Sermon Tone Analysis
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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.
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