One Master - Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (September 21, 2025)

Scripture Readings: Amos 8:4–7 | Psalm 113 | 1 Timothy 2:1–7 | ​Luke 16:1–13

“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13).
 
Working more than one job at a time is not always easy. For some people, it’s a painful necessity. For others it can be a real joy. But even then, it comes with a lot of unique challenges.
 
As many of you know, since 2018, I’ve had the privilege of serving simultaneously in two very different ministry contexts: first off as an ordained minister in a parish church… initially as a deacon at St. Paul’s Rothesay, just down the road, and now here at St. Luke’s as Priest-in-Charge… while also serving as the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School.
 
And truthfully, I have really loved this two-part ministry, even though it does require some serious juggling of schedules and obligations at times. Over the years, I have tried to learn how to strike the right balance, and to serve each community well. But at times, I can still feel like I’m being pulled in different directions.

And yet, thankfully, even though I am responsible to different leaders, and serve in different capacities in these two very different contexts, I’m always trying to do so on behalf of the same Lord. The work I do here at St. Luke’s and there at the school, I am doing for the Living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for the sake of His good work in the world, and in this neighbourhood.
 
These days, lots of people have to juggle all sorts of competing obligations and responsibilities… like having to work multiple jobs… providing care for young people, or aging parents… or volunteering their time and energy to keep the important parts of our wider community up and running. Life today often means being asked to hold several things in tension in order to meet our own needs, as well as the needs of those who depend on us.
 
And our Scripture readings today, especially our Gospel reading, speak directly to this tension… this experience of being pulled in multiple directions. But in His words to us, Jesus uses a much more intense image than that of simple employment, or everyday obligations.

He uses the image of a slave… one whose life is no longer their own, but who in a very real way belongs to and serves somebody else.  
 
We looked at slavery in the context of the Bible a few weeks ago, and how this oppressive practice was widespread across the ancient world, and simply taken for granted. And so while we rightly recoil at the idea of slavery today, especially in the light of the Good News of Christ, it was an everyday reality that many in Jesus’ day would be very familiar with.
 
In this passage, Jesus uses this image of a slave being unable to faithfully serve two different masters in order to drive home the point of the need for clear and singular devotion to God and His ways above all else.
 
There’s nothing about this claim that’s surprising or new for God’s people, of course. Right from the start, this idea of wholehearted devotion marked Israel’s relationship to the Living God. It was the anchor point and foundation for their whole sense of identity as God’s chosen people.
 
For instance, in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, we hear the words of the Shema, which faithful Israelites have recited for thousands of years as a central statement of faith: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” And we know that this commandment was central to Jesus’ own devotion and teachings… claiming it as the first and greatest commandment… alongside the commandment to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
 
For God’s people, clear and wholehearted devotion to God was already a given. And yet, sometimes we still seem to be a bit unclear about what wholehearted devotion to God really looks like… about what it means to really serve His interests in everything we do.
 
And so Jesus puts one common challenge to our devotion to God right out in the open: because, despite our claims of faithfulness to God alone, many of us His people still tend to live as though money is our real master.
 
Now of course, money can be a great asset, and it can accomplish a lot of good in our world. In a famous 18th Century sermon, called The Use of Money, John Wesley preached that: “in the present state of mankind, [money] is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of his children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked: It gives to the traveller and the stranger [some]where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We maybe a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”[1]
 
But as good as money can be, we also know that it can contribute to incredible harm as well.
 
It causes harm when we’re willing to set all other concerns… like justice, compassion, and integrity… to the side, because, as the saying goes “It’s the economy, stupid.” It causes harm when we buy into the idea that it’s “money that makes the world go ‘round”, turning a blind eye when corporations exploit their workers, and manipulate their customers to boost their bottom line. It causes harm when the leaders of the nations of the world turn on each other, and even their own people… wielding taxes, and lawsuits, and sanctions… not for the sake of the common good, but as a weapon to get what they want, and as tool of oppression to try and get rid of any resistance.
 
Money is a powerful force and temptation to many, and it has been that way for a really long time.
 
In our first reading today, we heard the words of the prophet Amos, warning those in his day (and in our day) who serve money that God is watching closely.
 
Amos 8:4-7,
“Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
 
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”
 
Instead of expressing devotion to the Living God, and acting with compassion towards their neighbours in need, these people were just preoccupied with their own profits and business. But as Amos reminds us, the LORD will not ignore the harm that gets done for the sake of money. And God will not forget the deeds of those who misuse their wealth… oppressing the poor and the powerless in order to get their own way.
 
Which is all the more reason for us to pray, not just for wisdom and an upright spirit ourselves… but also for all of the leaders of the world… those who have access to wealth, and those with the power to control its use, through laws, and policies, and programs. We should be praying that they will make wise and just decisions that don’t just serve their own interests, but the greater good of our world. And when those prayers seem unlikely to be answered, that’s all the more reason to keep on praying!
 
In truth, our world doesn’t really seem to know how to manage money faithfully. Some know how to get a hold of a lot of it, others know how to spend a whole lot of it. But it’s another thing entirely to be faithful with it. 
 
At the start of our Gospel passage today, we heard Jesus tell His disciples a parable to challenge their old ways of thinking, and help them understand wealth from the perspective of God’s good Kingdom.
 
In the parable, a master finds out his manager has been mishandling his money. So he calls him to account, and gives him notice of termination. Understandably, the manager starts to panic, realizing the danger he’s now in.

Luke 16:3-4, “Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’”

His solution: make some friends real quick! Realizing it’s in his best interest to make some (hopefully grateful) connections who might take care of him in the future, he does what comes naturally: he keeps on mis-managing his master’s money! He cancels some of the debts of his master’s customers, cooking the books to get on their good side. And when the master finds out about it, it turns out he’s actually impressed by the quick-thinking of this ex-manager.
 
What’s the point of this story?
 
Well, for starters, Jesus is certainly not endorsing shady business practices. And we’re not being given license to commit fraud if we find ourselves in troubled times. And the bemused “master” isn’t meant to stand for God, condoning dishonesty if it’s at least done cleverly.
 
This parable offers us an example of how even those who are completely unconcerned with God and His holy ways, can still come to realize that serving money won’t save them in the end… and when push comes to shove, they will be forced to reprioritize.

In the course of the parable, the bad manager is no longer concerned with making money, but with making friends. Even from a purely worldly perspective, there’s something profound in this. I mean, material goods are simply not as important as having people who love you and who will stick by your side when things get really rough.
 
But Jesus’ parable goes on to make an even bigger point. Luke 16:9, “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.”
 
By calling it “dishonest wealth”, Jesus is taking money down off of the pedestal, and putting it into perspective. It’s not to be worshipped or served, but used faithfully.
  
Simply put, money makes a horrible master, and devoting ourselves to it ruins lives, rather than saving them. Instead of mastering us, it needs to be put into the service of something far greater.
 
Luke 16:10-13, “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
 
This entire passage, the parable and the points made afterwards, are a call to faithfulness with all that we have, not just our money, but certainly including it. And rather than being the purpose and goal of our lives, wealth is meant to serve God and God’s good Kingdom! Too extend His holy love, and His mercy, and compassion, and justice.. and beauty… and joy.
 
Whatever amount we may have, we are to learn to use it wisely and faithfully… acting as good managers who are concerned with stewarding what really belongs to God, and knowing that He’s not that concerned with profit margins, or compound interest or dividends… but with the good of His world… with people… with ALL people that they might come to know and receive His mercy and grace, and saving love… and flourish in His resurrection life.

As St. Paul says in our second reading, God our Saviour “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:4–6).
 
In wholehearted and clear devotion to the will of His Heavenly Father, and for the sake of us all, Jesus Himself paid the complete price to set us free once and for all at the cross. And He now shares the abundant riches of the Living God with all who believe… the riches of forgiveness… fellowship… and freedom for eternity.
 
And now God calls us to be good managers of all the treasures that we have been entrusted with: first and foremost, with the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, and all He has done to rescue and ransom our messed up world.
 
But we have also been entrusted with friends… with the fellowship of the saints… the company of forgiven sinners… rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, slave and free… all welcomed equally to sit side by side at His good table.
​
And we have been entrusted with the treasures of time, and our talents, and yes, even our money… to be used faithfully to lift up and share God’s love with those around us… not simply for our own sake, but for their sake… and the for the sake of the One who gave His life at the cross to save us all.
 
We cannot serve two masters. But in the midst of our world, with all of its competing priorities, Jesus Christ our Saviour calls us to practice clear and wholehearted devotion to His good Kingdom, for the good of all.
 
So may all that we do, and have been entrusted with, help us to share His holy love and New Life with our neighbours, our friends, our loved ones, and with one another. Amen.


[1] John Wesley, Paragraph 2 in “Sermon 50 – The Use of Money” The Sermons of John Wesley. (Wesley Center Online: https://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-50-the-use-of-money/).