A Disruption to the Norm

Fifty2 Sundays ~ Listening for God

Now days it is a thing to talk about disruption in fields of business and technology as something that upsets the usual way of operating; as defined “A disruption is a major disturbance, something that changes your plans or interrupts some event or process” (dictionary). The sermon I heard last Sunday provided a bit of a disruption to my thinking. The lesson was taken from Luke 16:1-9, the story of the shrewd manager who is called upon by the rich man (aka ‘God’) to give an account of how he has managed his boss's possessions. The manager recognizes that he is at risk of losing his job and quickly has those who are in debt to the rich man alter what they owe him which brings him the praise for being shrewd. On initial examination it appears as if deceitful behavior is recognized as being the right way to do business. The preacher was quick to say that this text is not condoning lying, cheating or the use of trickery. 

Jesus said the people of this world are “more shrewd with dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light” (verse 8). The implication of this statement is that as ‘people of the light’ we should be the shrewdest of all in how we conduct ourselves and interact with the world. According to the preacher, the word shrewd in Hebrew means “intense creative thinking”. It is the sort of thinking necessary when options are few, needs are significant and a solution is urgently required. The preacher described the manager’s behavior as creating “positive networking to promote gratitude”, or to my way of thinking, he was ‘paying it forward’- because as the scripture notes, the manager wanted to be welcomed into people’s houses if and when he lost his job (verse 4). 

In striving to become fully mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28) we are to “turn the other cheek” (Luke 6:29), be clothed “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12), and “walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us...” (Ephesians 5:2). On top of that, we should be "…sheep among wolves… and… “shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). In doing these things we will be disruptors of the norm much as Jesus was and still is.