The Unjust Steward
TRANSLATION
(1) Jesus told his disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of mishandling his possessions. (2) And he called him in and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management, for you can no longer serve as my manager.’ (3) And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master has removed me from my position? I am no longer strong enough to dig. I am ashamed to beg. (4) I know what I must do so that, when I lose my position here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ (5) And calling to him each of his master’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ (6) And he said, ‘A hundred measures of (olive) oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ (7) Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.’ (8) And the master commended his dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the sons of this world are more astute in dealing with their own generation than the sons of the light.
(9) “And I tell you to use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that, when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. (10) Whoever can be trusted with little can be trusted with much, but the one who is dishonest with little will also be dishonest with much. (11) Therefore, 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 what belongs to someone else, who will give you property of your own?”
OBSERVATIONS
The parable that opens this segment serves as a striking example of Jesus’ use of a negative example, the dishonesty of the manager, to illustrate a positive principle, the wisdom of making friends by means of worldly wealth. This teaching was intended for the mature who must carefully distinguish good behavior from bad and learn from both. Two statements help us do this, namely, the master’s commendation (vs. 8) and Jesus’ application (vs. 9-12). Jesus made it clear that he would never condone dishonesty. Rather, he urged his disciples to deal wisely and honestly with “worldly wealth” in order to gain “true riches.”
Repeated words in this segment include seven occurrences of “manager/management” (vss. 1-4 & 8), four uses of “master” (vss. 3, 5, & 8) and four of “trusted/trustworthy” (vss. 10-12), three occurrences of “dishonest” (vss. 8 & 10), and two uses of “how much do you owe...take your bill and write” (vss. 6 & 7), and “worldly wealth” (vss. 9 & 11).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus set forth the parable of the dishonest manager. (1-8)
II. Jesus applied the parable, illustrating a positive principle by means of a negative example. (9-12)
IDEA STATEMENT
The rewards we receive in heaven will be determined by the trustworthiness we demonstrate while here on earth.
APPLICATION
In his first epistle, Peter used the following phrase, “the proven genuineness of your faith” (1 Pet. 1:7). This phrase described an important character trait that Jesus desired to see nurtured in his disciples, namely, faithfulness that results in fruitfulness. In giving this parable, Jesus set forth an effective method for developing such faithfulness. First, give the disciple an opportunity to prove trustworthiness in “little,” that is, in relatively insignificant responsibilities that have no momentous consequences. Then gradually increase the size and type of responsibility until the disciple has learned to be faithful in “much,” that is, in responsibilities that carry with them an eternal impact.
The fact that Jesus used a negative to illustrate a positive should not trouble us. In fact, he did this on more than one occasion, and it proved to be a powerful teaching tool in his skillful hands. What should concern us is the specific meaning of Jesus’ words, “make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth.” According to Jesus, a wise disciple can learn to leverage material resources to achieve long-term spiritual goals. What might this look like in our lives? Instead of devoting ourselves to building up a huge retirement fund, we might consider using some of our resources to help others less fortunate than we to gain an education, learn a trade, or overcome addictions. Instead of increasing our portfolios, we might consider investing in spreading the Gospel through world-wide missions, church planting, and other evangelistic efforts. The old cliché still holds true, “Only one life, it soon will pass (including all our possessions). Only what’s done for Christ will last.”