As we focus on the latter chapters of Luke's gospel, those chapters that conclude the evangelist's retelling of Jesus' long journey to Jerusalem, storm clouds can clearly be seen on the horizon. The Pharisees who were once merely embarrassed by the wisdom of the young rabbi, Jesus, now routinely watched his movements and questioned him closely. Those who at first only grumbled among themselves now openly scorned him. Watchful eyes and discriminating voices create that particular kind of heaviness that indicates an abrupt change in the weather ... or events. Jesus’s friends gather around him, and as the Pharisees listen from a distance, Jesus told the disarming parable of the Dishonest Steward/Manager.

Loosely described, a parable is “a little story with a big point.” Parables are also set aside as those stories that share a unique literary pattern. Like all good stories, they often include an unexpected twist or a surprise that stands out in the midst of an otherwise rather ordinary and believable tale. The twist in the story frequently holds the key that will unlock the story's meaning.

Many of the parables of Jesus were born out of the teaching style of the rabbis of Israel, for, like the wisdom of the rabbis, they were in part symbolic, pointing beyond themselves. So, to understand their meaning, one must hold them up against a fuller or opposing teaching or truth.

They say, “If this is true, how much more is this other teaching true?” For example, “If the simple shepherd cares enough to leave his whole flock and go in search of the one lost sheep how much more can we expect God Almighty to search for and find us?”

Today's parable is a case in point. The twist in this colorful tale is that as an example to follow, Jesus calls our attention to a man who doesn't even have his big toe in the spiritual realm. He is, in fact, a prime example of a person for whom world is all there is to life; he is truly the secular man or woman. Which is just the point, as we will see. ... Perhaps more surprising is the fact that in this son of mammon, we do find something good.

We are impressed with the undeniable truth that, without self-abasement for his failure in the past and without excuse, in a timely and courageous way, he secured a future, be it material, for himself. For a person living only on an earthly plane, he has behaved responsibly and faithfully. And from where he stands, he can no longer be described as dishonest but shrewd. Dreaming, scheming, deciding, doing -- these words describe an enthusiastic and energetic shrewdness to me.

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, became America's richest man when his computer operating system became the standard on IBM’s personal computers. Gates knows that the communications and technology revolutions continue to challenge his successful company. He is still dreaming, scheming, deciding and doing. In an interview with the Associated Press in which he was asked how Microsoft is going to meet the challenges and changes ahead, Gates answered: “In the next couple of years, I will either do the right things or the wrong things to play a role in the digital convergence of computers and telephones and consumer electronics. People won’t really know. They won’t recognize if I did the right things or the wrong things for about five years. But now is the time.” This was a clever, energetic,  decisive response. Someone as shrewd as Bill Gates knows about strategy and scheming to face the future.

I’m not equating Bill Gates with the Dishonest Steward of Jesus’s parable, but he does show us the same intense ingenuity our Lord is calling for. But the more important point of the parable lies beyond the “once upon a time” and the “they lived happily ever after” of this dusty yarn. For what must be seen is the reality that this engaging, upwardly mobile steward will never be able to climb high enough to enter the world to which he points. For he points to a world in which he has no place. He points to the world where the disciples live, even though they are not yet prepared to call it home. He points to the holy terrain that the Pharisees feel so threatened by. He points to the possibility that true life, and true riches, for the first time in human history can be secured -- but only through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In summary, Jesus seemed to be saying to his spiritual family: If you want to secure a spiritual home you would do well to be like the steward; to act with the energy, the creativity and the timeliness of any up-and-coming "go-getter" in the secular world. For, as in the case of the steward, your task of faithfulness to me will require all your time, all your energy and all your resources. And when the tempest that awaits us in Jerusalem reveals itself in all its terrible swirling fury, the task of laying hold of your spiritual home will call for immediate, intentional decision on your part. So remember the Dishonest Steward on that day.

The “how much more” of this parable, the thing that Jesus holds this story against, the way this story is understood negatively is simply to emphasize this important fact: We who live in Christ will never be able to identify with or learn from the Dishonest Steward, no matter how engaging he is or how successful he might become. We cannot find the answer to our future in his actions, because he does not ask the same questions we do.  He is securing an earthly home, while we are securing a heavenly home. But lest we, like the disciples, conclude that this parable is for someone else, let us remember that we are not more immune to the kind of spiritual forgetfulness that often accompanies times of change or loss or crisis than the first disciples were. We, too, have to be nudged sometimes, especially when our options seemed to have narrowed. We must be reminded of who we are as Christians and the difference that makes in our congregational and our personal lives. Sometimes the call of money and the “security” it brings makes it hard to remember who we are and what is of ultimate importance.  Sometimes it takes the life of another to set us on the right path.

For example, a woman named Oseola McCarty. Most of her 91 years, Oseola McCarty took in laundry for the local gentry of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She did it by hand. She tried a washer and dryer once but found them inadequate. She scrubbed her clothes on a washboard in the back yard of the wood-frame house she once shared with her mother and grandmother. She boiled white clothes in a big black pot and hung them on the line to dry and sparkle. Her hours were easy to keep up with. She started working when the sun came up and stopped when it went down. The bankers and lawyers of Hattiesburg considered McCarty a treasure. What they did not know was the McCarty, who retired in December 1994, was quietly amassing a treasure of her own. She announced upon her retirement, "I’m giving my savings to the young generation.” She gave the $150,000 she had saved from taking in washing to the University of Southern Mississippi to be used as scholarship funds for students in need of financial assistance. The business leaders of Hattiesburg were so inspired by her generosity that they matched her donation. The first recipient of her scholarship pledged to adopt her as a life-long friend. At the time, McCarty was a little overwhelmed by all the fuss. When asked, "Why didn't you spend the money on yourself?" she answered with the sweetest of smiles, “I did spend it on myself!”

How did she do it?  Oseola McCarty’s needs were few. She did not have a car; she had TV that worked and an air conditioner that she rarely used. Mostly she read her Bible, she placed her trust in the Lord, she placed her hopes in the children of the future.

I have no doubt in my mind that, as that young generation comes of age, many will look to the eagerness, the creativity of the Bill Gateses of the world as the rule of life. My prayer is that they and their parents do not miss the message reflected in the lives of the Oseola McCartys of the world: those rare and usually unsung heroes for whom the rules have changed. Those whose lives have been revolutionized by the saving work of their Lord who, “though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself taking the form of a slave.” The rules changed dramatically and for all time in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Yet he received as his reward no gold but the larger treasure that would secure a future for all his children.

It is autumn now, and most days the sky is clear and blue and rain seldom comes our way. Yet, as we  look toward the future, we know the storm clouds are ever near. They loom large and ask what security does the present day offer? What will the future bring?   There is no doubt we live in a time of change and choice. Shall we board up our souls and settle for the calculated risks that are part of the Dishonest Steward's world, or is there a chance, is there a possibility, that we can find the higher ground that leads beyond his life's journey? Is there a chance, is there a possibility, that in the end we will be standing among those few who will make the right choice when the tempest comes? Is there a chance, is there a possibility, that we are on the way to becoming one of those unsung heroes for whom the rules have changed? In a society in which money and wealth not only talks but shouts and demands its way do we hear the voice of God offering us security and hope in His care, not in the things of this world. We will find our future in following Christ, not in the ways of this world. Amen.