The Ninth Sunday after Trinity, 2022
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
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The melodies are linked in the hymn title.
The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
Introit
Behold, God is mine Helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord.
Psalm. Save me, O God, by Thy name: and judge me by Thy strength.
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Collect
Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.
Gradual
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth:
who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
V. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord:
that delighteth greatly in His commandments. Hallelujah!
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
Only the Crooks Are Working Hard
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #46 On What Has Now Been Sown
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #46 On What Has Now Been Sown
Prayers and Announcements
- Diane Popp's brother-in-law died after a long illness. Rest in Peace.
- Randy Anderson is being treated for a new growth.
- Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris Shrader; Kermit and Maria Way; Anita Engleman, Zach's mother.
- The book on the I AM sermons in John's Gospel is near completion.
- Funds have been donated for KJV Bibles of various types. Six more were shipped this week.
KJV 1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
KJV Luke 16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father, who hast bountifully given us Thy blessing and our daily bread: We beseech Thee, preserve us from covetousness, and so quicken our hearts that we willingly share Thy blessed gifts with our needy brethren; that we may be found faithful stewards of Thy gifts, and abide in Thy grace when we shall be removed from our stewardship, and shall come before Thy judgment, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Only the Crooks
Are Working Hard
KJV Luke 16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Introduction -
This is a parable where we stop and wonder why everything seems upside-down. This bears repeating - the Words of Jesus are concise, so a very important lesson is conveyed in just a few sentences. If we resist the passage, and it seems especially difficult or contrary to what we want, a great lesson is there if we study it often enough. Sometimes we have to mature to understand its basic meaning. By mature, I mean having experiences and seeing that what seems mysterious and difficult is really quite obvious and clear.
Hard Sayings Need More Attention
One famous Protestant preacher wrote a book on the Hard Sayings of Jesus. What seems difficult at first is actually hard to forget once the lesson is learned. A good example is Jesus' apparent harness with the Canaanite woman, who only wanted healing for her daughter. Jesus ignored her. The disciples begged Him to give her a miracle and send her home. Jesus reminded her she was an outsider (not Jewish) and asked if He could take away the bread and give it to dogs. She answered "Even the little dogs eat the crumbs from the Master's table." Jesus praised her for her faith and healed her daughter. That is a miracle story about faith when everything seems bleak and one only seems to get rejection and insults from God when pleading for help. The Canaanite woman is a miracle about faith (note ELCA, WELS, LCMS, ELS)!
- God does not seem to care.
- God is silent in the midst of pleas for mercy.
- The crowd is insulting, saying, "You are not worthy." (Jesus is testing her.)
- Instead of giving up, the woman will do anything to help her daughter.
So the Canaanite woman's miracle is not a downer but a great boost to show that faith receives the grace and mercy of God.
Back to the Crooks
The owner represents God - having extensive wealth but not bankrupted by the manager's cheating and lying. The steward or manager has wasted his master's wealth and admits it. The term steward means someone who has authority to carry out the owner's wishes but is not the owner and must answer to that person about his conduct.
In the olden days, steward kings were men who had the throne but only until the royal child was old enough to rule.
"Wasting his goods" is a phrase that makes us think of sure-fire ways to make a fortune - bitcoin, hemp oil, lottery tickets, gambling.
The steward is not "about to be fired" - he is fired on the spot. He has to turn over the books, which will reveal the exact amount lost.
3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
Since he was a hard-working thief, he did not know what to do, because his extra income came from wasting the estate, contrary to his job description. Two alternatives are unwelcome - he is too ashamed to beg (everyone would say "Weren't you the steward for the Jackson Creation Gardens? Besides, he was not strong enough to dig.
4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
The steward had two very good qualities -
- hard-working and
- shrewd.
Had he only been pilfering a little at a time, no one would have noticed or cared. Food emporiums always allow a certain amount of food and drink to be enjoyed. One of our friends stopped drinking colas as a waiter and lost 40 pounds. He could have as much as he wanted, so he was not dishonest - just foolish.
8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
The owner of the estate was no slouch. He knew what it took to keep a vast enterprise going. He was like the person who could buy goods at the bottom of the market and hold them for high profits. The emphasis here is on hard work and shrewdness.
This is a perfect case of ironic humor, which makes us think about this parable many times before getting the real picture. It is a way of saying, "Isn't it odd how hard the unbelievers work to take care of themselves?"
More than one gang has acquired the tools, made plans, and burrowed into the safety deposit boxes of a bank. They pick a weekend when the bank in closed, follow maps available for underground work, buy high-powered tools, and enter where the vault is weak.
In many large church corporations, there are dozens of titles, jobs, plans, studies, and so forth. One person worked at a synod headquarters. They had a fund-raising campaign with no particular goals. People wrote in and asked for money for various things. Because the money was pouring in, they sent it away just as fast, to impress everyone. But what was accomplished?
Colleges and universities have become greedy endowments where they expect $72,000 a year for room, board, and tuition (with some kickbacks) while going back to donors to invest even more money to make money.
Of course, taxes have to be raised everywhere to "pay for the needy" but they end up with the greedy instead.
9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Mammon means having more than enough money. Some guard it like it might evaporate. Others see the value of caring for their neighbors. Many times some help will make an enormous difference for someone.
I have always enjoyed being a volunteer para-legal, where someone with no power in society needed someone with some clout. Picking up the phone, dropping by the billing office, or sending a note can change matters instantly. The reaction may take a few days. I have seen large amounts of money erased from an individual's bill. Other times, I just asked, "You expect to be paid?" (Yes, I do.) "You expect that person to keep his word?" (I definitely do.) "Then shouldn't you keep your word?"
The idea in this parable is to use the surplus of what we have for others. We can work shrewdly to accomplish things for almost no cost, too.
Our Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry is #1, instead of "Lutheran Libraries" from multi-million dollar publication houses. Alec Satin has done that on his own.
I do not know of any parish that distributes Christian art at the volume Norma A. Boeckler publishes it for free. No one knows where that influence stops - it continues for generations.
In faith, we know that the good tree must produce fruit, so individuals and congregations will emphasize faith in Christ as the way to generate the most good.
The person who believes will enter eternal life welcomed by those who were helped, comforted, visited, fed, clothed, housed, and helped with illness.
One way to expand the benefits is to name the needs of individuals in daily prayers and ask God for help, healing, peace, comfort, and joy in their lives. We should always pray for the little ones in our congregation and circles.
(Luke 18:1-8) Jesus has a parable about that - the woman who keeps asking the unrighteous judge for help.
Luke 18: 18 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
