“So the rich man summoned his manager 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.”

 -Luke 16:2

I only got in trouble in school twice in my entire 21 years of school (counting graduate school). I am a first born, rule follower, and I didn’t find my voice for years! The first time I got in trouble was in kindergarten. I was running with scissors and in those days, the punishment for breaking a rule was sitting in a corner. Can you imagine that today?? Anyway, I came home crying to my Mom that I had gotten in trouble and had to sit in the corner. Calm as can be, my Mom basically said, “I bet you won’t do that again.”

Flash forward to my freshman year of college! Yes, this is true. I was in a music appreciation class that met two nights a week. My very new best friend was in class with me. On about the third or fourth night of class, Ms. Charlotte Durkee, who used to clean the records before she played them by rubbing them on her sweater that had pearl buttons, called out in the middle of class “Judy Hartung please find a seat in the back of the classroom. Deb Farney stay where you are. I don’t want to hear another word out of either of you. You are disrupting class.” Yes, 18 years old and separated from my best friend because we were whispering in class!

Clearly, the humiliation of those two moments is still with me! Imagine how the manager felt when the rich man “summoned” him to his office. I imagine it was just like a kid called to the principal’s office or told to sit in the corner! He was probably scared to death. Oh, he knew he was caught red-handed. I knew exactly why I had to sit in the corner and move to the back of the class. It doesn’t mean you like it or you aren’t scared about how far the consequences might go. 

This shrewd manager went to all of his clients and helped them cut down their bills. He had decided if his boss was going to fire him, he had better be in the good graces of other people. Ironically, it worked. 

Here is the translation of the last few verses from The Message:

“Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”

In this season of Lent, we can all devote time considering what it means for us to “be smart”. How will we concentrate our attention on the right thing, so that we really live and not just try to get by on good behavior? This is not an easy question but it is well worth our time. God desires for us to live fully and richly. That will mean something different for each of us and most importantly, that will mean something different from what the world promotes.

Pastor Judy