On Being Faithful with What Belongs to Another, or, #NoDAPL

Pentecost 18

September 18, 2016

Luke 16:1-13

In the late 1400’s, with the blessing of the Pope, European monarchies began a conquest of the lands on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean under what became known as the Doctrine of Discovery. It was this doctrine that gave European explorers the right to claim lands which they had “discovered” but were not inhabited by Christians. As Portuguese, Spanish, French, and British explorers arrived in the lands that we now know as North, Central, and South America, they claimed those lands for the crowns that they represented, ignoring the fact that those lands were already inhabited by tribes who each had their own unique languages and cultures. In search of gold and silver and any other materials which could enrich the wealth of the explorers and the monarchs that they represented, some native tribes were killed off, others were enslaved, and still others were taken from their homes and back to Europe where they could be taught to become civilized people.

In 1792, Thomas Jefferson extended the doctrine of discovery to the newly formed United States of America and what ensued in the coming decades and centuries was a systematic oppression of Native Americans. Their sovereignty over the land they inhabited was stripped from them, many were forced from their lands completely as reservations were set up throughout the Midwest. Germ warfare was used against the native peoples to wipe out tribes, and boarding schools were set up throughout this country with the intention of “killing the Indian, saving the man.” The majority of these boarding schools were not shut down until the 1980’s and 1990’s (though a couple still exist), resulting in the loss of a rich culture and heritage of the Native peoples of this land.

But we considered them savages. We considered them to be less than human and thus it was seen that we were doing them a favor by teaching them our ways, our language, and our religions.

A few weeks ago, construction began on the Dakota Access Pipe Line in South Dakota, a pipe line which disturbed the ancient burial ground of the Standing Rock Sioux, a tribe which has slowly seen the size of their land diminished as a result of the American Government violating treaties with the Sioux tribe as a whole. Were the pipe line to be proposed to disturb Arlington National Cemetery or even our own local cemeteries, we would be appalled. But there seems to be something about this pipeline which has caused a much more subdued response from a good majority of the nation.  

As people who live 1 mile from the Pottawatomie ancient burial grounds and who sit on the ground of the former Macon Reservation, we would do well to consider the history of these lands that we inhabit and the culture of the people who retreated from this land in order to escape persecution at the hands of those who considered them to be savages and, therefore, not worthy to have free claim to the lands where they had lived for so long.

It is easier to look at folks different from us as less than human, or at least lesser than us, and therefore place ourselves in a seat of judgment over what they do and do not deserve, than it is to look in the eyes of our neighbors and see them as fully children of God deserving of the same shakes and the same opportunities that we are deserving of. If there is no other lesson that should be taken from the protests of the Standing Rock Sioux and this election cycle, it should be that.

It is easier for me to look at a stranger who supports a different political candidate than I do and to silently call them an unflattering name than it is for me to look in the eyes of my brother, who supports a different political candidate than I do and do the same thing. It is easier for me to read a whitewashed history of the treatment of the Native peoples and Africans who were brought to this country for the purpose of the slave trade, than it is for me to read actual accounts of what happened, to listen to the experiences of my siblings who are Native American, Latino, and African American, who have experienced racism. It is easier for me to look at a homeless person and judge them by what they wear or buy at the grocery store or the phone that they use than it is for me to be in relationship with them and learn that they are working 2 minimum wage jobs, their jeans were donated, their phone was purchased by a friend, and that they saved up for 6 months to purchase something special for their child for their birthday.

This is one of the basic sins of humanity. We fall victim to the idol which is called Mammon, an idol which is comprised of the money and possessions that we have that are in excess of what we need to support ourselves and our families. The idol Mammon tells us that we are never going to have everything that we need in order to be happy. When we believe this lie, we begin to believe that because others do not have what we have, it is because they are undeserving for one reason or another.

It’s nothing new, we hear about it in our reading from Amos and in our Gospel lesson. The reading from Amos issues a warning for those who would exploit the poor and needy for their own gain, for those who would, for example raise the price of a life saving medication and give themselves a 16 million dollar raise. “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds,” says the Lord.

Then we have our Gospel text which is, admittedly, complicated. What we don’t know that Jesus’ first hearers would have, is that the rich masters of the region and their managers all got rich on the backs of the poor. They would charge so much interest on the goods that the peasants owed them that, often times, the people would be forced to make the decision to either surrender their property to the master or to sell their children into slavery so that their debts could be settled. Think of it as the ancient form of the payday loan, in which the average interest rate charged is 400%. These rich masters were participating in a scheme in which they were systematically forcing folks off of land which their families had been passing down from generation to generation.

This parable could be the source of at least a half dozen sermons, depending on which way you want to go with it. But what sticks out for me this time around, in the context of the protest of the Dakota Access Pipe Line, in the context of this election cycle, and in the context of the nature of a sin in which it is easier to tear someone down and judge them as undeserving than it is to acknowledge that all people are children of God and all people are deserving of the same opportunities as everyone else…

…what sticks out is verse 12. “And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?”

Neither the manager nor his master were faithful with what belonged to the people in their village. It just so happened that the manager also knew how to be unfaithful with what his master had entrusted him with. But what if they had been faithful to what belonged to the people of their village? What if their wealth wasn’t amassed on the backs of the poor?

And for us, then, how does this translate?

The 9^th and 10^th commandments and Luther’s explanation to them make it clear that we are to do everything in our power to support our neighbors to help them to maintain what is theirs, that we are to not attempt to trick them out of what is their own so that it can become ours, that we are to see our neighbors as children of God and respect that the things that are theirs come from God just as the things that are ours come from God. For God is generous, God gives good things to us even when we do not deserve them. In fact, the myth of the self-made man or woman is a myth purely and simply because everything that we are and everything that we have comes from God.

When God sent Jesus into the world, it wasn’t just for a select group of people, it was for all of humanity. Because God IS generous, because God is merciful and gracious, because God created us to be echoes of God’s mercy and grace and faithfulness for the entire world. Don’t believe the lies that mammon tells. Make mammon serve you so that you may be faithful and generous with what has been entrusted to you.