Does Jesus ever say things that seem confusing or even contradictory? "Eat my flesh" Jesus said in John 6. Did that mean cannibalism? "Do these words offend you?" Jesus said. They heard words on the surface but didn’t realize what they meant in terms of Jesus giving His body as a sacrifice and then us becoming a part of it.
Luke 16 is one of those places. We don’t understand Jesus at first because we are looking at things from inside a swimming pool called the world. Our perspective is different. We don’t have an accurate idea of what is true or not. That’s why we study His Word and ask Him to enlighten us to His perspective.
Verses 1-9
This is one of the strangest parables Jesus taught. On the surface it appears that He is actually affirming the acts of an embezzler. That’s not the case actually so let’s take a look.
The manager described here would have had tremendous authority, even the ability to write contracts in his master’s name. Likely he was an estate manager of some kind.
So this guy is found out, but the boss gives him some time so he can give an accounting. During the interim the guy figures out a way to put his master’s customers in debt to him because he won’t do honest work.
There are two schools of thought about what he did. Either he was adding on interest to the debts that he erased - not hurting the master. The master’s reputation would have been helped and thus the master commended the shrewd manager.
Or, and more likely, he was shorting his master, but there wasn’t anything the master could do - it was legally binding. And social custom would require the debtors to show kindness to the dishonest manager. So why would the master commend the manager rather than throw him in jail? The master is simply commending the shrewdness and far-sightedness of the manager - like admiring the perfect crime.
So why would Jesus tell a positive story about a crook? As in many of the parables, we don’t want to make the story’s details the focus, but the lesson of the parable, which Jesus gives in verses 8 and 9.
One scholar suggests that Jesus is saying that we should use "worldly" things such as money to help those who are less fortunate, that when we get to heaven, those that we have helped will "welcome" us into heaven because by it they were touched and turned to God. An example of that might be the funds given to feed the orphans in Kenya, or to help in the famine. It was "unrighteous wealth" we used. Money can’t buy righteousness. But it can help people in need.
The dishonest manager used the principal of reciprocity-the debtors would owe him for lowering their debt to the master. In the same way as we help those around us in practical, even "worldly" ways-like food and shelter, there is a feeling that is created that can help bring people into God’s kingdom. So it’s a principal that Jesus is promoting - and it also fits in with the overall theme: how to use or abuse money.
Verses 10 - 13
So here Jesus expounds on the real lesson: how you handle money and responsibility here on earth gives a clue as to your integrity and ability to handle really important things, like the souls of men and performing duties for God.
And then lest we fall into the trap that many fall into-Jesus makes it plain: you can’t serve God and money. I think this suggests to us that for some, money or riches, or the seeking of riches, can actually become a god. In that case money is a form of idolatry, for anything that stands in front of God in your life is an idol.
Today there is a resurgence of the "Health, Wealth, and Prosperity" gospel-now known as the "abundant life" gospel after John 10:10. But at its core is a desire to have things more than a desire to have God.
Jesus said in Luke 11:13 that the gift God bestows on us is the Holy Spirit. Getting more of God is the key to abundant life, not getting more things. Also, being free from the dependence on things frees us up to do things that God wants us to do.
Now I’m not saying to sell all your possessions, unless God tells you to. We should work and provide for our families. You need to seek God on whether you use your things or whether your things use you.
The Pharisees needed a bit of that soul searching:
Verses 14 - 15
We are all pretty much good self-justifiers of our actions. The health-wealth and prosperity gospel also justifies itself, even using Bible verses out of context. But blessed is the person who honestly lets God search their hearts and motives.
Do you want to know what God likes and what He doesn’t? Look around you-the things the culture values, God does not. What does our culture value? Material wealth, god-free intellect, physical beauty and prowess, fame, position, and freedom from all constraints (which is really a freedom to do evil). Do any of those sound like a characteristic of God?
God values humbleness, purity, unselfish love, giving instead of getting, and reliance on His Holy Spirit.
Verses 16 - 17
Now lest the Pharisees try to argue that Jesus was changing the system as they knew it-He emphasized that though John the Baptist marked a change between old and new covenants, it did not mean everything that had been before was gone. Jesus did not do away with the Law, He fulfilled it. And in Him we fulfill it to.
What’s the thing about "everyone forces his way into it?" It can also read: "everyone is forcefully urged into it." It can mean that since the good news of the gospel has gone out, people have been breaking down the doors to get in-yet the Pharisees reject it, partly because of their interpretation of the Old Testament Law.
The Law and the Prophets foretold the coming of Jesus. It also set the character bar for how a person of the covenant community should act. They were to be generous and take care of the poor and needy. They were not to amass for themselves riches in a way that kept them from serving the God of prosperity.
To do so, and Israel did, was to be unfaithful to the marriage covenant with God. I think that’s why Luke puts in this little statement about divorce next:
Verse 18
It is true that God hates divorce, and we don’t have time to get into a long discourse on that subject. The subject here I think isn’t so much divorce as it is adultery. And in the theme of serving God above money and recognizing the supremacy of the Messiah and fulfillment of the Law-it works.
To serve anything or anyone other than Yahweh, and Yahweh’s Messiah, is like being intimate with another while you are married to God-its spiritual adultery.
So: use the world’s riches as a tool to bring people into God’s kingdom. Don’t let the love of money rule you because it will deceive you into thinking money brings ultimate security, but it is only by trusting Jesus as revealed in the Law and the Prophets that you can have true security. If not, the end of serving money is that it is a poor master:
Jesus makes the point with the parable of Lazarus and the rich man:
Verses 19 - 31
There is so much here - notice that the rich man is ordering Lazarus about even though he is in Hades? He wants Lazarus to be his fetch and carry, or at least send him back to earth. This guy’s attitude has not changed a bit.
This is also a slam to the Pharisees. "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." And when someone does - namely Jesus Christ, they won’t believe that because they reject what Moses and the Prophets said about Him.
We’ll go more into this on Wednesday night. Some people suggest this is simply symbolic-a fictional story. One reason it may not be is that it doesn’t follow one rule of the parables: Jesus uses real names. I think this might actually be a real story.
So what is the basic message of the story?
1. Earthly reality does not equal eternal reality (just because you are rich doesn’t mean you go to heaven)
2. There is a good place and a bad one
3. You can’t go between them
4. We have enough truth from God to make a decision which place we want to go (the Jews problem was not a lack of information but a lack of a soft heart)
Conclusions
Who is your God?
It’s an honest question. Jesus says here you can’t serve God and mammon-money. For you perhaps it’s not serving God and intellect or even physical fitness, or sin. Anything can become a god to us if we place it in a higher position in our values than the Lord. That doesn’t mean you don’t work to earn a living, or seek to learn, or even stay physically fit-the Bible encourages all those things. But where do they fall in your values?
Don’t let anything but the LORD God have first place and when it comes time to chose between them, make the Lord your first choice.
