Using Money

Using Money

Luke 16:1-13

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 16:1 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who

had a manager, and this manager was 1reported to him as squandering his

possessions. 2 “And he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about

you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

3 “And the manager said to himself, ‘What am I to do, since my 1master is taking

the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to

beg. 4 ‘I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management

people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 “And he summoned each one of his

1master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my

master?’ 6 “And he said, ‘A hundred 1jugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your

bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 “Then he said to another, ‘And how

much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred 1kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take

your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 “And his 1master complimented the unrighteous

manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd

in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. 9 “And I say to you, make

friends for yourselves by means of the 1bwealth of unrighteousness, so that when it

is all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Luke 16:10 “The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much;

and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much. 11

“Therefore if you have not 1been faithful in the use of unrighteous 2awealth, who will

entrust the true wealth to you? 12 “And if you have not 1been faithful in the use of that

which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 “No 1servant can

serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be

devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and 2bwealth.”

Luke 16:1–13 contains the well-known parable teaching that one cannot love both God

and money.

I have always found this parable interesting—both during my seminary

studies and when hearing others preach on it. Many churches often claim that money

is inherently bad, yet they also require financial giving. If money is so terrible, why does

the church seek it? The truth is that Jesus never said money itself is evil. Rather, he

taught that the way one uses money—and the way one obtains it—can be morally

problematic.

It is also noteworthy that in this parable Jesus tells us to use money “to make friends.”

That always struck me as odd. Yet this reflects the cultural practices of Jesus’ time. In

that society, people often established friendships through gifts or what we might call

bribes. In the parable, a household steward is accused of wrongdoing. He responds by

visiting those who owed his master money or goods and dramatically reduced their

debts. We must remember that he had the authority to do this. He wasn’t acting illegally

or against the customs of the time. Yet many sermons portray him as committing

serious wrongdoing.

Why did the steward reduce the debts? He recognized that, as the master’s chief

administrator, he was about to be dismissed. Once he lost that position, who would

hire him if word spread that he had been fired for dishonesty? Notice that nowhere in

the parable are we actually told that he behaved dishonestly. He is simply instructed to

present the account books, and no explicit wrongdoing is confirmed.

This ambiguity leaves a significant interpretive gap. We genuinely do not know whether

the steward committed any offense. Over centuries, church tradition has often assumed

guilt and used this parable to encourage increased giving. Meanwhile, in many mainline

denominations, those in higher leadership appear to lack for little. When you see the

Pope in full vestments, consider the amount of gold adorning his garments. It hardly

seems that the Church of Rome is financially deprived. One might argue that funds

should flow from the church’s wealthier institutions toward the local parishes that

actually need them.

Again, in Jesus’ day, friendships were frequently formed through formal gestures of

generosity. A person might host a banquet in a neighbor’s honor and invite the entire

town. Afterward, a gift—essentially a socially acceptable bribe—would be presented.

This was normal cultural behavior. We must remember that Jesus’ parables are set

within his ancient context, not within our twenty-first-century worldview.

Misunderstandings arise when people forget this.