The Strangest of Parables

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Luke 16 (click the link)


KEY VERSES:
1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” 

13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” (Luke 16:1-15, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
Of all the stories Jesus told, this one, to me, is the strangest. It's a head scratcher. What on earth is Jesus talking about? If you're like me, you read it and say: "Hold on… Did Jesus just praise dishonesty and deception?" On its surface, the story seems to do just that, does it not?

It's for this reason that I've heard it said that this story should come with a warning label: "Do Not Try This at Home."

It's important for us to remember that this is, after all, a parable. It isn't advice on how to run a household.

But what is it a parable about?

Jesus' first hearers would have had no problem answering that one. In their world, a story about a landowner and his steward, or manager, was almost certainly a story about God and Israel. And, granted, what Jesus had been saying about needing to sit loose to the traditional Jewish attachment to family and land (think back to what we read on Friday in Luke 14), this would make a whole lot of sense. The nation of Israel, as a nation, is going to find that God's purpose is moving ahead in a new direction, as always intended. But if they have been faithless to that overall picture, as Jesus is constantly warning that they have been, then they cannot presume that they will be God's "steward" or "manager" for ever and ever.

So what are they to do? "You must figure out," Jesus is saying, "how to make friends wherever you can. You're going to need them." There may be a bit of "local color" at this point in the story, because the amounts the steward knocks off the bill for his master's clients may correspond to the amount of interest charged for such loans. Jews weren't supposed to charge interest at all (Exodus 22:25-27; Leviticus 25:35-38; Deuteronomy 23:19-20; etc.), but many did, and the steward had discovered a way of making friends while putting his master in a position where he couldn't charge him for dishonesty without admitting that he himself had been engaged in illegal practices.

That well illustrates the murky world you get into when you start playing around with money and property. Do one shady deal and others will follow as a way of keeping things hush-hush, and before you know what's happened you're in over your head and can't get out. That's the point at which, after the parable, Jesus turns to very serious warnings.  

"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." 

"You may be good at justifying yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."

These are things we need to take very, very seriously. But how?

 

Jesus has some questions—some very challenging questions—for every generation, for each of his followers. Questions about priorities. Questions about focus. Questions about what rules our heart. Questions about people poorer than you. How are you going to listen to those questions, and answer them truthfully?

 

 

POINT OF PONDER:

Take a walk (in your imagination) to your bank. Take Jesus with you. Chat with him, on the way, about how much money comes in, how big your overdraft is, which loans you hope to pay off, and all that. He will understand. He and Joseph used to be in business, after all. But he still has some questions.

 

Then, when you get to the bank, sit down in a private room with your manager, with Jesus beside you. Get the full bank statements from last year. Talk through them with Jesus.

 

Are there points you're tempted to gloss over, or bits you wish you had deleted in advance?

 

 

WHO AM I?

I am Tres Sansom, and I must admit that I am deeply challenged by Jesus' teachings on wealth, possessions, and worry. I just had this seeming natural tendency to drift towards the love of money and stuff. Without even trying, I can become captivated by thoughts about money or possessions. They just sort of pop into my mind. And when they do, I can get so bent out of shape, so bogged down with either worry or thoughts of what we don't have. Sort of like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. No matter how challenging they are, I am so grateful for Jesus' teachings about money and possessions. His words sear like a hot iron, but they bring great freedom as well.