HoHum:
Eugene Peterson- I was approaching John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore looking for a parking place. I was a preacher coming to visit a church member who had recently had surgery. The street was lined with parked cars. I circled the hospital 3 times and no parking place opened up. I remembered that I had friends who in that situation always prayed for a spot and so thought I’d give it a try. I prayed for a parking place. 20 feet ahead of me a car pulled out. I parked and locked my car. I was so pleased. Not only had I experienced a minor miracle on the streets of East Baltimore, but I also had a story that I could tell to my friends certifying me as an effective pray-er. After an hour or so with my friend in his hospital room, I took the elevator down and returned to the street, reminiscing on the good fortune of the parking place and anticipating with relish telling the story to my friends... only to realize that I had locked my keys in the car. I stood there, helpless, looking at my keys dangling from the ignition within the locked car. I was stumped, hands in my pockets, wondering what I could do. Just then a young boy, an African American about 10 years of age, came up to me and said, “Something wrong mister?” I said, “Yes. I locked my keys in my car.” He said, “I can help you.” He took a piece of wire out of his pocket and in 30 seconds or less had the door opened, reached in, and handed me my keys. I said, “I’m sure glad that I was here when you showed up.” He grinned and said, “Is it worth a dollar to you?” I reached for my wallet. “A dollar?- it’s worth 2 dollars!” and handed him the money. As I drove away, Luke 16:1-9 that has puzzled and even scandalized so many- a rascal commended for being a rascal- surfaced and came to the forefront of my mind. Wasn’t this what I had just experienced, this street wise boy of Baltimore’s inner city, at ten years of age an old pro at entering locked cars and asking for whatever he could pick up for spending money, using his skill at picking locks to stay alive in that environment, and now praised by me for employing his questionable expertise in creative survival?
WBTU: A. Jesus parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 ranks near the top of all time favorites, told and retold down through the ages. In contrast, this parable that immediately follows takes the prize for being the most ignored. It’s very unpopular.
Many have trouble with it. Jesus is commending a dishonest manager. It is certainly odd.
We don’t even need the parable to go over the stewardship principles found in vs. 10-13. However, vs. 8 and 9 that we are dealing with tonight are directly related with that parable.
Kenneth Bailey, a professor in Beirut, Lebanon, and also an expert in the customs and languages of the Middle East down through the ages, give this retelling of the parable that is useful: The manager here is a rental estate manager and the debtors are farmers who pay their rent in kind. When the manager is found to have been embezzling some of the funds that he is responsible for, he is fired on the spot. He does not protest his innocence. He is silent and makes no excuses. His silence is an admission of his guilt. He does not try to figure out a scheme to get his job back. He gives his full attention to what he will do next. But in his silence he realizes something that is the key to understanding the story: he is fired but not punished. He is not required to pay back what he has embezzled. He is not jailed. In fact, he is not even scolded. This is a master who shows unusual mercy and generosity even to a dishonest steward. The thoughtful listener/ reader of this parable should not miss this fact. So what will he do? He needs a job. He considers digging ditches and rejects that. He considers begging and rejects that. But who will hire him? His public image is in ruins. And then he comes up with a plan. But what is the plan? The manager’s plan “is to risk everything on the quality of mercy he has already experienced from his master. If he fails, he will certainly go to jail. If he succeeds, he will be a hero in the community.” In these moments his situation turns around. He enters into and experiences a world he has never before known- a world of grace. He has lived, apparently quite successfully, by his wits, by shrewd calculation. But it has been a very cramped, small world. Now he sees another and much larger way. Here is how it works. Nobody as yet knows that he has been fired. So he calls in the debtors one by one. The manager is an estate manager in charge of overseeing the rentals of land to farmers who pay in kind say at harvest time. These are well placed men in the community who have had long standing associations with the master. They assume that the manager has an important message from the master, and the manager lets them assume that. He is in a hurry- “quickly”- he has to get this over before the master knows what he is doing. If the debtors know that there is deception involved they probably won’t cooperate- that would mean breaking faith with the master and he would no longer rent land to them. The debtors assume that the bill changing is legitimate, an order from the master carried out by the manager, who (they would also assume) had talked the master into it: a bonus. The debtors are delighted with the generous bonus from the master, arranged by the manager. When the master realizes what has happened, he has two choices: He can go back to the debtors and tell them it was all a mistake, the manager was acting without his authority. That would, of course, anger the debtors, and their enthusiasm over his generosity would change into cursing over his stinginess. Or, he can say nothing, accept the praise, and let the manager, rascal though he is, enjoy his popularity. He thinks it over. He is, after all, a generous man- he didn’t throw the manager in jail. You see, the manager “knew the master was generous and merciful. He gambled everything on this aspect of his master’s nature. He won. Because the master was indeed generous and merciful, he chose to pay the full price for his manager’s salvation.”
“The rascal” emerges as a metaphor for the surprising improbability of grace, not unlike the 10 year old on that East Baltimore street. This is not a story of Jesus commending a crook for being a very clever crook. Instead, this is a story of salvation, the kind of story that is at the very core of Jesus’ good news.
That’s great but this series is about stewardship, finances and money. Focus on one word here and that is wisdom from vs. 8. NIV says shrewd, a negative meaning. KJV says “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Luke 16:8, KJV.
Let’s define two groups: “The children of this world” are those whose focus in life does not include God. The “children of light” are those who follow Jesus the Light of the world.
The problem lies in the fact that sometimes God’s people tend to be naive. “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16, NIV. This is a call to be perceptive- to be street smart but don’t sin. This parable issues a challenge to wise up.
Thesis: How do we become as perceptive as snakes and remain as gentle as doves?
For instances:
Pray for wisdom
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” James 1:5, 6, NIV.
“You do not have, because you do not ask God.” James 4:2, NIV.
Work at wisdom
“Sometimes wisdom comes with age; sometimes age comes alone.” The reason age sometimes comes alone is that we fail to work at being wiser. We just expect it to happen. Most skills are developed through disciplined practice, so work at being wise. How?
Read the Bible and other Christ centered books on many topics.
Analyze our mistakes so that we don’t repeat them.
Visit with wise people; ask questions so we can learn from their experiences
Listen more than we talk
Don’t assume we have all the answers
Explore both sides of any argument
Seek first to understand before we seek to be understood.
Be tenacious; wisdom is often gained through trial and error. Don’t be afraid to fail
Grow in wisdom
Occasionally the Lord gives amazing wisdom as a gift- but mostly he teaches it through life.
The school of hard knocks takes longer but produces lasting results.
Even Jesus had to grow in wisdom “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” Luke 2:40. “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.” Luke 2:52, NIV.
Conclusion and invitation:
Vs. 9- Many get sidetracked by comparing what a Christian ought to do with what this dishonest manager did. Notice that Jesus never said we should imitate the actions of that guy. In the parable he is commended for being smart by the standards of his day. He used what resources had been given to him to prepare for the future. His actions were, as one dictionary defined it, “marked by clever discerning awareness (shrewd).” We must not be guilty of the same actions, but we should be guided by a similar perceptive attitude. Are our decisions about how we behave and what we do with the wealth we have been given “marked by clever discerning awareness”?
True discernment will show us that one relationship matters more than all others- a relationship with the Lord. Invest our energies in building up that relationship. Only the Lord can give us an eternal home in the kingdom of heaven. But realize too that the way we behave toward others impacts the growth of that relationship with God and vice versa. When we connect with the Lord first, then we are in a position to connect with others in a genuine way. True friendship can’t be bought; it can only be built
