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Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

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The Parable of the Unjust Steward , Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540 Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately. The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, ...
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Sermon - Trinity I, 2026 - Luke 16:19-31

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Parable of Lazarus and the Story of Job , Erhard Altdorfer, circa 1520 Two Rich Men and Lazarus The rich men of this age who are lovers of money justify themselves by their earthly riches Jesus is the Rich Man who loves mankind, and justifies others by means His heavenly riches, namely His precious blood Lazarus, the poor sick beggar, is all who desire to be fed with the crumbs that fall from Jesus’ table. Earlier in Luke 16 Jesus famously says: “ You cannot serve God and mammon.” Then shortly before telling today’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, He explains: “ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. ” Thus, the issue of money and earthly wealth, and how we Christians are meant to treat our earthly riches, is most certainly at the forefront of today’s text. But today...
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Sermon - Trinity I 2024 - Luke 16:19-31

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Parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar Lazarus , Codex Aureus Epternacensis, circa 1035-1040 The Inner Wealth of Faith The true contrast between Dives and Lazarus Righteousness by faith The eternal misery of hell and the eternal comfort of heaven Things are not always as they appear. This is especially true when it comes to people. The life lived publicly may not accurately represent the life lived privately. This is especially noticeable when there are great scandals. The successful coach or teacher goes to jail for doing terrible things to children. The head of a local charity gets caught embezzling funds. The well-loved local celebrity is physically violent at home. Or it goes the other way, too. The rough and loud man is gentle and tender-hearted at home. The guy who had lousy jobs and lived in a dinky house was actually a millionaire and gave away millions to church and charity throughout life. The same is true for the rich man and Lazarus, since their lives lived publicly didn’t ...
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Sermon - Trinity I 2020 - Luke 16:19-31

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Christ says a lot about money and wealth. He says “ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? ” Again He says, “ How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God .” Or in the parable of the rich fool, God says to the rich man who relaxed and found pleasure in his worldly riches: “ ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. ” Right before our Gospel lesson today, Jesus said to the Pharisees: “ No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”   Christ uses this parable today of the rich man and Lazarus to teach us of the dangers of having more worldly ...
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Sermon - Trinity 1 - Luke 16:19-31

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 Who’s going to heaven and who’s going to hell? What kind of people go to heaven? What kind of people go to hell? I’m sure you have some sort of picture in your mind of the type of people who go to each place. But today Jesus trains us not to look at external appearances, but instead to look at the Word and faith. For the Word of God alone produces faith which clings to Christ’s love instead of any earthly riches. Today Jesus introduces us to two people, a rich man and a poor man. The rich man“ was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. ” What’s more, when He dies and calls out to Abraham, he calls him Father Abraham. This rich man was an Israelite, he identified himself as a person of the Jewish religion.  What’s more, it appears as if he was a good man who lived a righteous life, since Jesus doesn’t mention anything negative about him. Jesus never hesitates to label people for what they are, be they tax collectors, prostitutes, or thieves. B...
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