Luke
16:1-15 NIV
16 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[a] 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[b] 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.
How To Be Rich and Famous
What is Jesus trying
to say here? Jesus tells a parable about a Shrewd Dude.
This Shrewd Dude
knew how to make money work for him. And the money wasn’t even his own money.
This Shrewd Dude was said to me incompetent by his manager. He was accused of
wasting the possessions of his own manager. But, this Shrewd Dude, ended with
some BOLD dishonesty.
So, what do we make
of this? Well, the Shrewd Dude does teach us to be prudent. He was wily but
also smart. So, how does this apply to the words of Jesus to his own disciples?
I think, Jesus is
telling the disciples to be smart with the gifts God gives them, and by
extension us as well.
Yes, these words of
Jesus were at first addressed to His disciples, maybe, sort of. It seems by the
end of this parable, Jesus wanted or at least permitted others, especially the
Pharisees to listen in on the telling of this parable by Jesus.
So, let’s dig in. I
called this guy a shrewd dude, but Jesus refers to him as a steward. In my
research I came across the original meaning of steward during the time of this
parable. A Steward was thought to be the keeper of pigs, or in other words the
Keeper of the pig sty.
We too are stewards.
We are not owners. Not one of us is better than the other. We are just stewards
of different pig sties. And in this we deal with gifts. We don’t really have
any possessions. So, the question becomes, how do we deal with these gifts?
Who gives us the
gifts? All we have we don’t deserve. God gives us all we need. I’ve mentioned
this before in the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer… remember? Give us this
day our daily bread. Well in just a few words, all we have comes from God. God gives
us everything. We deserve nothing, no matter how hard you worked for whatever
you have, it was a gift from God. God either gave it to you straight out, or
gave you the ability to work for it. In any case, God gives us everything.
So, in our own
little pig sty of gifts from God, we need to deal with the gifts God has given
us. We need to keep the pig sty.
In the parable, the
Shrewd Dude was not accused of dishonesty. That in itself seemed a little odd
to me. He sure seemed to be taking some pretty sketchy actions.
But this Shrewd Dude
knew that he couldn’t save himself. He couldn’t save himself with another form
of work, he couldn’t save himself with savings accounts, or pensions, or
insurance or anything else. He had fallen face first into the stench of his own
pig sty. I can identify with this too.
So, the Shrewd Dude
came up with a plan. He went to his master’s debtors to work some favors and
maybe be rescued by the debtors in the end. Did he honestly just subtract his
own commission due from the debtors? Maybe, but probably not. One thing for
sure was that he did know how to use money to gain favor. Even if it wasn’t his
own money.
Like I said before,
Jesus didn’t say the Shrewd Dude’s dishonesty was a good thing or a good
action. But the Shrewd Dude’s prudence was good.
Here is where this
parable leads us to a deeper meaning.
Many think today
that success equals money. Yet, if we use this money to help the poor, the
marginalized, the needy, THEN we live in the compassion and love of eternity.
Why?
God loves the needy,
the poor and the marginalized, and welcomes their friends into the Kingdom of
God. The wealthy can help the needy in the here and now. In our chronological
time of today. Yet, the poor, the needy and the marginalized can help the
wealthy in God’s Kairos time. Or in another words God’s eternal time. The needy
can testify to the love of the wealthy in the Kingdom of God. And after all,
anyway, God can see our actions and motives. Are we caring? Are we
compassionate? Are we empathetic? Do we love our neighbor, no matter who are
neighbor may be? Do we receive the gifts God gives to us to give those gifts in
love to those God gives to us?
We are called to
make it eternal. We are called to give to the poor. The money or things we have
in this time and place do us no good in eternity.
The biggest and the
best of this world does not equal “good” in the next world.
What does?
Well, it’s not the size
of your actions but how noble you are in the end. A liar may reach the throne
in this world, but what’s greater by far, is a person of truth, even if that
person is poor and in rags. Money does not spend in heaven. How great you think
you may be on earth does not rank you in heaven. The really only treasure in
heaven is God. And God’s gifts of faith, hope, love, forgiveness and salvation
are the Christian’s only possessions. All gifts given.
No, Jesus does not
honor dishonesty here in this parable.
Earthly wealth is
unrighteous when we think it’s our own. It’s a dream.
Yet, Heavenly wealth
is our taking in the gift of God’s righteousness offered through the life,
death, resurrection and forgiveness that Jesus freely gives us.
Earthly wealth IS
NOT OURS. It’s a loan to be withdrawn and given away to the poor, the orphan,
the sick, the migrant and to ALL God’s children as needed. It’s NOT yours and
won’t do you any good in the eternal Kingdom of God.
So, think about it.
In the midst of your own pig sty, ponder this. Is it wealth, or power, or
prestige, or honor? … or do you choose God? Can you walk both east and west at
once? NO! Choose God! Show all loyalty to God alone.
Exodus
20:3-4 NIV
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for
yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below.
God’s gifts are to be used. Wealth, money, power, prestige,
won’t draw you into the presence of God. But, using God’s gifts to accomplish
God’s plan does.
God doesn’t forget the deeds of those who oppress the poor
and the needy. God takes care of the poor and the needy and the weak. You see,
Jesus wants everyone to be saved, not just those who think they deserve
salvation because of what they think they have all done on their own.
So, manage and give away the gifts given to you. Even if
you live life in a pig sty here and now, there is much more to come.
Thanks be to God!
I leave you with this YouTube Music Video that speaks to
this message…
“I Give Myself Away”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy_XJWzI-a0&list=RDvy_XJWzI-a0&start_radio=1
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