God’s Love Realigns Our Priorities
Given by Rev. Kelly Nieman Anderson
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Friends, this month we find ourselves in a series of scriptures about who and what is truly valuable. From the prophets to the gospels to the early church, the Bible keeps trying to remind us that human-created hierarchies are all temporary – but God’s love for everyone is eternal. In God’s kingdom, God’s love reframes generosity as a natural and everyday spiritual practice.
Although we are often willing to talk about generosity, charity, or stewardship, many of us are still hesitant to talk about money in the church. Personally, I don’t like to talk about money anywhere, least of all during a sermon. I think one of the first rules of interim coverage is to avoid a money conversation that the called pastor will have to unpack when he’s back. 😉
Our assigned scriptures this month, though, don’t leave me much choice. One of the most prominent themes in the Gospel of Luke is about how our relationship with money affects our relationship with God and with others. Luke is honest about the fact that money isn’t just basic math. Money – whether that’s income or debt, ownership or stewardship – strongly affects our perceived status and our daily habits on this earth. Those with more money and access to more resources tend to have more power over the lives of those with less money and access to fewer resources –but Jesus changed everything we think we know about status, power, and the social ladder built on temporary wealth.
Luke’s Gospel begins with the Christmas story, when Jesus is born to a poor, unnamed family, and it ends with the Easter story, when Jesus is mistaken for a poor, unnamed gardener. In between, the proud are “scattered” and the powerful are brought down. The “lowly” are lifted, and the debts are forgiven. Throughout the Gospel, many people with money, status, or power encounter a crisis, and discover that their true help comes from someone below them on the social ladder. Finally, in the book of Acts – Luke’s sequel to the Gospel – Jesus followers continue his ministry by also welcoming everyone and sharing everything.
In other words, Jesus consistently reminds us that God’s love reframes generosity. In God’s kingdom, true riches are found in relationships. In God’s kingdom, the currency is love, and God fills us with enough to share.
Today’s parable of the unjust manager is describing how “forgiveness of debts” is a literal implication of God’s Kingdom on earth. During Jesus’ time, most people were in debt to a very small number of wealthy oligarchs. It wasn’t a democracy, and there wasn’t a middle class. Instead, a very small group of land-owning aristocrats controlled most of the resources, and thus, the lives of most of the people. They hired a few “managers” who forced day laborers to produce as much profit for the landowner as possible. Those who couldn’t work, including children, elderly, and disabled people, relied on charity which few could afford to spare. Basically, everyone was trying to survive in a system which defined people by their production value. And, in that society, the “gods” also interacted only with the land-owning or the politically connected families, and such “gods” would regularly use or abuse average people as playthings.
Jesus shows up in the middle of that sinful, destructive social hierarchy and reminds us: we were created for more. Jesus shows us that the true God created a beautiful, interconnected world, designed for love and mutuality. We were created to care about people, and the planet – not profits. In God’s kingdom, there are no debtors or debt collectors, no landowners or outcasts. In God’s Kingdom, people are defined by love and abundance, freedom and flourishing. In God’s kingdom, we forgive others’ debts just like God has forgiven us. In God’s Kingdom, with God’s love, there is no more charity, only generosity. In God’s kingdom, the savior of the world can be found in a poor, unnamed family.
Our Christian faith calls us to this new upside-down kingdom… yet, to insist that all people deserve equal compassion is still a surprisingly countercultural statement. Even in the most progressive Christian spaces, the social and financial implications of Jesus’ mission are rarely mentioned in church.
But I no longer spend most of my time in church. I left parish ministry a few years ago to work full time for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (sometimes abbreviated as LSSI). The people we serve are very poor and they also face other challenges related to age, ability, mental illness, addiction, or incarceration. Our clients were the “outcasts” in all of Jesus’ parables, and the “debtors” in today’s Gospel. Most of my colleagues are social workers, basically like the “manager” – trying to get the more powerful to forgive the debts of our least resourced neighbors, so that we can all survive in this broken system.
Lutheran Churches – which own property and have bank accounts and access to resources – most closely represent the “rich man” in Jesus’ parable. My role is to connect the ELCA churches in Illinois with LSSI’s clients – inviting everyone to participate in God’s upside-down kingdom.
Yes, I’m a pastor, but now I’m also I’m a fundraiser – like a modern-day robin hood, trying to cajole “rich” people (including churches) to invest their wealth in the lives of their poor neighbors, in an attempt at the kind of reversal which the Gospel of Luke describes. I spend a lot of my time talking to churches, and church people, about money and charity and “the least of these” and forgiving debts and creating a whole new world where everyone is welcome, and celebrated, and valued and loved, regardless of their “production value”. Each story I share encourages Christians to let God’s love reframe our generosity.
Because Generosity means so much MORE than just wealth transfer.
This summer, an elevator broke at one of our buildings. Normally, that’s a workable issue, but this time, it was a huge problem. That elevator was the only one in a 6-floor apartment building for low-income seniors, and without it, many residents were physically stuck on their floor, cut off from the people and things which brought them life and joy. They couldn’t get to the doctor or the grocery store, the biggest physical problem, but they also couldn’t get to their mail or the common spaces or the bus – so they were emotionally isolated as well.
Of course, our entire team sprang into action, but it was quickly evident that no amount of money was going to fix this problem. The parts just took a while to make and ship and install. Once the fix had been ordered … there wasn’t anything else that money could do.
But there was still so much more that love could do.
This challenge provided an opportunity to reframe generosity for all of us. The local firefighters donated their time to help get people down the stairs for doctor’s appointments. The food pantry made deliveries to each floor, visiting with the residents who couldn’t get out to shop. And those residents who could walk the steps often came down and spent the entire day in the common areas downstairs, visiting with their neighbors, reducing the number of times they’d have to go up and down – and increasing the amount of time they spent connecting with friends.
But one of the best things that happened was the church youth groups which sprang into action. They also had no money to fix the problem. But, with school out for the summer, the younger people wanted to share their most valuable resources – time and energy – with people in need. A vacation bible school class hand-made greeting cards for every single resident and staff member of the building, trying to bring them cheer and encouragement. A youth group came and packaged up fresh produce, cookies, and water bottles – which they hand delivered to every single resident. Another youth group organized Bingo – on every single floor. Six tiny bingo games, full of laugher and prizes and stories to share, just because compassion is worth our investment.
True generosity came from sharing God’s abundant love in very practical ways.
Friends, we know, deep in our souls, that God’s Kingdom is built on love and generosity and reciprocity – like youth and seniors sharing God’s love during a bingo game. We also know that in this world, money pays for the things we need and want for those we love – like a working elevator and food and doctor’s appointments. This contradiction will not be resolved as long as we live in this broken world, and yet, the contradiction between how things are now and how we hope they will someday be leaves us sad, angry, or weary. The reason we are sad and angry about this broken world, and our unfair systems within it, is because God’s desire for justice and compassion is woven deeply into our hearts.
There will be times in our lives when we have more than we need – and we serve God by sharing those blessings with our neighbors. There will be times in our lives when our needs are nearly crushing us, and we serve God by crying out for deliverance and recognition. There will be times in our lives when we finally have enough to take care of ourselves and our loved ones and we serve God by rejoicing in those blessings. As we share and receive God’s abundant love, we begin to understand that our true riches of life are found in beloved community. God’s love reframes our generosity into a daily spiritual practice of gratefulness.
I am still not entirely comfortable talking about money in church. But I am grateful to proclaim the good news that money does not define our church. We gather together, like the faithful have before us, to remind ourselves that we are valuable because God says we are. Our true value does not come from our abilities, our efforts, our decisions… or our bank accounts. We are valuable to God, because we are God’s beloved children.
Every day is another chance to acknowledge God’s love for us and share that love with others. Sometimes, we may even get the chance to forgive some debts and use our resources to serve God’s kingdom. May God’s generosity and compassion continue to turn our world upside-down, one loving act at a time.
