Sermon-Seeing the real Unjust Steward

 

Brian Bilston, Refugees, 2016

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 28th July 2024, The Ninth Sunday after Trinity based on the text of Luke 16:1–9

Using Brian Bilston’s “Reverse Poem” refugees as a way of re-reading the parable of the Unjust Steward.

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or I
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way.

The words of the man described as the Banksy of the poetry world - who writes under the name of Brian Bilston. “Refugees” reflects on popular attitudes to those seeking a new life here in the UK. These people are on the take. Taking our homes. Our resources. Putting pressure on the NHS. Taking our benefits. Taking our jobs. These people are taking all of us for a ride! 

But Brian Bilston’s closing statement is rhetorical. Reading his reverse poem from bottom to top reveals a completely different meaning. 

The world can be looked at another way
Do not be so stupid to think that
A place should only belong to those who are born there
These are people just like us
It is not okay to say
Build a wall to keep them out
Instead let us
Share our countries
Share our homes
Share our food
They cannot 
Go back to where they came from
We should make them
Welcome here
They are not
Cut-throats and thieves
With bombs up their sleeves
Layabouts and loungers
Chancers and scroungers
We need to see them for who they really are
Should life have dealt a different hand
These haggard faces could belong to you or I
So do not tell me
They have no need of our help. 

It’s fascinating isn’t it. The same words. Seen from a different perspective. With a completely different meaning.

Trying to decipher the meaning of today’s gospel reading has left many bewildered. For centuries, the brightest and best biblical scholars have reached this parable in the Gospel of Luke and have done a double take. 

Which could be a fitting description for what the steward has been up to. 

Not only does he seem to have been taking liberties on the job. Not earning his keep by collecting the debts due to his Lord and master. But when his boss sacks him as a result of allegations of non-performance, the steward takes things a step further, colluding with the debtors to cook the books. And they’re all too happy to take part in this deception.

This cunning plan not only makes his master’s accounts seem more favourable, on paper artificially inflating the assets he holds while reducing the debt owed to him; but also allows the steward to ingratiate himself with a whole supply-chain of potential future employers. 

And what is his master’s response to all this?

“Fair play guv!”

He commends his former steward for acting “wisely”. 

Perhaps the Lord has made so much money through dodgy dealings that he takes pride in his protégé doing the same? The steward lost his job but takes advantage of the situation by making a whole bunch of new friends who might put him up when he’s down and out. And the debtors? Well, they are laughing all the way to the bank - taking home far more money in their pocket than they had imagined.

It’s a situation that doesn’t really sound like the teachings of Jesus. In fact it seems quite the reverse.

So why does Jesus encourage us to follow their example – “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness” he says, “that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.”

What can we learn from these people who all seem to be feathering their own nests by taking from each other? 

Perhaps the reverse poem offers a clue as to how to interpret this passage? As Brian Bilston’s poem shows, when we start by reading backwards, we might see things from a different perspective. 

It may be no coincidence that today’s parable follows another that also appears only in Luke’s gospel. A story in which the exuberant -  extravagant - prodigal - generosity of God is laid bare. The parable of the Prodigal Son.

The selfish younger son, who having taken his inheritance early and wasting it, bringing his family name into disrepute, finds himself destitute - salivating over the pigswill intended for the animals he has been hired to watch.  Humiliated, he returns home to offer himself as a servant to his father. Instead of a cold shoulder, he finds a warm embrace – immortalised in a famous painting by Rembrandt. A lavish party is thrown in his honour – much to the chagrin of his elder brother, who has been down on his hands and knees on the farm while his fun-loving sibling was living the high life. 

The father comes out to plead with his firstborn to join the party – but he refuses to join in. 

‘All my years of hard work’, he tells his father - ‘and you never once gave me a party. Yet my younger brother who has taken your money and taken the good reputation of our family away, returns out of the blue and is rewarded.’ 

His Father replies ‘Son, all that is mine is yours. It is right to celebrate the return of your brother. For he was lost and now is found.‘


When we look at life with a preference for taking, we look at the world through the eyes of that jealous elder brother.

When we look at the world with a preference for giving, we do so through the eyes of the Father. 

What if we try to read today’s parable through his eyes?  Using the parable of the Prodigal Son which precedes it as a reverse reading of today’s gospel passage?

Re-reading the same words with a preference for giving opens up the possibility that the Steward may have been lax in calling in his master’s debts for any number of reasons – good and bad. In forgiving a significant portion of the debts owed to his master, perhaps the steward was doing his best to right a wrong – to discount what he saw as extortionate charges imposed by his master? 

Perhaps rather than colluding in fraud, the debtors simply accepted this reduction graciously, as a generous gift?  

When we look at the parable with a preference for giving, we notice - like a reverse poem - that the same words can be seen in a completely different way.

If we go through life with a preference for taking, the world will always seem empty. Unbalanced. Contingent. 

But that is not the Christian way of life. Life in Christ is not about give and take. This is not a zero sum game.

Life in Christ means accepting the abundant generosity of God our Father. 

Perhaps living that life righteously - or rightfully as today’s Collect puts it - means adopting a preference for giving. Like the Father of the Prodigal Son. Like learning to read Brian Bilston’s poem in reverse at first sight.

Adopting a preference for giving just as we have been forgiven.

Forgiving others whether we have proof they are at fault – or just suspicious about their motives.

Forgiving others unconditionally. 

Even – perhaps especially – when it is difficult or messy to do so. 

It is hard. Just as seeing the good news in today’s gospel reading is hard! 

It is impossible in fact, without the grace of God. 

Adopting a perspective for giving brings us closer to seeing the world through the eyes of our Prodigal Father. A world where the meek and the poor are exalted and the mighty are put down from their seat.

In doing so we move a step closer to that joyous party that is being thrown for us in those “everlasting habitations” – as our gospel reading describes the Kingdom. A place where there are no debtors. No deficit. No contingency. A place of absolute unity. Where nobody wants for anything. Where we will be united with all those we have met who we think are on the take. All those who have “failed” to see the world as our Father sees it. Including us. 

Lord, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.

Amen. 

Image : ‘Refugees’ by Brian Bilston