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Luke 16:1–9 (ESV)
1 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ 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?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
You may not know this, but almost every church has a box full of keys. Many of the keys have tags labeling what they are used for, but there are often several, if not dozens of keys, which have no label,s and what they unlock has long been forgotten.
I was thinking about keys and locks as I was reading this parable, as it’s a bit challenging to unlock the parable with our 21st-century understanding. On the surface, it seems as if the dishonest manager is being praised for being, well, even more dishonest. But he’s not; the first sentence of verse eight is the key to our understanding.
It’s clear that the manager is dishonest, but he isn’t being praised for his dishonesty; rather, he is being praised for his shrewdness.
The Greek word for shrewdness occurs only this once in the Bible, and it was considered a positive attribute of a wise and prudent person (unlike today, where shrewdness is considered a negative attribute, marking someone as manipulative or deceptive).
So what the dishonest manager has done has been to shrewdly act in such a way to secure his future, and for that he is praised.
With that understanding, we can begin to rightly understand the parable. The “master” is the Lord, and the “manager” is Israel. The Lord had set apart Israel to be His light in the world, however, we know as we’ve been reading through this Gospel, that God’s people have failed in their task. In fact, they’ve actually gone the opposite direction. Rather than finding ways to unite people together by proclaiming God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, they’ve insisted that people keep rules and regulations regarding holiness which has had the effect of building walls between people, the very walls which Jesus was tearing down as He reached out to those who have been marginalized and excluded.
The point that Jesus is making to His disciples then is this; just like the children of this world in their work, do what it takes to reach out to others, spend what you need to spend, lay aside what can be laid aside, be shrewd with what you have, so that others can be reached with the Good News.
That’s not giving Christians permission to act dishonestly or unwisely, rather, “disciples should use their wits and wealth in ways that please and serve God, for in doing so, they will be received into the eternal tabernacle of God, rather than into the transitory earthy tents of debtors.” James Edwards.
“The church passes through turbulent times, and frequently needs to reassess what matters and what doesn’t. Perhaps they should learn to think unconventionally, to be prepared to make new friends across traditional barriers, to throw caution to the winds and discover again, in the true fellowship of the Gospel, a home that will last.” N.T. Wright
It’s a challenging parable for Christians personally and for the church, encouraging us to stretch and extend, to let go of anything that may hinder others from coming to Christ, and to do whatever we can, not holding back, to reach out to others with the Good News of the Gospel.
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott
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