The Dishonest Manager Series

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.