“The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good”Main point: We can get messy in freedom as we are moved by God’s Spirit to act for redemption in the world.SERMONHold on, what?  Did I read that correctly? After mismanaging his money and nearly getting fired, did the master really just commend the manager for losing more money?We just sang to Jesus in our acclimation, “you have the words of eternal life,” and this is what we get? I'm more confused than I've ever been after reading a gospel text.Our GospelMany times when we read the parables of Jesus, we can pick up on the point Jesus is making. There’s usually a person who does the right things, and, by comparison, there are some examples of people who are doing the wrong thing. For example in the parable of the Good Samaritan, there were two people who passed by the person who was mugged and robbed. They were not loving their neighbor. Then the Samaritan walked by the beaten man and took care of him. He did the loving thing toward his neighbor. Clear and direct.Reading this parable today, we are faced with questions because what we expect to find - a clear moral or ethical character - isn’t so clear. It’s mixed.I'd you're wondering what to make is this story, you aren't alone. One commentator on this text called it the most difficult text to interpret in all of the gospels. Who is doing right and who is doing wrong in this situation?Is the Master behaving rightly when he attempts to fire the Manager and then at the end commends the actions of the slanted Manager? Can the Master be right? Is what the Manager did, worthy of commendation?Is the Manager behaving rightly when he settles the debts with the borrowers to save his own hide? He’s commended by the Master as doing a good thing, but since that good thing is done from self-preservation, that might not sit well with us who value both the action and the heart from which the action springs forth. The story teller calls him “slanted” but you could also say “twisted” or “crooked”. This reminds us that perfect justice very well may be a straight line, but all of us are a little slanted, twisted, or crooked.I think this parable presents a less-than-clear situation: What do we do when faced with ethical decisions in less than ideal conditions? What is our responsibility to God (as it is presented in this story)?

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