Oh, yeah the gospel story this week is about a “slimy dude. The Parable of the Dishonest Steward in Luke’s gospel is one of those lessons pastors can’t seem to navigate smoothly. It’s like a driver’s test where we keep running over the orange safety cones because we don’t really know for sure what Jesus (or our evangelist, St. Luke) is trying to tell us.
However, I want to share a true story about a Sonshine Friend who recently retired and choose to work part-time as a home companion. He is providing home care for a senior physically challenge patient. This patient called my friend to say he had fallen in the bathroom and his wife was not at home to help. My friend called his agency to inform them that their client needed assistance and the agency response: “that was against policy for the patient to call the home care aide and he was not to go to the home.” Really! The client is required to call the agency first to request services. My friend was told “not to go.”
However, my friend is not bound by policy but rather a compassionate heart and he immediately got in his car and drove over to help the patient. He waited to get scolded or worse lose his job because he violated agency policy. To his surprise, he received a letter in the mail with a commendation from the agency for his willingness to help their patient. Go Figure?
Of course, he never told the agency that he ignored their policy and went to help that man in his time of need. Yesterday, my friend shared that this gentleman and his spouse were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Due to his disability the couple would not be able to go and celebrate this occasion. So my friend asked the couple what they would like to eat for dinner to celebrate. The wife shared “real mashed potatoes” not the kind that come out of a box. So he was preparing in his kitchen a sumptuous meal and planning to uber the dinner to their home that included “real mashed potatoes.”
Back to that parable where the sneaky guy gets commended, and Jesus leaves it up to the listeners to figure out what the story really means. You could just say the manager was in a pickle, knew he had to act quickly for he would be out of a job and homeless.
What does that have to do with us? We know how the times are. They’re just as desperate, confusing, and uncertain for our generation as they were for those who heard Jesus preach centuries ago. We have resources, but how do we use them? How should we use them? Are we squandering the things the Boss has left in our charge? How are we called to reduce the burden of our neighbors? These are questions we should be asking.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have compassionate hearts like my friend who put aside policy and went to help that man in his time of need. Better yet, he went beyond the call of duty to help that couple celebrate their wedding vows and love for one another. Now why don’t you go do the same for someone you know in need of your gifts with your acts of kindness.
