Have you ever heard the phrase “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission”? Have you ever done this to another person? This is not always true. There are some people you know that you would never try to pull this on. Being a math teacher there are independent variables and dependent variables and dependent variables always rely on the independent variable. What does this phrase really depend on? The saying “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission” is completely dependent on who you are trying to pass this off on. The “who” in this saying is your independent variable and whether you get forgiveness or wrath depends on that “who”.

In the Gospel reading you hear about the unrighteous manager who loses his position because he was wasteful of the master’s possessions. Who else was wasteful with the possessions they were given? Hopefully, this reminds you of the prodigal son. Here both the manager and the son squander what their master and father have given them. Both of these men realize their position now that they no longer have what they used to. Both of these men realize the same thing.

This unrighteous manager sees his position and knows that he cannot work hard nor can he beg. The son eating the pods of the pigs just to survive realizes that his situation is hopeless. Both of these men realize that the only way out of their situation is from something outside of themselves.

You baptized have been given the keys to the kingdom. You have the inheritance of heaven. You have God’s riches and God’s grace. Are you like this manager and do you waste it? Do you take your inheritance and squander it on selfish things? When you walk out of these doors do you leave your inheritance here? Do your neighbors, the people you interact with know how rich you are?

Christ right before this gospel reading gave the parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the prodigal son. In these parables He was talking both to the Pharisees and scribes and also to the disciples and “sinners”. Those parables were both to comfort and call for repentance. Here in this gospel reading He is just speaking with His disciples and the Pharisees are eavesdropping on the conversation. He doesn’t want His disciples to squander what they have been given. For the Pharisees and scribes who were given the possessions of God instead of using them wisely and spreading the Good News about the Messiah they made it harder to get into heaven by setting up more rules and making sure they profited from it. They forgot who the Master/Father was and where all good things come from.

What both men, manager and son, realize and know for a fact is the mercy and graciousness of the master and the father. This is what they count on and bank their lives on. They know that the master/father will not change. His character is constant and He is known for His grace and mercy.

Christ wants His disciples to know the character of the Father. That they can trust in Him more than the master and father in the story. That they can have the confidence to go forth and share this good news about how good and loving the Father is.

The focus of the Gospel is not on the unrighteous manager, but on the good master. The manager had complete confidence in the master that even though he was changing what the people owed, he would get away with it and save his life on the fact that the master was gracious.

The manager changed the amounts quickly so it looked like it came from the master because it was something the master would do. The people were not surprised when their accounts were changed, but totally could see this as something the master would do. The manager being the hands in which the master worked so also being credited for doing good work even though it is all from the master. The master even approved what the unrighteous man did because it solidified the character of the master to the debtors.

Here I am as a pastor a sinful man, and even though I have squandered His riches He has allowed me to show you the vast amounts of mercy to you His debtors. Here in His Word He allows me to pronounce you forgiven of your debts, forgiven of your sins. In the story these are no small amounts that are forgiven, but huge amounts that most others would not do. However, for the Father this is not a problem. He sent His Son to pay for our debts. Debts that no other man can forgive, are forgiven in Him. He can poor out this grace over and over and these debts don’t make a dent because He is God and His riches are vast beyond any human measures.

You too can hear these words of forgiveness that are pronounced here in this church with confidence. For your Master/Father is better far beyond the story that Christ tells His disciples. You can have peace that surpasses all understanding because if God says your sins are forgiven. Then they are. You by hearing this Word can know with complete certainty that you are His. That Christ’s death and resurrection is more than sufficient for you. That the Father through His Son has shown His goodness, He has shown His mercy, He has shown His grace.

This is what Christ is talking about commending the shrewdness of the manager. The manager banked his life on who the master is and did it without a doubt. You who are righteous, who are baptized, can trust your life completely and without reserve in the Father because Jesus pronounced “It is finished!”

Through Christ even though you are not perfect you know that He will work through you. For you too are connected to the Good Master. Through you others will see the graciousness and mercy of the Lord. This is most certainly true because He resides with you. You have His Spirit. Your neighbors will see God’s mercy and riches because He has rescued you from your predicament. He has released you of your debts. He has made you free through the blood of Christ and given you the kingdom of God.

When you say “It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” you are trusting in the person who this will affect. Christ in what He has done for you by going to the cross and dying upon calvary allows you to go confidently and with joy knowing that you already have His forgiveness. That you do have His riches and He will never change. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

God is not a variable, but He is a constant, in math, that means it never changes. If a dependent variable is based on a constant it no longer is a variable but becomes a constant too. God is good, God is love, God is merciful, God is gracious. Therefore, you know because you have been united in a death like His you most certainly will be united in a resurrection like His. You have good, you have love, you have mercy, and you have grace.

SDG

Pastor Daniel Holm

Luke 16
1 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

2 Samuel 22
“With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
27 with the purified you deal purely,
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
28 You save a humble people,
but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.
29 For you are my lamp, O Lord,
and my God lightens my darkness.
30 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
31 This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

32 “For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
33 This God is my strong refuge
and has made my way blameless.
34 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.

1 Cor 10
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.