Daily Office for May 27, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke 16 verses 1 through 8:

Then Jesus* said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” 3Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” 5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” 6He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” 7Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” 8And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

Now, another story:

I have a friend who was trying to fly home from DC out of Dulles Airport. He had to catch an airport shuttle first, and when he arrived the shuttle was there waiting on him. He stepped on to pay his fair, but the bus driver told him he had to have exact change. There was a change machine just off the bus, the driver told him. So, my friend got off to make change and as he did, the bus drove away behind him. He made change and sat done for the next bus that was due to arrive in 15 minutes.

Fifteen minutes passed and there was no bus. Then 30 minutes passed and the terminal was filling up with passengers, all with suitcases. After 45 minutes the terminal was full, and my friend wondered how in the world he was going to be able to make his flight if all these people had to count out exact change before boarding. He was mad as a hornet, and so was the rest of the crowd of travelers, all expecting to be late by now.

Finally, 50 minutes later the bus rolled up, the doors swung open, and the bus driver shouted, "Everybody on. You're all riding free, and we need to ride fast." My friend made his flight, and he thinks everybody else did too.

And I wonder if there isn't a little bit of the kingdom of God in that story too.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.