The Bottom Line
For obvious reasons, this is Jesus’ most difficult parable. How could Jesus use such an
obviously dishonest man as an example for His disciples? I think God uses evil things that we
are familiar with to illustrate a particular point, without praising the thing itself (as Paul used
things like war and slavery as illustrations of the Christian life)
There was a man who had taught school in New York City. The situation was so bad that there
were policemen stationed in the halls. Teachers were routinely assaulted and intimidated. He
learned the realities of life quickly.
On his first day of class, things seemed to start off well. The students all sat relatively quietly in
their seats and gave some attention to him. But, at a pre-determined time, the entire class got up
out of their seats and went to the back of the classroom, where they proceeded to “shoot craps.”
This teacher did not react. But the next day he came prepared. He had taken note of the fact that
at the place where they “shot craps” there was a metal plate. (This plate seemed to give them the
right surface on which to play on.) He wired the plate, and that day, when the class went to the
back to carry on their game, he charged the plate. Things happened quickly, as you would expect.
One extremely large fellow walked up to the teacher and said, “Nice touch, professor. Nice
touch.”
I think you can tell that, on the one hand, the fellow did not appreciate getting zapped with
electricity. And yet, on the other hand, he had a kind of admiration for the way in which this
teacher had handled things. The teacher was shrewd in dealing with this difficulty.
The same can be said for the rich man in our text in Luke chapter 16. He didn’t appreciate being
“ripped off” by his manager, but he did at least have an appreciation for the shrewdness of the
manager in making provisions for his future. The manager, who was about to get fired, had used
his position and his master’s possessions in such a way as to “make friends” and thus prepare for
his own future. Even the master had to agree that the manager was shrewd. Perhaps, in the words
of that young thug, the master could have said to his manager, “Nice touch!”
Both the unrighteous manager and his master appreciated the same thing—shrewdness. You don’t
commend a man for something you disdain. The contemporary expression, “it takes one to know
one” fits here. The master could recognize and appreciate “shrewdness” because he valued it and
he practiced it. I don’t think that I’m out in left field to say, then, that the master commended his
manager’s shrewdness because he knew that he would have done the same thing in the same
circumstances. You do not praise what you would not do.
We talked last week about the lost sheep and lost coin. In verse one of today’s scripture, Jesus
gives an example of a man who “found” himself, came to his senses regarding his dishonesty, and
found a way out of an almost certain disaster by using both his money and intelligence wisely.
“There was a rich man who had a manager.” Large estates, then and now, are frequently managed
by a person acting in the name of a landlord, who himself is frequently an absentee. This manager
would have full power to enter into contracts, sell goods, manage personnel, etc. much like a
modern day CEO. Of course, the owner could call an audit anytime. In this case, there must have
been more than enough evidence of extortion or incompetence for the owner to call an audit. In
fact, he seems to have made up his mind even before the audit as to the outcome.
In verse three, the manager said to himself, “now what do I do?” He obviously knew the
outcome as well. Considering his options he found only one he could live with. Not used to
actually working, he couldn’t dig ditches and he was too proud to beg, he came up with a plan
which would at least assure him “friends” among those whom he formerly cheated. You have to
picture this now - this guy - knowing that he has done a poor job and that he is going to get
canned changes the bottom line on all the debts that are owed to his master.
This was probably a business where merchants received goods on credit and gave promissory
notes in their own handwriting to the manager. Now, Jewish law prohibited charging interest to a
fellow-Jew. To get around this, debts were translated into commodities like wheat and oil. The
business could have dealt in anything, but the books were kept in those terms. And we have the
beginning of “creative accounting”!
So dealing in terms of wheat and/or oil made it possible to justify that the man being dealt with
was not left destitute (everybody had a little of each) and interest could be charged by simply
increasing the total debt, in terms of oil or grain. AHA! So the manager didn’t really cheat his
master out of what he was owed, but only out of the interest he shouldn’t have charged in the first
place! The master commends the manager for his shrewdness because he does not want his own
sin to be exposed.
A hundred jugs was 800 gallons of oil, which is the yield of about 450 olive trees. A large
amount. 100 containers is 1000 bushels, equal to the yield of about 100 acres. Again, a sizable
quantity. We are to assume that the manager continued this practice with all the rest of his
master’s debtors, one by one.
Then in verse eight Jesus says, “And 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.” We take this as part of Jesus’ primary application of its
lesson. He applauds the already dishonest manager for acting, in the end, prudently, but he does
not commend the manager for acting, in the end, dishonestly. The word for “prudently” in the
Greek is phronimos, a word used in the New Testament for “the eternal attitude.” This is the key
to interpreting this parable. As the manager saw the inevitable outcome of the situation and
changed his behavior to prepare for it, so, too, the disciple (and we) must see the outcome and
change his or her behavior accordingly, living prudently or with “the eternal attitude”.
Stewardship, as it was practiced in Jesus’ day, provided a pretty good metaphor for how we are
before God. The manager owned nothing of what he managed. Neither do we. Like him, we are
entrusted with the Master’s goods, his world, and given wide latitude to do with it as we wish.
We can develop what potential there is in our wealth, talents, resources, opportunities, education,
etc., including money, or we can squander it. We can spend it on ourselves or use it to help out
others. However, no matter how free we may seem to be, there will come a day of reckoning. Our
books will be audited. We will have to account for every penny we spent, squandered or invested,
for every minute we have lived. How well and wisely did we use what was entrusted to us? God is
like the absentee landlord. He is still in charge and He gives us enough rope to either hang
ourselves or use it as a lifeline to save others. The decision is ours.
Have we been faithful with what belongs to another? Have we been entrusted with “true riches”?
None of us owns anything in our life. God owns everything. We are stewards who must give an
account of how we used what we were entrusted with by God.
But you might say, “… I don’t know anyone who owes God 800 gallons of oil or a 1000 bushels
of wheat! What can I do to insure my future?"
You must act shrewdly! Use what belongs to your master to benefit others. Use the life that He
gave you to help others. In doing so you will lose your life which is not really yours – and gain it
in the process! And that’s the real “bottom line”.
