Let’s Make a Deal

Parable about Dishonest Manager

Luke 16:1–13 NRSV

1 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position 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 dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. 10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

This is the word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Once there was a chief executive officer whose vice president of finance was reported to have badly managed company affairs. So the CEO said to this VP, "Your performance is inadequate; some would say you've been culpably negilgent. Turn in your records and your keys and clear out your office by 5:00 P.M."

The VP was panicked. She was too old to look for a new job, too young to retire, and too proud to apply for unemployment. What was she to do? Then she had an inspiration. She accessed accounts receivable and chose three customers most behind in their payments. She called the first and said, "Tom, we're anxious to get this debt off our books. If you can pay by the 15th, I'll give you a 25 percent reduction in your liability."

To the second she confided: "J.C., we've been conducting an internal audit, found a few errors. What do your records show that you owe us? Forty-six thousand dollars? No, according to my records, your debt is forty."

She informed the third company that a shipping error reduced this account by one-third. At the close of each conversation she said that she planned to leave her present position soon and hoped they would keep her in mind.

Later, when she walked out with reduced pension benefits, no health insurance, and a paltry sum for severance pay, there was a smile on her face. Within a month she was hired as a consultant by each firm she had called that day.

The next time her old boss saw her at the yacht club, she hurried to leave, but he caught up with her and slapped her on the shoulder. "Kiddo, I've gotta hand it to you. You can shoot pool with the best of us. I couldn't have thought of a better scheme myself."

And then Jesus said, "For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light. And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity" (Luke 16:8 b-9 JB).

Even such a lover of Scripture as John Calvin characterized the parable of the wicked steward as "hard and far-fetched." The story jolts our ethical sensibilities.

As I reflected upon this parable this week, I asked myself more than once, “Walter, why in the world did you choose this parable?”

Well, just so that you know, I didn’t pick this parable. The people who compiled the lectionary chose this parable.

But seriously, this parable is not an easy parable to understand. For the average Western Christian, we would be confused when trying to figure out the point that Jesus is trying to make here.

I mean, would anyone congratulate the scoundrel who first mismanaged his employer's funds and then cheated him out of recovering legitimate debts?

Is Jesus holding up such unscrupulous dealings as exemplary?

Perhaps the human figures of steward and master in the parable do not represent God's people and God, or the master our Master.

Imagine, instead, that Jesus is making this ironic comparison:

"Look at scoundrels who spend their time and energy scheming to ensure their own comfort and security. If only my followers would be that shrewd, that creatively reckless, that single-minded in serving me!"

The parable is followed by sayings of Jesus that seem to contradict the story as we first heard it, so perhaps we did misunderstand. Then comes this conclusion:

"You cannot serve God and money."

Consistent with the teaching of the Hebrew prophets, Jesus has sounded a warning against the worship of wealth, but invites its good use in generosity toward others. Moreover, he suggests that an accounting is kept for that day when money will not serve us at all.

And to me that is the point of this parable. This is the point that Jesus is trying to make.

You can’t serve God and money or if I could phrase it today.

You can’t serve God and the things of this world.

That’s the point.

Now let’s all say amen, sing the closing hymn, do the benediction and go home.

Seriously, Jesus really gives us something to think about.

You see, this parable comes on the heels of the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost brothers.

In those parables, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and religious leaders.

Now he shifts his attention to his disciples.

Jesus tells them this parable and reminds them that they can’t be faithful to God and the world.

There will come a time when they allegiance will be put to the test and how they respond to that test will determine whether or not they are as unfaithful as the dishonest manager in this parable.

When the rubber meets the road, will their actions lend themselves to making friends with the world or remaining faithful to God?

The dishonest manager in our parable on today seems to care nothing about their master. They seem to only care about their own wellbeing.

This is not the model that Jesus wants his disciples to follow.

Jesus wants his disciples to live in a way that breathes selflessness.

That is not to say that the disciples shouldn’t worry about their wellbeing, rather that is to say that their trust in God should be so firm that their wellbeing is something they don’t worry about.

They should live their lives in a way to where they are wholeheartedly serving God with reckless abandon.

Jesus knows that there is going to come a time when he will no longer be around to protect them.

He knows that in order to take the church to the heights it needs to go, they have to be committed to the mission that God is trying to establish on earth.

There will come times in these followers of Jesus life where the world will throw all manner of things at them in an effort to get them not remain faithful to Christ.

And in looking at this parable, I do not believe that Jesus was only speaking to his disciples.

I believe that Jesus is speaking to us as well.

At some point or another in our faith journey, there is going to come a time when you and I have to make a decision.

That decision is going to be the evidence of which master we truly serve.

Do we serve God?

or….

Do we serve the world?

When I finally understood the point that Jesus was trying to make in this parable, I felt convicted.

That one line at the end of that narrative got to me.

“You cannot serve two masters.”

When I think about this line, I think about two mutual friends having a longstanding conflict and I’m in the middle.

Have we ever experienced anything like that?

Two friends who aren’t getting along in the moment and you’re in the middle of it?

That’s hard!

The thing that we would like to do in that moment is be a good friend to both without picking a side with the hope that these two friends will eventually reconcile.

But you know what I found.

It doesn’t ever work that way.

You can try to be faithful to both but eventually you’re going to be forced to pick a side or one of them will pick a side for you.

You’re may go on an outing with one of them and of course because of the conflict the other friend isn’t invited.

The friend who wasn’t invited finds out that you’ve gone somewhere with that friend and that friend is going to assume that you picked sides.

As a result, that friendship now goes from good-standing to on the rocks; just like that.

Or better yet, I can’t be the best husband I can be to JaLease if I’m building a relationship with another woman.

Discipleship is a lot like this because we know that discipleship requires relationship.

The thing about that relationship is, we know that God is going to hold up his end of the relationship but will we choose to be faithful or will we put our relationship with God in jeopardy by choosing to have a relationship with the world?

Following Jesus requires that seek to wholeheartedly serve him.

And when we wholeheartedly serve God it will show up.

People will see it by the way that we love neighbor.

It will show up in how we manage our finances.

How we interact with our families (especially those family members we don’t like).

How we treat the stranger.

How we care for those whom we have no relationship with.

When God is our master, then others will see the work that the spirit is doing within us.

Now, I love the Star Wars saga. The saga is captivating and I could watch the saga in it’s entirety for hours on end.

My favorite episodes are Episodes 1 and 2; Attack of the Clones, and The Revenge of the Sith.

When I think about Jesus’ words, “You cannot serve two masters”, I’m reminded of the story of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars. Anakin was a gifted Jedi, trained to serve the light side of the Force. But at the same time, he was drawn by fear, anger, and the promises of power offered by the dark side.

Anakin tried to serve both masters—the Jedi and Emperor Palpatine—but he couldn’t. Eventually, his divided heart tore him apart. In trying to hold onto both, he lost himself completely and became Darth Vader.

That’s a powerful picture of what Jesus warns us about. We cannot give our loyalty both to God and to the things of this world. When we try, eventually one master will win our devotion. For Anakin, it was the dark side. But for us as followers of Christ, the call is clear—we must choose God. Only one Master gives life, peace, and freedom.

So today, let’s remember the words of Jesus: “You cannot serve God and wealth.” And unlike Anakin, we can make the choice to give our whole heart to the true Master who loves us.

I want to ask you a very simple question on this morning. Which master will you serve?

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.