Message
Luke 16:1-9
The Dishonest Steward
The parable we are about to read is universally considered to be the one of the most puzzling parables of Jesus. Let’s read the parable first and then think about some of our reactions.
Read Luke 16:1-13
That is some pretty shady activity.
Even after he has been fired, the manager still contacts the debtors and makes a deal.
Without the approval of the rich master the manager reduces the debt.
It is not an action which flow out of godly character. Yet, it seems that the parable approves the corruption.
The rich master “commends” the dishonest manager.
Jesus applies the parable this way, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 19:9).
Which sounds like Jesus is saying, “use money to buy friends”.
Like I said … it is one of the most puzzling parables.
So let’s unravel the puzzle.
The first piece of the puzzle is understanding the historical situation.
In first century Israel it was very difficult to increase your ownership of land. Land was not brought and sold – land was allocated and inherited.
But when people got into debt they could offer their land to the debtor. The debtor would take the land. Sometimes they would offer the land to other farmers in return for a portion of the income from the land – kind of like a lease. These farmers would try and gather multiple amounts of land for themselves so they could get a bigger harvest. All at the expense of the poor original owners who lost everything.
When the year of Jubilee happened – which was every 50 years – all land would be returned to the families to whom it was allocated, and the cycle would begin all over again.
Which means the rich master is someone who has progressively taken more and more land from the poor. He is then leasing land which is not his to other farmers who are trying to get as much land as possible. The master has employed a manager who does all the organising work while the rich master just gets richer doing nothing except exploiting the poor – some things never change.
In other parables the master represents God or Jesus; but not here. Which we want to keep in mind when we hear the rich master commend the dishonest actions of the manger.
Now – the manager.
His job is to collect the debt and give it to the rich master. Managers get paid well for doing this. But it is also a job that comes with many temptations because you have a lot of autonomy. In this case the manager has exploited that autonomy by not acting in the best interests of the rich master. No doubt the scheme involved the manager receiving more money in his own pocket which has resulted in a waste of the master’s resources. But now the scheme has fallen apart.
“What is this I hear about you?” The dishonest mismanagement has become so well known the gossip has reached the ears of the rich master.
The scheme makes the rich master look like a fool – only a fool employs such a dishonest manager.
The scheme also tarnishes the master’s reputation – because the tenets are paying more than they need to.
The manager doesn’t even try and defend himself – because he has been caught red-handed.
The manager also is no saint and, at no point in the parable. is his character defined as being godly.
That is the first piece of the puzzle – a piece which is showing us that this parable is not speaking about kingdom character. Jesus is not saying “have the exploitive dishonest character of the rich master or the dishonest manager.”
Which brings us to the second piece of the puzzle. The action which is commended.
The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.
Jesus makes the further observation that
The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
Luke 16:8
Twice the word is used … “shrewd”. Which is not a word that is used very often so let’s get a dictionary definition.
Shrewd - having or showing sharp powers of judgement; astute.
Else where in the Gospels Jesus uses the word to describe kingdom action.
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man (the shrewd man) who built his house on the rock.
Matthew 7:24
Disciples of Jesus are meek, peacemakers, pure-in-heart, merciful, light …
Disciples of Jesus are also “shrewd” … astute, having sharp powers of judgement. They look at the examples of worldly shrewdness … then they take these examples and learn from them. With the purpose of making a greater contribute towards eternity.
In this case the lesson being learnt from the world is that “bold and decisive action is able to secure a better future.” The manager has been caught and his job is finished. Before the word gets out he quickly connects with the debtors.
One debt is halved … 3000 litres of oil is now a debt of 1500 litres.
One debt is reduced by 20% … 30 tonnes of wheat is now 24 tonnes.
The debts themselves were quite large – which means the farmers the manager is dealing with would have the ability to employ their own manager.
In terms of reducing the debt we don’t know enough about first century agriculture practises to know exactly what is going on here.
It could be that the manger has been increasing the debt all along and pocketing the difference. So the manager is just bringing the figure back to what is actually owed.
More likely there has been a creative way of charging interest – which is not allowed according to Jewish law. The charging of interest would have been known by the master.
Whatever the case the farmers are happy to have their debt reduced.
And, because they think the manager is still working for the rich master, the farmers think it is the rich master who is reducing the debt.
The manager has acted decisively to avoid being someone who digs trenches or begs. When his job is finished the other farmers will remember how good the manager was – and one will offer him a job.
Soon after all this is organised the manager gives an account of his management. The rich master at this point discovers what has recently happened in is business. The master realises he has been out-witted and out-played.
If he tries to make a case against the manager then the issue of “illegal interest” will come up.
If he goes to the farmers and admits the dishonest manager was making the debts bigger for his own personal gain – well that will make the master look like a fool.
The master’s hands have been tied and there is nothing he can do. No one will find out the truth.
The master does not commend the manager for acting dishonestly; he commends the manager for acting cleverly. The master cannot help but be impressed because the manager has acted shrewdly.
It is such a worldly parable.
The “heroes” of the story are the most unexpected people.
The process is far from ethical.
Yet Jesus takes the story and says to the disciples “I want you to learn that the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”
Do you hear what Jesus is saying:-
Sinners – who usually think short-term and selfishly – are often more clever and forward thinking than Christian – the people of light. Sinners are more forward thinking even though, as Christians, we are called to think, not just short-term, but for eternity.
Think about your experience. How many ungodly, unethical, “I-focus-on-me”, people do you know who have brought huge amounts of energy, and foresight, and skill and manoeuvring to secure an advantageous future for themselves in the temporal here and now.
Surely those of us who are heaven-bound and eternal should be more resourceful, more active, more focused, more wise in our time … more shrewd … as we think about ways we can use our resources to increase our welcome into eternal dwelling.
It’s not about buying our way into heaven.
It’s about asking the question, “How can we use our resources to bring more people with us to heaven … those who will welcome is into our eternal dwelling.”
Which brings us to the third piece of the puzzle – what are some actions we can do to put this parable into practise?
One action of application is to constantly be aware of the evil temptation of possessions.
Where the NIV says “I tell you, use worldly wealth”.
A more literal translation would be “use unrighteous Mammon.”
Mammon is that in which we place our trust because it appears to provide security. Property. Money. Careers. Goods. Investments.
Mammon, by its very nature, is unrighteous and untrustworthy – because it always has the potential to take away our trust in God. It is much harder to shrewdly use Mammon for the kingdom when we are easily distracted by it.
Have you ever found yourself saying something like … if only I had more … money, security, investment … if only I had more than I would be more generous. Now think back over the last 10 years … do you have more today than what you had 10 years ago?
So have you become more generous?
If we are going to be shrewd for the kingdom we need to be willing to ask ourselves the spiritual question. Where is our ultimate hope and security?
A few verses after this parable Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters … you cannot serve both God and Mammon” (Luke 16:13).
We are never going to be more shrewd than the world if we keep falling into the temptation of unrighteous Mammon and fall into an endless cycle of personal accumulation of resources.
A second action of application is that we need to be prepared to learn shrewd lessons from sinners. It is hard to hear … but the fact is that Christians have often shown themselves to be more naïve than non-Christians. How many Christians have been taken advantage of because they were naïve.
Grace gets turned into gullibility.
Mercy gets turned into manipulation.
Service gets turned into servitude.
A helping hand becomes an expected demand.
Care and concern is taken for granted.
We live in a world that is hard-nosed and it will take advantage. Jesus Himself told us to be like this:
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Matthew 10:16
The world, then as now, is purposely hostile to believers—wolves are intentional about the harm they inflict upon sheep. It is in this environment that we are called to bring the Gospel.
We can’t become one of the wolves.
But we shrewdly need to learn from the wolf pack.
Taking the lessons and putting them in place in such a way that unrighteous Mammon is having the most effective Gospel impact.
It isn’t always an easy balance. Without innocence the shrewdness of the snake becomes deceit and menace – a character which is unChrist-like.
But we can’t be blindly naïve – because ultimately all that does is throw unrighteous Mammon into places where it has no effective Gospel outcome. Which is not shrewd.
That brings us to the our third action where we can put this parable into practise – and that is the action of identifying the biggest issue. We live in a world where there are many issues.
The disintegration of family.
Abortion and Euthanasia.
Exploitation and Injustice.
Racism and bigotry.
Modern slavery and disintegration of human rights.
Child abuse and child trafficking.
They are big important issues which pull against the kingdom of God. But these are not the biggest issues.
The most radical problem we face is that there are less and less people who know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. That is the biggest issue.
Every other issue is secondary to this issue. As we seek to be shrewd our main question will continue to be “How can we use our resources
… the unrighteous Mammon.
… how do we shrewdly use it in ways that gain eternal friendships.
So much money – kingdom money – gets thrown at issues.
And much of it is doing good.
And the kingdom is advancing in some areas.
But how much is really changing? Maybe there needs to be a bit of a rethink of the strategy as we learn from the world that is really effective at mobilising people to support all sorts of causes – except the Gospel cause.
That is where we can all be a part – and we don’t have to have huge resources.
We slow the disintegration of family by showing what a loving Christian family can be like.
We stand against racism and bigotry by living the truth that in God’s eyes all are created equal.
We help halt acts of abortion and euthanasia by helping people see how precious life is to God.
The biggest influence we can have is the influence of bringing hope – Jesus security hope – into the lives of those who can’t see any other answers.
So let’s be willing to look at the world and learn – faithfully discerning the methods, and processes, and decisions which put into place the most effective Gospel outcomes. That is the ultimate act of shrewdness.
Prayer
