*Luke 16:1-18
Jesus tells a story about a shrewd manager who secures his future by using his position to win favors.
- Parable of the Dishonest Manager:
- Jesus tells the story of a manager accused of squandering his master’s possessions.
- Facing dismissal, the manager devises a plan to secure future favors by reducing the debts of his master’s debtors.
- He calls each debtor and reduces their debts substantially, ensuring their goodwill once he loses his job.
- Commendation and Lesson:
- The master praises the manager’s shrewdness (not his dishonesty), recognizing the cleverness of his plan.
- Jesus uses this parable to teach that “the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than the children of light.”
- He encourages his followers to use worldly wealth in ways that will result in lasting spiritual relationships.
- Faithfulness and Trust:
- Jesus stresses that trustworthiness in small matters reflects faithfulness in greater responsibilities.
- Conversely, if someone is dishonest with little, they will be dishonest with much.
- He challenges his audience to handle worldly wealth faithfully to be entrusted with “true riches.”
- Loyalty and Service:
- Jesus asserts that no servant can serve two masters, emphasizing that one cannot serve both God and money (“mammon”).
- Reaction from the Pharisees:
- The Pharisees, who love money, ridicule Jesus for these teachings.
- Jesus rebukes them, highlighting how they justify themselves before others, but God knows their hearts.
- He explains that what is highly esteemed among humans may be detestable to God.
- Law and the Kingdom:
- Jesus states that the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John the Baptist, and since then, the Kingdom of God is preached.
- He asserts that everyone is forcing their way into the kingdom.
- Despite the coming of the kingdom, Jesus maintains that the Law remains valid, and not even the smallest part of it will disappear.
- Teaching on Divorce:
- Jesus reminds his listeners that anyone who divorces and marries another commits adultery, and the same applies to someone who marries a divorced person.
16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
16:2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
16:3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
16:4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
16:5 So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
16:7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 16:12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.