Should we boycott corporations with dirty money, or is all money filthy lucre, somehow tainted? Is our contaminated money usable for heavenly purposes? Let’s learn that our tainted tithes can be used for heaven. Let’s discuss a shrewd business manager and his wise use of filthy money in Luke 16:1-13.
People versus Profits
Luke 16:1-4 Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ 3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
An absentee landowner buys land cheaply from debt-burdened farmers. The farmers now work as hired hands. The manager has great latitude. Was he more generous than the owner wanted? Did he mismanage the boss’s money? The manager’s next scheme has selfish motives. His other options were manual labor and begging.
Forgiving Debts
Luke 16:5-7 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’ 7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’
The manager forgave his boss’s debtors. He had the authority. Was it dishonest? Did the owner cheat the people in the first place? Yet, the boss commends his manager for shrewdness. The manager now has grateful friends. Was he unjust? What were his motives? Debt forgiveness is a great blessing.
Righteous Purposes for Money
Luke 16:8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light.
Is Jesus praising misuse of money? Ought Christians use even the corrupt resources of this world for any possible good they can do? Are all of this world’s teachings about money evil? Is Jesus saying to use money in manners similar to dishonest rascals, but for eternal and godly purposes?
Dirty Money
Luke 16:9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
Parables leave room for hearty conversation, deep thought and different opinions. Jesus challenges us to think about the wise use of money to benefit others. But, is not money is corrupted in some way? Jesus’ instructions were quite the opposite. He said to use unrighteous mammon to make eternal friends.
Faithful with Little
Luke 16:10-12 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?
Many people misuse money. All money is on loan from God. Even a trillionaire on earth has little compared to owning the whole Universe. Can God trust us with money? God loaned us just a little temporarily. How faithful to God are we with what little He has given us?
Serving Two Masters
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Does money master us or do we master money? In ancient Israel the wealth was spread equally in a planned system to minimize poverty, using a seven and fifty year redistribution. The jubilee system prevented some abuses of wealth. We can master money and bring small jubilees to the poor.
Wealth is dangerous and deceptive. Are we honest and fair? What is a righteous price? What is a righteous day’s pay? Wealth blinds us to the suffering of others. Wealth deceives us. Ownership is fiction. We borrow from God what others will possess one day. We can avoid the danger and deception of wealth by using it for eternal purposes.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Supplement: Lectionary Readings
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 Jeremiah weeps for the impending pain and destruction of Jerusalem. Last week we heard a prophecy of creation returning to tohu-va-bohu unless there was repentance. The prophecies were ignored. This week, we hear the pain in Jeremiah’s voice and in the Psalm. The people have lost their country. They know that their religious and political leaders deceived them.
Jeremiah grieves. He wants relief, "Is there a balm in Gilead?" We confess that "we have not loved our neighbors and we have not heard the cry of the needy" (UMH 8). Today is an opportunity to hear the cry of the needy.
Psalm 79:1-9 This is a strong response to passages like Jeremiah’s. John Wesley censored strong passages from his 30 day reading lectionary, but we should not censor God’s Word. We should pray this passage! What “cries of the needy” do we hear around us? What cries of the needy you we not hear, but should? Who are the needy or wounded around us? Have we heard their cries? Where are shining examples of those hearing the cries of the needy? How do we connect with the cries of the needy? What input do others have for service to the cries of the needy around us?
1 Timothy 2:1-7 Paul provides direction for what should be included in the “prayers of the people” and in what order. Our ministry of prayer joins Jesus as mediator. God’s mercy flows through our lives for the sake of the world. Congregational intercession or “the prayers of the people” involves holding the whole world before God’s just, loving, redeeming, and transforming gaze.
Justin Martyr suggested that early Christian congregational praying was comprehensive and an active exercise by the whole people involving movement, song, dance, set prayers and spontaneity. Paul’s prayer list here is comprehensive.
Such praying is not possible without the Holy Spirit. "We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with sighs and groans too deep for words." Full participation in these prayers appears to have been limited to the baptized. Why? Because the baptized receive the Holy Spirit to enable their prayers.
God does hear the prayers of the unbaptized even though they have not yet received all the gifts needed in the church’s priestly ministry of intercession.
