Luke 16:1-13
Chester and Lester opened a butcher shop and prospered. Then an evangelist came to town, and Chester’s wife persuaded him to go, and he was saved. He tried to persuade his partner to accept salvation also, but to no avail. “Why won’t you, Lester?” asked the born-again fellow.
“Listen, Chester,” the other butcher said. “If I get religion, too, who’s going to weigh the meat?”
This is a hard one! The passage seems to praise dishonesty, and worse. If you do your own translation, Jesus seems to praise dishonesty. Or did you translate o kurios as his master?
And how do you connect the change at the end, and where does the change begin?
I have played with this as an example of Jesus making a joke of the situation. Yes, sarcasm. I change my voice in verse 8. This may not work for you, and I am not sure that it worked for my congregation, but it begins to make sense.
A rancher asked a veterinarian for some free advice. “I have a horse,” he said, “that walks normally sometimes and limps sometimes. What shall I do?” The veterinarian replied, “The next time he walks normally, sell him.”
Have a great week – Laurin
Lectionary Musings and Amusings 