First Thoughts: Jesus' parables are actually more riddles than stories. They don't give us easy answers to life questions, but challenge us to look deeper into our own lives. At first glance, this parable is confusing at best. A person accused of dishonesty appears to take sneaky actions to save himself and is rewarded for it! In order to make any sense of it, we have to actually put ourselves in the story. When have we behaved as the accused manager, using our position of education or power or privilege to make a little (or big) "nest egg" for ourselves? What happens when that privilege is threatened like if we are faced with an economic downturn, unemployment, or a health crisis that is going to wipe us out financially? Suddenly we realize our "security" isn't really secure at all. What do we do now? We have options here. We might freeze up, dig deeper, and hold on tighter to what we have. (Most churches behave that way: "Keep the money in the bank; what if the furnace goes out in five years?") Or we might respond like the manager in the story. Instead of allowing his fear to paralyze him, he responds creatively. He looks around: where can he find real support? In his community! He decides that while his privilege lasts, he's going to use it to curry favor with his neighbors. His self-interested motivations have inadvertently led him to a piece of gospel wisdom: the only true wealth is that which is invested in making life better for others! In fact, not only does he repair some relationships with his community, his boss sees what he's done, recognizes his surprising increase in wisdom, and allows him to keep his job. It's a surprising end to the story -- a surprise totally in line with Jesus' parable-telling.
Teaching On Your Own: (holds a bag of pudding cups) Hey, everybody. See what I have here? A whole bag of pudding cups. Do you guys like pudding? I do too! In fact I'm the Pudding Monitor in my class at school. That means I'm in charge of all the pudding cups. (looks downcast) Well, I WAS in charge. The teacher told me I wasn't doing a good job of passing them out, and I was keeping too many of the pudding cups to myself. (looks in bag) I guess she does have a point. But you know the worst part? Most of my classmates are mad at me, because they didn't get very much pudding while I was in charge. So once I eat up all these (sighs) I'll probably not be given any more pudding ever! What do you think I should do? Maybe I should try to learn from Jesus' lesson today. Jesus taught about a manager who wasn't doing a good job taking care of the owner's property. The owner decided he was going to fire the manager. (Just like my teacher firing me from being the Pudding Monitor.) The manager realized that he was going to be in pretty bad shape soon. He wasn't going to have a job anymore, and his neighbors weren't happy with him because he hadn't treated them fairly. So the manager made a smart decision: he decided that before he was fired, he would use his job to help his neighbors out. He cut all their debt to the owner, so the neighbors would have more money. He hoped this would make his neighbors happy, so they'd want to help him out when he didn't have a job. The manager was pretty smart, huh? In fact, it was SO smart, that when the owner saw what he did, the owner was impressed. Hey, you know what would be smart of me? If I took all these pudding cups and passed them out to my friends and say I'm sorry for not sharing in the first place. Then maybe when someone else is Pudding Monitor I won't be left out. Who knows? Maybe my teacher will see what I've done, and let me stay Pudding Monitor after all. But you know what's most important? My classmates won't be angry with me anymore, which is more important than the pudding, don't you think? Yeah, if I really think about it, I'd rather have friends than pudding, any day.
Teaching As A Team:
(Leader 2 has a bag of pudding cups)
Leader 1: Hey (name), what do you have in your bag there?
Leader 2: (pulls out a pudding cup) Pudding cups. Lots and lots of pudding cups!
Leader 1: Where did you get so many?
Leader 2: I was appointed the Pudding Monitor of my class. That means I'm in charge of all the pudding cups. (looks downcast) Well, I WAS in charge.
Leader 1: What do you mean?
Leader 2: The teacher told me I wasn't doing a good job of passing them out, and I was keeping too many of the pudding cups to myself.
Leader 1: (looks in bag) Well, she does have a point.
Leader 2: Not only that. Most of my classmates are mad at me, because they didn't get very much pudding while I was in charge. So once I eat up all these (sighs) I'll probably not be given any more pudding ever!
Leader 1: Sounds like you could use Jesus' lesson from today. There was once a manager who wasn't doing a good job taking care of the owner's property. The owner decided he was going to fire the manager.
Leader 2: That's like my teacher firing me from being the Pudding Monitor!
Leader 1: Right. Well, the manager realized that he was going to be in pretty bad shape soon. He wasn't going to have a job anymore, and his neighbors weren't happy with him because he hadn't treated them fairly. So he manager made a smart decision: he decided that before he was fired, he would use his job to help his neighbors out. He cut all their debt to the owner, so the neighbors would have more money. He hoped this would make his neighbors happy, so they'd want to help him out when he didn't have a job.
Leader 2: Hey, that was pretty smart.
Leader 1: Yeah. In fact, it was SO smart, that when the owner saw what he did, the owner was impressed.
Leader 2: Hey, you know what would be smart of me? If I took all these pudding cups and passed them out to my friends and say I'm sorry for not sharing in the first place. Then maybe when someone else is Pudding Monitor I won't be left out.
Leader 1: Who knows? Maybe your teacher will see what you've done and let you stay Pudding Monitor after all. But most important, your classmates won't be angry with you anymore, which is more important than the pudding, after all.
Leader 2: Yeah, you're right. If I really think about it, I'd rather have friends than pudding, any day.
Closing Prayer: God, help us to remember where our true wealth is, not in things we keep to ourselves but in our relationships with family and friends. Grow in us a generous spirit, so our hearts will be strong in your love. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this message in a home or classroom environment, review the story with the children. (If you included pudding cups as props in your story, you might pass them out at this time.) Ask questions to inspire their discussion: What was the manager's mistake? When he realized he was going to lose his job, what did he decide to do? Was this a smart decision or not? This is a story about how the manager uses his money to make friends. But he wants these friends so they'll take care of him when he needs help. That's not a very good reason to have friends, is it? It's kind of selfish. Jesus ends this lesson by saying that although the manager is acting a bit smarter by sharing money, he's still not really acting like Christ. This is because money is really the least of our gifts. The rest of our gifts are much more important: creativity, love, kindness, time. But if we can't even give away our money, we'll probably not be able to share the rest of our gifts either. Let's think further into the story. Say the manager gives away the owner's money. His neighbors are grateful and decide to help him when he doesn't have a job. How might the manager feel when his neighbors help him? Maybe his heart will be grateful. In return he offers to help them out in a different way -- perhaps by writing letters for them or helping them manage their money. (These are the skills a manager would have that the people might not.) Or maybe he invites them to come to his house for a meal, and they just have a good time together. We can see how what starts out as just a money exchange can grow into a real friendship. This is what Jesus says is the biggest good, when people care for each other and genuinely work together for each other's good.
For a craft idea, give each child a copy of the Kindness Recycling Wheel (Adobe PDF). This resembles a recycling sign, since it shows us how one action or good deed leads to another, so no kind action is lost. (Like in recycling -- one material is transformed into another.) You might brainstorm as a group, beginning with the ”I give” statement at the top of the download page. Lead the children through three cycles of the wheel, deepening in the gifts and feelings as they go. For example, you might decide to start with “I give my friends some pudding. They feel surprised. They give me a cookie. I feel happy. I give them a smile. They feel happy. They give me a hug. I feel excited. I give them a picture I drew. They feel warmth in their hearts. They give me a ‘thank you.’ I feel love.” Point out how we might start with the “easy” gifts like pudding and cookies, but we grow into giving the deepest gifts of the heart.
