The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Unjust Steward) – 9th September 2016

“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.”( Luke 16:13).

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager can be found in Luke 16:1–13. The text can be broken down into two parts: the parable (verses 1–8) and the application (verses 9–13). We can read from Luke 16:1-2, 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.’ It identifies that Jesus is speaking to His disciples, but there is a suggestion that His audience is mixed—disciples and Pharisees because when we read the parable we can note in Luke 16:14 it states that the Pharisees “heard all these things and ridiculed Jesus: “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus”. We also see in verse 1 that Jesus “also” said to the disciples; the “also” would suggest that this parable is connected to the previous three parables (Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost son) found in Luke 15 and that therefore the audience was a mixed crowd of disciples and Pharisees.

It is important to know to whom Jesus is addressing this parable for the benefit of the disciples, but there is also a not-so-subtle critique of the Pharisees, as was evident in Luke 15. We can read that in Luke 16:14 is Luke’s commentary on the motivation of the Pharisees, and in verse 15 we see our Lord condemn their motives. “ 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 16:15). And what was the Pharisees’ motivation? They were those who were “lovers of money” and who “justify themselves before men” and who exalted that which was an “abomination before God.”

With that as a backdrop, let’s look at the parable. It’s a fairly simple, if somewhat unorthodox, parable from Jesus. The parable begins with a rich man calling his steward before him to inform him that he will be relieving him of his duties for mismanaging his master’s resources. The steward is being released for apparent mismanagement, not fraud. This explains why he is able to conduct a few more transactions before he is released and why he is not immediately tossed out on the street or executed. We can read the content from Luke 16:3-7, “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? “‘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.’

The steward, realizing that he will soon be without a job, makes some shrewd deals behind his master’s back by reducing the debt owed by several of the master’s debtors in exchange for shelter when he is eventually put out. When the master becomes aware of what the wicked servant had done, “he commends him for his “shrewdness….”In His application of the story in the remaining verses, Jesus begins by saying, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” We can read the context from Luke 16:8, “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”.

Jesus is drawing a contrast between the “sons of the world” - referring to unbelievers - and the “sons of light” referring to believers. Unbelievers are wiser in the things of this world than believers regarding the things of the world to come. The unjust steward, once he knew he was about to be put out, maneuvered to put others’ debt to himself. He did so by cheating his master - who more than likely was cheating his customers. The man made friends of his master’s debtors who would then be obligated to care for him once he was sacked… We can read what Jesus said from Luke 16:9 “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings”.

One who is reading this parable may want to know what does this have to do with believers being wise about the life to come? We can look at verse 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.” Jesus is encouraging His followers to be generous with their wealth in this life so that in the life to come their new friends will receive them “into eternal dwellings.” This is similar to Jesus’ teaching on wealth in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus exhorts His followers to lay up treasures in heaven as we can learn from Matthew 6:19–21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

Jesus then goes on to expand in verses 10–12 the principle given in verse 9. We can learn from Luke 16:10 – 12, “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? Here Jesus is stating that if one is faithful in “little”, then one will be faithful in much… Similarly, if one is dishonest in little, he or she will also be dishonest in much. If we can’t be faithful with earthly wealth, which isn’t even ours to begin with, then how can we be entrusted with “true riches”? The “true riches” here is referring to stewardship and responsibility in God’s kingdom along with all the accompanying heavenly rewards.

As Christians we need to clearly know that God is our Master, and therefore our wealth will be at His disposal. In other words, the faithful and just steward who’s Master is God will employ that wealth in building up the kingdom of God…and not to gain any undue worldly benefits. People can be either be lovers of wealth for personal gain or use their wealth to build up the kingdom of God. Therefore the climax of the above parable is found in Luke 16:13:“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.”.

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