An Admonition About Wealth

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is an admonition about the dangers of wealth.  Wealth is not a function of virtue.  There are virtuous poor and morally vicious poor.  There are virtuous rich and morally vicious rich.  But the accumulation of wealth creates dangers and potential pitfalls in our discipleship.

Studies consistently demonstrate that the more wealth we accumulate, the greater the propensity for narcissism, self-righteousness, and greed.  This is not to say that there are not many persons with great wealth who do not demonstrate these propensities, in the same way that there are those without wealth that demonstrate them.  By analogy, when we choose to climb a mountain, we encounter dangers that we do not encounter when we are on level ground.  Whether or not we choose to climb the mountain is up to us; but if we are going to climb it, we better be aware of the dangers and bring the right tools.

The Hidden Actor in Human Culture

The parable of the fraudulent manager in Luke's gospel is indicative of the right and wrong way to read the parables.  If we read the parable in a straightforward, moralistic way, it makes no sense.  The manager misappropriates the owner's property and assets, and then seeks to save himself by engaging in further fraud by unilaterally entering into settlement and compromise on legitimately owed debts held by the owner for his own personal capital among the locals.  The manager is corrupt.

The meaning of the parable lies in what happens by accident.  For a fleeting moment, despite the manager's self-interest and illegal conduct, there is reconciliation between the manager and owner, the owner and the peasantry, and the owner and peasantry.  In the economic and social relationships at issue in the parable, the owner was indifferent from the peasantry.  The peasantry hated the owner because of his excessive taxes.  The peasantry hated the manager because the manager acted as the agent of the foreign owner.

Now imagine the scene that follows.  The owner travels to confront the manager, and is greeted by cheering crowds, who think that the owner is the one who has compromised their debts.  The peasants cheer the manager who has acted as agent for the transactions that were actually fraudulent.  The owner is forced to accept the settlement of the debts.  All this happens despite any altruistic intent or action by anyone in the story.  Somehow reconciliation happens.

The parable is a reality check for us as we seek to be disciples.  We are and remain self-interested.  But somehow sometimes there are fleeting moments when good happens through us in the world, not because of us, but in spite of us.  This is due solely to the hidden actor both in the parable and in our own stories: the God who has created, redeemed, and sustained all things.  God is behind us, in us, and around us, going about the business of reconciliation.  Any good that happens in this world is a result of the infinite grace of the God who chose to give His life for us.  So we pray, we yearn for God's grace, we seek to do good.  But any good that arises in this world is the product of God's grace and God's grace alone.