Sunday, September 18, 2022
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
15th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 20

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
– Psalm 79:1-9
– Second Reading: I Timothy 2:1-7
– Gospel Reading: Luke 16:1-13

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

The cheater manager is a smart, savvy guy.  It is not his dishonesty that is the takeaway.  It is his smartness and what he does.  The insight that Jesus gives us is that we are to see that moment when the man stops, considers, and thinks.  It is that moment that is a holy moment and the point of the story.

That stopping, thinking, and considering is the smart, shrewd thing the man does.  It is the call of God.  It is the point of the story.  It is the takeaway.

Stop.  Think.  Consider.  Look forward.  Ask the question—“Where are we going and where will we end up?”

It is a question of vision.  We let go of that vision of where God wants us to be and what God wants us to do.  And as we let go of that long-sightedness, we lapse into this feeling that there is just something missing and that something is not right in our lives.  We lapse into that feeling that “the harvest is passed, the summer has ended, and we are not saved,” FROM ANY OF THIS.

So, stop church.  Stop people.  Stop and consider it.  Add it all up.  And when you do—behold the vision that God has for you.  Look at the vision that God has for us together. 

Baptized.  Called.  Set apart.  Fed at his table.  Children of the living God.

Add it all up—that is the medicine.  There is balm in your life…and he is named Jesus.  There is balm in your life.  Use your smart savvy spirit and add it all up.  Jesus.  Jesus is there.  That is what counts. 

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk