Relationships Over Wealth: Alongside Hope Sunday

Gospel

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

ACCORDING TO LUKE

Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position 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 dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

LUKE 16:1-13

The Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

Today’s Gospel can feel confusing. When I first read it, I couldn’t make sense of it, even though I know I’ve heard it before. I had to sit with it for a while to figure out what Jesus was even saying.

So, in case you had the same experience as I did, here’s a summary of what happened: Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who employs a manager to look after his wealth. The manager has been careless, wasting resources, and word gets back to the rich man. He’s furious, ready to fire the manager on the spot.

The manager panics. What will he do to support himself without this job? He knows he’s not strong enough for manual labour, and he’s too proud to beg. Then he comes up with a plan. Before he’s officially fired, he calls in those who owe debts to his master and cuts their debts. He figures that if he can win their gratitude now, they’ll help him once he’s unemployed. On the surface, it looks like he’s cheating his boss…but really, he’s trying to secure his future. And here’s the twist: instead of being angry that the manager has cut the debts, the rich man praises the manager for being clever enough to recognise his situation and act.

Part of what makes this story hard for us to understand is that we don’t live in the same economic world as those who first heard the Gospel. At that time, wealthy landowners often exploited the poor. They would lend money or goods at huge interest rates, and managers added hidden fees for their own profit. Everyone in the system was cheating those with debts.

Knowing these details helps us interpret the passage better. When the manager reduces the debts, he is removing the unjust fees he had piled on. In that sense, he is undoing the system of exploitation he once upheld. He could have, while still employed, charged more and more to build up money to protect himself once he was out of work. But instead, he seems to recognize that money will not support him long term…so he moves away from a reliance on wealth to focus instead on building relationships with those around him. In other words, he chooses relationships over money as a way of ensuring his safety when he is no longer employed.

This parable invites us to reflect on our own lives. Do we remember that money is temporary, while relationships are lasting? Do we use our resources to nurture and support connections with other people, or do we hold onto what we have, keeping it just for ourselves?

It is these points that lead us to Alongside Hope, our focus for today’s service.

Alongside Hope — the new name for what was called the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund — is the Anglican Church of Canada’s way of putting faith into action, of coming alongside people around the world in moments of crisis, struggle, and rebuilding.

What Alongside Hope does is invite us to reflect on our own wealth and how we use it. But let’s be honest: in today’s economy, few of us feel “wealthy.” Grocery bills alone stretch us to the limit. I was just at Wal-Mart the other day and couldn’t believe the prices…I was glad the only mouths I have to feed are mine and Finnegan’s. Disposable income feels like a thing of the past. But even so, a little can matter. A few dollars, set aside, can be part of something bigger — building relationships and showing that we care about others experiencing hope, dignity, and survival.

And yet, when we look around the world, we see a stark imbalance: millions without clean water, families displaced by war, children going hungry in a world with more than enough food. Through Alongside Hope, our church helps to change that reality in tangible ways: providing seeds for farmers, food for refugee camps, support for women and children facing violence and so much more. Real, concrete acts of hope — made possible because people across Canada choose not to hold onto what we have but to share it and work towards creating a better future for others.

As today’s parable shows us, what we accumulate is not what matters. What matters is living justly, building good relationships, and using our resources, even if they are only a tiny amount, to love and serve. Alongside Hope is one way we can do this — standing with our neighbours around the world and showing that God’s love knows no borders.

So today, may we be encouraged to be like the manager, who saw that money was not going to help him, but relationships would. May we use our time, our prayers, our resources to support the most vulnerable, those exploited by the many unjust practices in our world. May we be faithful stewards of what we have been given. And may we walk with Alongside Hope, serving Christ in all we meet.

Amen.