Who's Your Manager?

2025-09-21 Lk 16 01-13 Who's Your Manager (or Not Your Average Dishonest Manager) Trinity Presbyterian Church 

Who's YOUR manager?  

Everybody has one. At least one. 

Some of us have 150.

I like to say, Jesus is my manager. 

And that sounds good but it makes it hard to blame your boss.  

A while back, I answered the phone at my church. 

The professional voice on the other end said, "May I speak to the manager of your organization?" 

I said, "Yes you may. Anytime you want. You don't even need a phone." 

"But is IS very long distance." 

You know you're having a good day when a spam caller hangs up on YOU. 

He probably thought, "Religious weirdo."  

And he'd be right. 

If you're a manager, a GOOD one, you try to keep your people happy, healthy, and have them all going the same direction at the same time.  

Like shepherds, managers have to keep the herd in line. You want to keep even one from straying off.  

But managers have to do unpleasant business, too. 

Tough conversations.  

Make the hard calls.  

Sometimes their OWN neck is on the line. 

When one of our daughters was very young, her grandparents, I think, bought her some Barbie hairdressing mannequin head things.  

With flowing hair that always needed work.  

Because my parents knew, it's never too soon to learn a trade.  

AI -- will never replace hairdressers.  

We'll always need them. Well, most of us.  

Our daughter -- let's call her, Daughter X --  had the Barbie heads set up, in the middle of the living room floor, in a semi-circle, meeting style, with herself in the middle.  

Looking very matter-of-fact. 

She said, "Dad, could you come in here for a minute? The girls and I would like to talk with you." 

THAT sounded ominous.  

I said, "Am I being fired?" 

If she had more work experience she might have said, "Oh no. Mom's in charge of HR." 

"Do you mind if I record this?" 

-- 

Jesus -- himself -- did his best to keep people happy and healthy and all going the same direction.  

He also had to do some very unpleasant business sometimes.  

Tough conversations.  

His neck was often on the line, you might say.  

Jesus was over a team of 12 disciples.  

And he was constantly having to pull one or the other aside and "have a talk" with them.  

Sometimes all of them at once.  

The original "Come to Jesus Meeting." 

"Come on, guys. How many times to I have to say it? Do you have ears to hear? Listen up."  

When you think about it, Jesus had to deal with stuff every manager has to put up with.  

They questioned his decisions.  

Paid no attention.  

Fell asleep during meetings.  

Demanded promotions.  

One notable betrayal.  

He even had one disciple who - three times on the same day - denied he even was associated.  

"Jesus? Never met the guy."  

And the rooster crowed. 

Jesus understood management.  

The good parts.  

And the not so good parts, too.  

He put his life on the line for these people.  

And look how they crucified him. 

So, it probably wasn't surprising that Jesus would tell a parable about a manager. 

What IS surprising is that the manager in Jesus's story was a man of VERY questionable ethics. 

But, Jesus seemed to say.  

You folks could learn a lot by watching even a BAD manager.  

HE was sketchy, but imagine what you'd accomplish if you put YOUR brains and YOUR best gifts together to do GOOD things for GOD'S mission, God's vision, God's enterprise, God's kingdom.  

Imagine what you'd get done working WITH God instead of against. 

-- 

Here's a question to ask yourself: Are YOU a good manager? 

In the office, in the church, I try to be a good manager.  

I've had bad managers. So I know how it works. 

And I've made my own mistakes.  

I'm sure more than I know.  

We pastors can get too cozy in our warm Bible bubble baths.  

 So, I wonder, did Jesus tell this story of a dishonest manager as shock therapy for his angelic co-workers?   

I mean, if you're around Jesus as much as they were, you might start thinking you're special, like you're above all the office, church, home, and schoolyard politics that go on and on and on? 

Good managers are good -- because they care enough to face reality.  

Because they love enough to walk between the landmines.  

Because they know there's always more to life than whatever it is they're managing.  

So they can laugh, often at themselves.  

They can hold your hand and cry with you.  

They can tell you stuff you need to hear for your own good. 

Because – they know you're only human, and so are they.  

And I think this is true whether you're managing an office full of ornery people.  

Or a kindergarten soccer team.  

Or the piles in that room in your house nobody is allowed to enter.  

Or your parents' health care.  

Or that damned computer, or smartphone, or other satanic electronics.  

Or eve if you're just managing to get 5 minutes of silence, in the car, in the driveway before anyone knows you're home. 

We're all managing something.  

And we're all managing as best we can.   

And I want to say this:  

If you're getting to the point where you don't feel like you CAN manage anymore --  

it's 100% OK to sit down and throw your hands up and ask for help.  

Or advice.  

Or to ask a coach to kick your butt.  

Or your sister to bake you a pie.  

Or a friend down the pew for just a hug to get you through lunch. 

Or a therapist. Or any other mental health professional.    

One of the things I dearly love about Trinity Presbyterian Church is that you have so many people with so much experience, so much wisdom.  

People who have managed businesses, who have flown fighter jets, who have performed surgery on infants.  

You have grandmothers and grandfathers who have stories to tell,  

and iced tea to share,  

and Dad jokes to roll your eyes through,  

and kitchen tables to bang your head on and fall apart if that's what you need.  

You've got little girls to twirl with, and little boys to high-five and tell jokes about things that go stink in the night. 

Just being here, in this house of God, can help you manage life.   

Just by being in the company of people who have been through hell and are still walking, rolling, moving ahead, one step at a time.  

I know you help me manage.  

You help me manage being away from Kristen and our daughters, even the one whose squad of Barbies almost fired me. 

Whoever you call to come be your new preacher will feel like the luckiest man or woman on the face of the earth.  

And if they don't, then they're not good managers, keep looking.   

You're managing too well to settle for second place. 

And as far as your giving and pledging goes.

There again, know that you've got too good a thing going here at Trinity not to fund it to the best you can manage.  

So do it.  

Do it so your new pastor steps into the one Presbyterian Church that isn't moaning and whining about money or carpet color. 

And that's all I have to say about that.  

Today.   

-- 

Jesus says, "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? 

The true riches.  

What are the true riches? 

Jesus is telling his people -- he's telling us -- The wealth, the income, the riches that the slimy manager worked so hard to protect --  the job, the lifestyle, the position he clung to so hard that he threw away his morality to keep --  

ALL that, ALL that stuff.  

It's nothing.  

It's all nothing.  

It may be good, and comfortable, and a measure of achievement. 

But it's not TRUE wealth. 

I don't believe for one minute that Jesus wants to be my manager, or your manager.  

I do believe that Jesus always wanted his disciples to be their own managers.  

To manage yourselves.  

I believe he wants us to claim our own slice of the Holy Spirit, no matter how slim.  

And to start building the Kingdom of Heaven today.  

By sharing love, sharing kindness, speaking your truth, and living a proudly managed life.  

Even you scoundrels.  

Help those who can't manage.  

For whoever is faithful in JUST a very little is faithful also in much.  

This is the way to the true riches. True wealth. Stewardship of God's love, that lasts, and lasts. 

And will never be fired. 

[eos]