The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, 21 September 2025
Austwick, Clapham, Eldroth
Imagine a world where the greatest power in it, the principle by which the world operated, was that of mercy, compassion and forgiveness.
Imagine a world where you called up your credit card company, said, “I’m sorry, I’ve overextended myself this month; and I can’t make my payment,” and the bank said, “Oh, that’s O.K., you’re forgiven. Don’t worry about it.”
Imagine a world where you make a huge mistake at work that cost your company thousands of pounds, and your boss simply said, “Never mind! These things happen. You’ll do better next time.”
We may smile at such suggestions because the world we live in, which has shaped our outlook on life, feels often like a world which operates less on mercy, compassion and forgiveness, and more on the cold, hard exchange of cash-value, on the survival of the most solvent.
Our faith prompts us to ask: what would it be like to live in a world which was run on merciful and compassionate lines? Christians can imagine such a different world, and in the imagining, help bring this world into being. Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God show us the way of mercy, compassion and forgiveness gently breaking through, like flowers through parched soil.
Take today’s parable for example. It seems to be about the usual ‘dog eat dog’ world of work and business. A manager who works for a rich man is caught in some kind of incompetence. Jesus tells us that he has squandered his master’s property. In other words, he’s made a mistake of some sort that has cost his company maybe millions of pounds. So as a consequence, he’s fired.
But rather than firing him immediately, taking his keys, giving him a few minutes to clear out his office, and have a security guard escort him out, the Managing Director in Jesus’ parable decides to let the manager stay on to settle up his last accounts. And this shrewd manager makes the most of his opportunity. He pulls a sting operation. He makes some friends with his Managing Director’s clients by writing off substantial portions of their bills. How clever was that! He gets even with his old boss and potentially wins himself new people to work for. These clients of his old boss will owe him a favour. Out, but not down, the sneaky manager has pulled a fast one.
Following the parable Jesus gives us some pithy proverbs to follow: proverbs which offer two ways, two paths, through life: the children of this age vs. children of the light; being a very little faithful vs. being a very little dishonest; ‘No slave can serve two masters.’ And the ultimate statement, ‘You cannot serve God and wealth.’
The essence of Jesus’ message is that we have only two choices in life: to serve the kingdoms of this world, which amounts to serving wealth, or to serve God in his way of compassion. You cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve God and wealth. There are only two basic paths in life: God’s way is the way of merciful love, the way of compassion.
For those who have benefited from the tit-for-tat way, the survival of the fittest – me and you included – it’s almost incomprehensible that our God sent Jesus into the world to essentially be one of the losers, branded a criminal and hung upon the cross. It’s astonishing that from the cross Jesus refused to play the game of tit-for-tat. Instead, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” Can you imagine any more mercy than that? Can you imagine the same power of merciful, compassionate forgiveness that raised Jesus from the dead transforming our lives, the life of the world around us, if we are only faithful to it even a very little. If only we can try to unlearn the dog-eat-dog ways, to reshape our behaviour towards compassion.
It is possible to imagine mercy breaking into our world. It even breaks into the parable, albeit in imperfect ways. We see the manager in this parable being just a little bit merciful, in a businesslike sort of way. We see him using mercy as a commodity, to trade. To his master’s clients, he shows a kind of forgiveness, writing off big chunks of their bills, in order that they might show mercy back to him. He’s using mercy as a form of self-protection; but – this is important – he is using mercy.
Now this desperate act of forgiveness surprisingly gets the dishonest manager far more mercy than he bargained for, in return. For his incompetence, the manager got fired. For his dishonesty, one might expect he’d be thrown in jail. Instead, Jesus tells us that “His master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” No jail. No retribution of any kind. Rather, a commendation. Against all expectations the doubly-wronged Managing Director shows mercy to his manager.
Jesus suggests that the children of this age can be more imaginative than the children of light about dealing mercifully with each other: imperfectly for sure, but effectively. It’s a challenge to us. Do we really have faith in the generous mercy, compassion and forgiveness of God? Do we feel worthy of receiving it, with all our faults and failings? Are we capable of giving it? Are we over-anxious about trying to be perfect that we can’t bring ourselves to risk any imperfect attempts to forgive, to love, to live? This parable seems to encourage us that when it comes to forgiveness, we may never get it completely right – our forgiveness may not be perfect, but we should forgive anyway.
You know, as the gospels record it, when Jesus taught The Lord’s Prayer these were the words he used: ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ And he meant it in a monetary way. Jesus wants us to know that forgiveness can transform every area of life, even the monetary side. [2]
Imagine a world where those deep in debt are shown a way out, are given practical guidance and assistance towards becoming debt-free, and free of the problems of employment or addiction which may be contributing to their poverty. Imagine a world where people in business try to act with grace and compassion towards the vulnerable, the poor, and the earth itself. If you look, you will see that there are plenty around today, in Fairtrade and renewables and sustainable farming, and so on. You may have heard me last week talking about Patrick Grant’s Community Clothing, another example on our doorstep. [3]
It is possible to imagine ourselves into a world operated by a loving Father, a world of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. If we open our eyes, we can see it already coming into being. If we open our hearts and minds, we realise that, however imperfectly, we can do our bit to nurture it.
Notes
[1] This is a revised version of Forgive anyway! preached in Somerset, 2016 and Gruline, Isle of Mull, 2019. An adapted and Anglicised version of the sermon The Reign of Compassion by Paul J. Nuechterlein, delivered at Emmaus Lutheran, Racine, WI, September 19-20, 1998.
[2] Luke 11.4 / Matthew 6.12 Sarah Dylan Breuer, SarahLaughed.net: dylan’s lectionary blog, Proper 20, Year C. Quoted in Paul Nuechterlein, Girardian Lectionary, Reflections, Year C, Proper 20C.
[3] John Davies, In a throwaway society, searching for the lost. 14 September 2025. Community Clothing: Our Mission. Website accessed 11 September 2025.
