Pay It Forward

Luke 16:1–15 NIV

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 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.’ “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—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “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 of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ “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. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. “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. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “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.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 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.

Audience

Alright, there are some confusing themes overlapping in this parable. How is it that Jesus seems to be commending the actions of an individual who is shrewd and dishonest? This is one of those parables that always used to confuse me. But now we are several weeks into our series for this summer looking at the parables of Jesus, and hopefully have a few tools by now which are helpful guides for how we should read and interpret the parables of Jesus.

Broad context of disciples and Pharisees

One of the features we have been looking at in every parable is the audience. It is always helpful to remember who Jesus was talking to in the original telling of the parable. In this case the broader context presents us with a mixed bag. Luke tells us in verse one that Jesus directs this story to his disciples. But we also note at the end of the story that there are Pharisees present who hear it as well. So, there is a little something for everyone going on here.

Immediately follows lost son & precedes rich man & Lazarus

Context helps us here too. I don’t think it is a random accident that Luke would arrange these stories together without any meaning. The story right before this one is the parable of the lost son. And the story right after this one is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. There is no mistake here that Luke arranges three parables together that all touch on a theme of someone’s use—or misuse—of wealth. In the parable of the lost son, Jesus says that the younger son wasted, or squandered, the wealth that was entrusted to him. And now here in this story we also see that the dishonest manager has wasted, or squandered, the wealth that was entrusted to him. It is the same Greek word that Jesus uses in both of these stories to describe how the younger son and how the dishonest manager use the wealth that is at their disposal.

Different outcome in all three stories

Point is not to focus on outcome, but response before outcome

And look at this. In all three of these stories there is a lesson that involves the use of worldly wealth, but in each story the outcome is a little bit different. In the parable lost son, all the wealth is misused, but the father completely forgives and welcomes the son. In the parable of the shrewd manager, the wealth is once again misused, but this time the manager changes the outcome by his own actions—and is commended by the master for doing so. And in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the wealth is misused (hoarded), but the rich man is not shown any forgiveness or mercy. Three stories involving three characters who have extravagant amounts of wealth at their disposal; three different outcomes.

Are we confused yet? What is going on in this story? What exactly is Jesus trying to tell us?

Maybe the outcome is not the point in any one of these three stories. That might be hard to swallow at first glance. How can I possibly suggest that the parable of the lost son is about something different than the overflowing grace of the father’s love and forgiveness? But, in fact, that is not what the parable of the lost son is about. (That’s a sermon for another time.)

Maybe for today’s parable about the shrewd manager, the question is more legitimate because perhaps many of us here don’t have any idea of what this parable is even trying to teach us. The only point I’ve made so far is to show the bridge between the surrounding parables which point us to something about how we use—or fail to use—earthly possessions and wealth. We know that much for sure. So, let’s go with it.

Point of Reference

Manager realizes he must answer for his waste

The characters in this story are limited. There is the master. There is a shrewd and dishonest manager. And there are debtors who owe certain sums of payment to the master. As the story goes, the manager realizes he is about to be fired for his waste and squandering. Before he gets his pink slip, the master calls for an audit of the books. Here’s the point in the story where the manager hatches a plan. As he calls upon each person who owes the master, the manager adjusts the bill to reduce the amount owed. The two examples Jesus gives in the story are gallons of olive oil and bushels of wheat. There is nothing symbolically significant about the oil and the wheat itself. The amounts of the debt are what is striking in this story. Nine hundred gallons of olive oil would have cost one thousand denarii just over three years’ salary for an average worker. One thousand bushels of wheat would have cost three thousand denarii—about nine years’ salary. We’re talking about some significant debts.

Now we need to talk about a detail in the story that all of Jesus’ original audience would have known, but we probably do not know. It was very likely that the manager himself did not receive any kind of salary from the master for his work. Debt collectors in that day worked entirely on commission. The manager would have been free to mark up any kind of profit he wanted on the debt for him to keep himself. That’s part of the reason why tax collectors were so hated by the Israelite people. They would charge the people extravagantly more money than what was owed, and they would keep all the extra.

Cuts his own commission

So here is what is likely happening in this story about the dishonest manager. He’s price-gouging the debtors with high mark-ups for himself. And this is where the story turns. Once the manager realizes he is going to be fired for his dishonest ways, he turns around and appears to completely cut out his own commission. He goes one-by-one to each of the debtors and reduces the bill by telling each one of them that they only owe the master, they no longer owe the manager anything.

Do you see what this manager just did? He is commended as being shrewd. That’s a word that many of us probably don’t use much anymore. The be shrewd is to show a keen and calculated sense of judgement. In this case, the manager calculates that the best long-term solution to his impending unemployment is to let go of absolutely everything. Rather than scrambling in his remaining weeks on the job to embezzle and plunder as much for himself as he can to last as long as he can, the manager judges that he must do just the opposite. He gives it all back. He figures it this way: the generosity that I show to others now will be generosity that is returned to me in my time of need. Canceling his commission will be a short-term loss which yields a long-term gain.

Conventional wisdom - forcefully grab everything you can

Unconventional wisdom - willingly let go of as much as you can

What an awesome story! Jesus gives an example here that cuts right to the heart for both his disciples and the Pharisees. Conventional wisdom might have said to take care of immediate needs. There was an urgent crisis situation immediately at hand. Conventional wisdom might have led the manager to forcefully get his hands on as much of a nest egg as possible. And yet, Jesus commends the manager for doing the unconventional thing. Instead of forcefully taking as much as he can, he willingly lets go of as much as he can.

Why does Jesus commend him for this? Because this is action that pushes past the immediate urgency of this day by looking to the best interests of the future. This is a guy who is thinking way down the road. He is willing to let go of his squeezing grip on the temporary things of here-and-now so that both he and others around him may flourish in days to come.

By the way that this story ends, it seems pretty obvious that Jesus is pointing a sharp finger right at the Pharisees. They live in ways that urgently struggle to place themselves on top of everybody else today. But they do not look down the road to calculate what their actions now will mean for the future.

Kingdom Idea

Extravagant generosity

What’s the kingdom idea here? We have noted in past weeks that parables are stories which convey a kingdom idea which calls for a response. So, what does this story tell us about the kingdom of God? In both this story as well as the two parables around this one we see a lesson about the extravagant generosity of the kingdom. It is a generosity that is completely unmerited and favors the least likely. This story has something to say about the way we view and use the blessings of our earthly possessions. Since the kingdom of God places high value on extravagant generosity, then we also should live here and now as people who place high value on extravagant generosity.

Jesus gave everything so we could have lasting relationship with him

This is a kingdom idea that God himself demonstrates to us. God himself shows an extravagant generosity in his love for us. Jesus let go of everything that belonged to him in order to come down to those who owe an unpayable debt. Jesus gave everything so that he could secure a relationship with those who are buried deep in the debt of sin. Jesus says your debt is no longer an obstacle between us. Jesus opens the door to a lasting relationship. And it is the extravagant generosity of God which makes this possible. He is extravagantly generous with his love. He is extravagantly generous with his grace. He is extravagantly generous with his mercy. He is extravagantly generous with is compassion. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of extravagant generosity. And we are called to be co-heirs with Jesus in that kingdom.

Response

This is a kingdom idea in which we can begin investing right now. Extravagant generosity is a value we can embrace right now. Jesus tells a story about a man who recognizes what the coming future will bring, and he prioritizes the way he uses and distributes his resources right now today for a lasting impact. What about us?

Let’s be honest for a moment. We all need to admit that it is so very easy to get caught in the anxiety of the moment. We all have moments of feeling the crushing weight of fear that keeps all of our energy and all of our time and all of our resources tightly gripping whatever we can grasp right now. Let’s be honest, letting go can be hard. We all have plans and dreams for how we think our lives should go. And we have an enemy in the devil who wants nothing more than to warp and twist and break the goodness of God’s creation. Sometimes our dreams shatter by our own sinful brokenness and our own mistakes. Sometimes our dreams shatter simply because we are the victims of evil in a broken world. And the world that we thought would be ours now turns into a different path with an unknown future that we didn’t plan. An injury, an illness, the loss of a family member, dementia, the challenges of aging, loss of a job, changes at school. If you live long enough every one of us will face a situation to which we say, this is not the way it was supposed to happen; this is not the way life was supposed to go. And we can’t change it. We can’t fix it.

So now what?

Default response when our future becomes uncertain

Most people go to a default response. Hold on to whatever you can as tightly as you can for as long as you can. Forget about other consequences. Forget about who else gets trampled along the way. After all, this is my life. This is my stuff. This is supposed to be about me and my plans and my happiness. If others fall as collateral damage along the way of my plans and my happiness, then that’s their problem. I’ve got enough trouble just trying to deal with my own problems. We have an enemy in the devil who has made that the default response of our world. And it’s killing us.

Jesus opens a better way

Do you trust him enough to generously let go of everything else?

Jesus opens a better way. Jesus invites us right now to start living as people of his kingdom, a kingdom that looks to a new a different future, a kingdom of extravagant generosity. Do you trust him enough to let go of everything else? Do you trust Jesus enough to take the time that you have right now and give it away in extravagant generosity to others? Do you trust Jesus enough to take the wealth and possessions you have right now and put them to use for the benefit of others? Do you trust Jesus enough to take the plans and dreams that you have for tomorrow and surrender them to Jesus in the assurance that God will provide and God will care for your future? Do you trust Jesus enough to take your life and let it be used as a gift of extravagant generosity to the Lord