example of misdirected zeal. He commends the zeal of the unrighteous steward, but He does not commend the man’s unrighteousness.

Jesus knows that a person will make sacrifices and will suffer for what he holds dear. Many of you work with great zeal toward what you desire. We’re at the beginning of another school year. Parents have made many sacrifices on behalf of their children’s education. It takes time to learn earthly wisdom. It takes time and energy and attention and dedication — so we give it, and we apply ourselves to gaining what we desire.

But what happens to that time and energy and attention and dedication regarding eternal things? For heavenly wisdom? For things that will not fade away? Why do we think that it’s worthwhile to suffer and sacrifice to gain the things of this life, but when it comes to spiritual things we seem to think it happens without any effort at all? We might spend a lifetime seeking earthly wisdom, but how much time do we spend seeking heavenly wisdom? An hour on Sunday morning? Maybe every other week or once a month? Is that all it takes to gain heavenly wisdom? Jesus is asking: why can’t you be more like the heathen in their zeal? Why can’t you show even a fraction of their diligence toward the things of God? Are you going to let the heathen outdo you?

I don’t know about you, but this kind of word from Jesus puts me to shame — and that’s when I have the advantage of a job that requires me to care about spiritual things.

Even so, it’s not as though Jesus is trying to guilt you into being a better Christian. He’s not scolding and nagging you into better service. Rather, He’s making this comparison so that it becomes clear how merciful and gracious He is to you.

After all, what is it that compels the heathen to be so zealous? It’s because their eye is set upon their goal. They have their eye on what they seek: the promotion, the popularity, the profit, the praise. Pleasure and power and purpose and peace. They seek after these things with a reckless abandon because they believe their goal is valuable and worth pursuing. We seek after these things with great energy, too. But, as we heard, if this is all we strive after, then any satisfaction will be only temporary.

Jesus wants to give you what is better — and what is lasting. So He seeks to diminish this earthly wealth and striving in your eyes. That’s why, right after today’s reading, he calls mammon, “very little” (vv. 10-11). Wealth is a very little thing compared to eternity and the riches we will have with God in heaven.

So consider, dear saints, what your goal is in this life. Do you wish to seek that which moth and rust destroys, and which thieves break in and steal? Or do you wish to have the heavenly treasure, which no one can take from you? God’s riches will never fail. His Kingdom stands forever. No amount of money could buy it. Yet the price for God’s riches has been paid — not with gold or silver, but with the holy precious blood of your Savior, and by His innocent suffering and death. This treasure has been handed over to you for free. You have full and complete access to God. In Him, you have the priceless treasure of the forgiveness of every sin.

How much would you pay to gain the ability to stand before God unashamed, to be clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus, to see God with unveiled face? In Christ, by His blood, this is your inheritance — given and poured out for free. No merit or worthiness of your own. Not your good works. Not your pious life. Not your holy desires. Not all the wealth that you have — or don’t have. None of these could buy it. Not even all the wealth in the whole world — even if you could amass it all to yourself — not even every bit of earthly treasure could begin to meet the value of this treasure. So that’s why Jesus calls money a “little thing.” Compared to your heavenly riches in Christ, the greatest earthly riches are worthless.

Your ultimate goal and aim is not to gain earthly wealth. Your ultimate goal and aim is not in this little thing. God loves you, so He doesn’t want you to trust in something that perishes, that runs out, that will not save you. Only God endures forever. Only God is all-sufficient. Only God saves. He is the ultimate good. So put your trust in Him. Look to Him for all good, for all satisfaction, for all peace. In comparison to Him, every kind of your earthly wealth — your intelligence and skills, your power and influence, your physical strength and education — all of this is a little thing.

But even though Jesus tells us that mammon is a little thing, God wants you to use it — and everything else in life — to serve your ultimate goal and aim which is found in Him alone. In this world, God works through means. He uses the sun and rain to water and nourish the earth, so that crops grow from the ground. He uses parents to raise children in the faith, doctors to bring healing, good government to defend you from danger. He gives you righteousness by means of His Body and Blood given and shed for you, and washes you clean by means of the waters of holy Baptism.