Who wants to cheat a Millionaire?

If I saw you in a bank one day, paying your rent or your utilities or whatever, and asked you, “How would you like to cheat a millionaire out of their money?”, how many of you would say, “thanks but no thanks, cheating is not according to my Christian values.”  Which, for the most part is very true.  On the other hand, movies like “Oceans 11” and “Now You See Me”, that glorify cheating millionaires, are very popular.  So in some ways, we really do like going after millionaires.

In today’s passage from the prophet Amos, God is going after millionaires who have cheated the system.  People did not have access to coins in those days, and so everything was bartered using weights like shekels and ephahs.  How did they figure out how to swap a lamb for sandals or grain for their families?  Weigh it out.  Except some people threw in the poorer quality wheat and hay in with the good wheat, or made false weights.  Millionaires, according to Amos, complained about the holidays they had to give their workers, saying, “When will the new moon be over, when will the Sabbath be over so we can get back to what really matters?  Money, money, money!”

God takes a dim view of such greed.  And Jesus did too, we think, until we hear the parable of the sneaky steward.  When we think of people stealing from the rich, we think of good guys, the Robin Hoods figuring out convoluted plots to grab the loot and give to the poor.  But the manager in this scripture is not a nice guy, nor is he a fair dealer.  He cheats at cards, he cooks the books, he knows how to play games to put people into emotional debt to him while lowering their financial debt to their boss.  And when the millionaire shows up, he doesn’t say, “You’re fired!” he says, “you clever shyster, you!  Well played!”  What?  Wait!  Jesus, how does cheering a loan shark who cheats his employer Good News for the people?

Jesus pointed out that the manager did the right things for the wrong reason.  The manager wanted to make sure that he would be taken care of.  Then he figured out the easiest way to make people want to take care of him was to do them a good turn when the boss wasn’t looking.  And since he was getting fired anyways, it was all about securing his comfort.

In many ways, Jesus was describing a person acting with narcissist behaviors, someone who was most concerned by what people thought of him.  He wanted to be in somebody’s good books, building an audience of people who would think he was a decent person.  Just like the rich profiteers in Amos’ time only thought about building up their own personal wealth and didn’t care who they hurt or how they abused the land by harvesting every last piece of grain off it, this narcissistic thinking didn’t care about anyone or anything except as a tool to get ahead of other.  Compassionate farmers would leave ‘sweepings of the wheat,’ the extras behind for the wildlife or the widows like in the story of Ruth.  Like AISH or a unified guaranteed income, those sweepings of wheat were vital to taking care of people before there was healthcare or employment insurance.  The greedy owners wanted everything down to the last stalk.  Nothing left over to build community, to take care of neighbours.  Nothing left over for compassion.

Today we have food banks and pantry programs.  We have social services.  We have AISH for people whose bodies and brains are different from what we think of as normal.  It’s easy to take these programs for granted.  Just as we take for granted the price of bread, or the labelling of grocery store products.  Jesus warned us humans that if we put money before God, we can do much harm in our narcissistic greed, harm to neighbors, harm to the environment, harm to our social services. We need to be as smart and diligent as the dishonest steward.

We still have dishonest stewards today. Loblaw’s recently was ordered to pay money back to consumers because of price fixing on bread.  Grocery stores across the country are mislabeling products as being from Canada when they are from the US.  Together we Canadians, with our elbows up, are making a real difference.  Airlines have had to drop flights to Los Vegas and add flights to Europe and the Caribbean.  Here at home, many people are signing petitions and talking about the changes to AISH that are worrying their friends and family.  One social worker explained that the paperwork needed to apply for AISH is so complex that the level of fraud is almost non-existent.  The amount of fear and worry that people are experiencing at the government’s plan to make everyone reapply, is real.  Things we took for granted like fair wages and fair access to healthcare are coming into question.  The narcissistic, greedy managers and land owners seem to be everywhere. 

Jesus wanted us to be as smart and as clever as the dishonest manager to prevent the widespread abuse of power we see. He taught us to focus on God’s priorities not our own obsessions with accumulating wealth at other’s expense. 

What are our priorities? Do we worship God or wealth?  Do we speak out when we recognize narcissistic, greedy people?  It’s comforting to see many people calling out greed and evil in this province, in this country, and this world, and that is what God calls us to do through the words of Amos and Jesus.  We can work together like we are in a heist movie challenging millionaires.  May we find the wisdom and courage to work peacefully and cleverly for a more just world.  Amen

Undercover Boss

There’s a reality TV show where the multi-billionaire owner of a franchise voluntarily goes to work as a new employee in their store.  Canada’s version showcased PJ.'s Pets, Second Cup and Purdy’s Chocolates to name a few. Of course, the bad managers get fired and the kind employees who need help with family issues from health insurance crises to childcare get a happily ever after token gift for being so honest and caring.  One employee gets a new truck, another gets a scholarship for their children, and the boss gets a pat on the head for being so caring.  Minimum wage isn’t changed nor is job security, but hey isn’t it a cute story? 

I wonder if they were inspired by today’s scriptures.  Jeremiah was lamenting that things weren’t going as they should, and trying to diagnose what was going. And Jesus was doing his best to produce a head-scratching story that would provoke conversations amongst his followers as well as the religious followers of the day. Both were challenging the status quo of their communities.

It's hard to tell if it was Jeremiah or God, but the speaker in this passage was overwhelmed with grief for what they and their community were going through.  A national political tragedy was going on which impacted the political, religious and personal level of their society.  People were grieving the loss of certainty, the loss of control, the loss of stability.  Institutions and rituals they had taken for granted had been attacked and destroyed.  Families were torn apart; war had risen again after a generation of peace and stability.  Their comfortable faith suddenly developed a sense of urgency, and the people wondered where God was.  They grieved deeply for what had been ripped away from them.  They wondered if they had done something wrong to bring down catastrophe upon themselves.  And they wondered what the future would hold in store after so much tragedy.

It doesn’t feel too different than what some folks are feeling these days. People are talking about feeling overwhelmed with grief.  One person told me that they had lost several extended family members over the past four months.  Others told me about watching the news from England and shedding tears.  They, like Jeremiah, are searching for comfort, for the balm from Gilead that was an export to much of the middle east, valued for its medicinal properties and far more than just something that would sooth their physical injuries.  They need medicine for their souls, for their fear and anguish, for their lost purpose, hope for their future.  Where do the modern Jeremiahs turn to?

Normally I would say, this is where we turn to our gospel.  But the story Jesus told to his disciples isn’t straightforward.  Are we supposed to go out and bamboozle our bosses, cheat our employers, embezzle from our companies?  What gives, Jesus?    Scholars and experts are still scratching their heads, so it’s okay if we don’t get it.

If Jesus was telling it today, I bet it would go something like this.  He’s the guest speaker at the Chamber of Commerce banquet up at the Multiplex, and some folks are not happy that he’s been asked, given his reputation as a politicizing know it all who sticks his nose into everything.  He’s brought a table of his buddies sitting at the back, and it looks like some are reputable, but others look like they’ve slept in their clothes for a week.  Some even smell!  Jesus looks out over the crowd and says “So there was this CEO of the CIBC, or was it the BMO or maybe the ATB, anyway, the CEO sends out a mass communication to all branch managers that they will be audited.  Well, our local bank manager starts to sweat because he’s been doing a little, shall we say, creative bookkeeping, and it's a lot more than pilfering paperclips or stuffing staplers into his pocket to take home.  He knows his goose is cooked but he’s 59 and his resume won’t be improved by a prison record.  He calls in a local restaurateur and asks how much the business loan is for. 1.5 million smackeroos!  The owner fears forecloser and says “Business is slow and we are really trying hard to make it go”. “Quick”, the banker says, “scratch this out and put in 1 mill.  Initial here in these six places, done.”  The restaurateur is ecstatic, and the banker figures he’ll have free meals for life.  Then he calls in a homeowner who got a second mortgage for a basement suite.  “How much is your mortgage,” he asks.  “$800,000” says she, “and money is tight, please don’t increase my interest rate!”  “Nope, cross out the $800,000 and write $500,000.”  She’s in tears, kissing his hand and he figures he has a place to crash.  The CEO shows up and goes, “wow, that’s a great way to build customer loyalty, well done you!”

Imagine the response of the chamber of commerce to that keynote address.  What does it mean?  Jesus goes back to his table of friends and says, “if a white-collar criminal can build community, how much more should you do it?  You can’t have two bosses, the bank and God.  You will end up resenting one or the other, so be careful which boss you put your trust in. One will be there when you are needing a hug, the other could care less.”

Jeremiah is torn because he feels his community has forgotten who the boss is, their God or their rituals.  He grieves that they have put their trust in traditions and institutions, and now they are hurting.  Jesus reminds us that no matter what, God is the best boss we could ever have.  God is such a great boss, that God did the ultimate undercover boss, coming to live with us in the vulnerable and short life of Jesus, not to catch us out and reward the good and fire the bad, but because God loves us and wants to be the healing balm we all need in times like these.  May it be so for us all.