Multi-tasking makes for shallow living. You can do a lot, but none of it goes very deep. There's a cost. Albert Schweitzer said that "your soul suffers if you live superficially." Moments of grace, epiphany, insight, are lost to us because we are in such a hurry.
The steward traffics in what is, by definition, unrighteous currency -- money. We are called to traffic in righteous currency. The currency of God's kingdom is forgiveness.
Have you thought of chance encounters that shaped who you are and what you have done? Well, consider the crippled woman in Luke's story. There is no indication that she had come to the synagogue looking for healing.
The question is: What are you supposed to do when the wheels come off the wagon – whether it's your fault or not? The parable teaches us to get into high gear. And this is exactly what the manager did.
Now Jesus does this healing. Work. And not even an emergency healing. In fact, the woman had not even asked to be healed. But Jesus did it anyway. It is not much of a stretch to conclude that he did it on purpose. He knew the rules. Why would Jesus deliberately tweak their ecclesiastical nose?
When Jesus healed the paralytic woman in the synagogue that day, he abolished the law of resting on the Sabbath. But resting on the Sabbath is still a good idea--a wonderful idea. Even Europe knows that. But in this country, we have created a non-stop culture.
Jesus' words, "Cut it down, right now, and stick a match to it" cut deeply. The owner has a right to be angry at that useless tree. But as we listen to Jesus story we know he isn't just talking about a fig tree. He's talking about you and me. We are led to ask ourselves, "Am I bearing fruit?
This one loved God so much that obedience to the rules had become beside the point. This one, this ten percent-er, was so grateful that he could do nothing other than give 100 percent of his thanks to Jesus. Have you ever been that grateful? So grateful that it overwhelms you?
God's ways are not our ways. God does not enact judgement by having towers fall on people as punishment for their sin. "No," says Jesus to such thinking. Yet, Jesus also says that if we don't repent we too will die a terrible death.
Ninety percent of this group of lepers never thanked Jesus. It's easy to see why. They were hugging their relatives, perhaps for the first time in decades. Do Christians today do much better?