“Nobody gets into the kingdom of God without a letter of reference from the poor!”
This was a favorite axiom of The Reverend James Forbes, one time pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City, and my Homiletics Professor at Union Seminary. Which is to say that the Prophets like Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and others had made careers out of proclaiming this message to the religious and political leaders of Israel for over 800 years before the time of Jesus. And they were descended from earlier prophets like Elijah and Elisha who had identified the unjust practices of the wealthy and powerful who were, to be kind to them, blinded by their desire for power, prestige, and money at the expense of the general population of the people they were appointed to serve. Without question, Jesus picked up the mantle and tradition of Biblical prophets, most of whom were poets writing what today we might describe as Op-Ed pieces calling for society and its leaders to pay more attention to the plight of those they were meant to serve. The prevailing Biblical economic understanding was that money needs to remain in circulation to the benefit of all the people. Whereas, to accumulate great wealth made it impossible for the majority of the population to survive. As followers of Jesus, as his modern-day disciples, we are called to turn away from society’s obsession with wealth and material goods, and turn towards the hunger and needs of the communities, nation, and world in which we live. This is the “repentance” to which Jesus continually, every day, calls us to live.
Though some degree of mercantilism existed in the more urban centers in First Century Israel, the vast majority of the “people of the land,” the “am ha’aretz,” were agrarians – usually tenant debt-ridden farmers working for land owners who had bought-up farms that had gone into foreclosure and bankruptcy. The owners would send managers to collect what were unusually high rent, taxes, and at least a tithe, ten percent, of the produce, leaving little chance of the local farmer making any kind of profit, thus going further in debt every year. Not at all unlike what is happening to American farmers today who have seen long-standing contracts with other countries voided due to a tariff-driven trade-war, the cost of farm machinery, fewer farm workers as they are swept up for deportation, and a lack of affordable capital to keep family farms going from one generation to the next.
Against such a background, and having already been sneered at by those in power for spending too much time with the poor, women, immigrant laborers and tax collectors, Jesus tells a parable, a story, so odd, that for centuries really, scholars have reached little agreement on what the story could possibly mean. Even at the time Luke was assembling his gospel, it appears that he, or others, appended a few sayings to try to make sense of it themselves, and fit it into the longer narrative in Luke and the Book of Acts.
Most often it is called The Parable of the Unjust Steward, which is immediately suggestive that the principal character is not to be trusted. He is the manager for some farms owned by a wealthy land owner. A group of tenant farmers go the rich man to present charges that the manager is “squandering his property.” [Luke 16:1-14] Yet, the Greek text does not support such an understanding, as it reads, “This one (the manager) was slandered to him (the owner) as spreading his property around.” That is, those bringing “charges” are unjust, as is the owner who keeps the farmers poor. Not the manager who cheats the owner.
The owner calls for an accounting of his holdings before he intends to fire the manager, who, if it is true that he is spreading the wealth around, is actually compliant with the vision of Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the prophets. The quick-thinking manager goes about the farms and reduces their charges significantly – 20% and 50% reductions of what the farmers owe the owner! We are told he believes that the farmers will take care of him when he loses his position. “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…You cannot serve God and wealth. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.”
If as usual we believe someone in the parable must represent God or Jesus, we would do well to note that no one in this tale is righteous, just, or at all an exemplary character: the owner is rapacious and keeps the farmers in debt, the manager cheats the owner, and the farmers are unjust slanderers. How does one “make friends with dishonest wealth” so that one day we might be welcomed into “eternal homes”? I will be bold and suggest that this refers to the original “slander” against the manager: find ways to improve policies such that wealth gets “spread around” on behalf of what used to be “the common good” for all people. That is, the manager became, out of necessity, a manager of “unjust” or “dishonest” wealth, spreading the owner’s money to the advantage of the farmers who faced continual foreclosure and debt.
This is what Luke has in mind. The addition in the comments that seek to make sense of the parable sets out a choice: one can serve God, or you can serve wealth. One cannot serve both! And in chapter 2 of the Book of Acts Luke portrays the emerging church serving God, not wealth: “Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” [Acts 2:43-47]
Note, church growth is tied directly to the management of wealth, money and possessions so as to meet the needs of the poor: resources are to be pooled together to make sure the needs of all people can be met. This weekend, musicians from across the country are gathering in Minneapolis, Minnesota to raise money to assist the farm bankruptcies which are already outpacing those in 2024, and, according to Illinois Farm Policy News, matching the record numbers seen in 2018 and 2019. [i] You cannot serve God and Wealth to get the letter of reference.
Our prayer for today says: Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.” Those heavenly things that shall endure includes the Bible’s economic “policies” which value the common good over the increasingly obscene accumulation of wealth among the billionaire and soon to be trillionaire class. The only way forward so as not to be anxious about earthly things is to become managers of unjust and dishonest wealth, which in turn necessitates choosing leaders at all levels of local, national, and church leadership who are willing to serve God over the service of wealth itself. I may be wrong, but I doubt it. I believe this is what Jesus, in this most unusual of his parables, is calling us to do. As the saying goes, “No one gets into the kingdom of God without a letter of reference from the poor.” Amen.
[i] https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/07/farm-bankruptcies-this-year-already-exceed-2024-levels/