She grew up the envy of everyone. Her parents belonged to the city’s financial and social elite. She went to the best schools and associated with the city’s leading socialites. She traveled the world with her mom to exotic places in the world. She had a wonderful singing voice and she soon was traveling the world singing for conventions, meetings and parties. She had a good life. She would even travel to different churches to sing for special events.
But after a few failures, she married a boy who truly loved her and stayed with her the rest of his life. They traveled far and wide and seemed to have a good life. They just had three problems. First, her parents forgot to die. They clung to their money and to their lives, and she now in her sixties, worried that they would spend all of her inheritance. This lead to the second problem: no independence and no job. She spent almost seventy years totally dependent on her parents and finally on her mom for financial support. Finally, the third problem was alcoholism. Without self-esteem or confidence, she turned to drink for comfort and escape. Her musical talents waned. Her University business degree went unused. A brilliant mind stayed unoccupied. This prominent rich girl had nothing of meaning.
In this week’s parable, found in Luke 16:1-9, Jesus turns his teaching to his disciples. He changes from the banquet images and the stories of loss to concentrate on wealth and money management. He uses money stories in unusual and interesting ways that require close attention and study. He shows how easy it is for wealth and social prominence to sidetrack a person from life’s real values.
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.
Jesus is shifting his teaching for his disciples to a place in society they had never occupied, the realm of the rich. We know that Jesus has been speaking to “tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and teachers of the [Jewish] law.” To this audience is now added disciples, probably meaning Jesus’ followers, not only the 12 apostles. Literal Bible translations (KJV, NKJV, etc.) add the word “also” before disciples. “And he said also unto his disciples…”
This parable is centered on maintaining and increasing wealth. This manager managed to squander this rich man’s assets as much as the prodigal son squandered his father’s assets. A pink slip was in order for this manger. What would this manager be without a job? He was probably too old and out of shape to go back to manual labor. He was too proud to beg for help from his friends, or worse, to sit on a street corner and beg. Using all of his managerial skills, he developed a plan. He would not have to beg. His friends would welcome him with open arms.
The plan was simple: a fire sale on debt. Perhaps the men he called were tenant farmers who worked the land and gave a percentage of their crop to this rich landowner. The first owed nine hundred gallons of olive oil. The manger reduced the 900-gallon debt to 450. The second tenant owed 1000 bushels of wheat. This debt was reduced to 800, and 20 percent reduction.
What is happening here? Another example of squandering the rich landowner’s wealth? Maybe, the manager may have been illegally reducing debt. He may have been subtracting interest that had accrued on the debt in violation to biblical teachings (see Deuteronomy 23:19-20). He may have been sacrificing his own commission for long-term gains. Jesus did not condone the man’s business practice as legal or one to be imitated by others. This was a long-term plan by the manager to have friends indebted to him when he needed them. But how would the rich landowner react when he heard the news, or saw the books?
Ironically, the landowner praised the man. Why? Because his business plan was smart and it accomplished the purposes the manager set out for it. First, it made the landowner look good in the eyes of those who were indebted to him and who would now continue to do business with him. Second, it looked forward to the long term rather than being limited to the present moment. Third, it assured people would be indebted to the manager and thus honor bound to help him when he would need it, much sooner than they suspected.
Jesus put the parable in context. In this world the children of light, those who have become lamps letting God’s light shine through them, are often much more foolish in their dealings with other people than are the secular people who have no concern for God. God’s people should be as dedicated to living out kingdom living with other people in this world as the people of this world are in living out their own values to their own advantage in this world. The world’s citizens are only of this age. They have no future beyond the here and now. Children of the light will shine through all the ages of eternity. Live now so you are assured eternity.
Jesus drove the point home: “Make use of the world’s resources so friends will be there to help you when you need it most. Things of this world may be unrighteous in themselves, but they can be used for good. To do so, you must recognize that such worldly resources are temporary. One day they will no longer be available. Use them while you can, but do not make them the end, only the means. Used in this way, unrighteous worldly resources can help you prepare for eternity. By being generous with secular resources, particularly by sharing them with the poor, blind, lame and crippled, you can store up treasures in heaven. Just as the grateful debtors would welcome the manager to their homes when he needed them, so you will be welcomed to your eternal home when you die and material resources are no longer of value. Meeting you there will be those friends with whom you shared unrighteous worldly resources. They will show you to your heavenly resources.”