“A Parable on Using God’s Gifts”

Scripture: Luke 16:1-13

Today’s parable is one of the most controversial of Jesus’ ministry. Even the translation of the title would indicate differences of thought – some refer to this as “The Parable of the Shrewd Manager”, while others call the parable “the Dishonest Manager”. But personally, I don’t think the point is made in the title, regardless of how it is translated. The point of Jesus’ parables is always to show us what it means to be his disciple.

So what is today’s parable about? What are we to learn from it? The story is about a master’s expectations of his servants, and a servant’s obligation in his or her life of service. The story primarily revolves around 2 men – a rich man and the manager of his estate, or in other words, an absentee landlord and the servant who was charged with the administration of his wealth.

It’s rather difficult to put the lesson of this story into the context of today, as we seldom experience this arrangement – at least not in our own country. So we will simply examine the story to discern the truth that Jesus is conveying.

Read Luke 16:1-2

A manager’s responsibility is always to the owner’s desires. So our first question is “how was the manager wasting (or squandering, depending on the translation) his master’s possessions”? At first glance, it would seem that he wasn’t actually stealing from the rich man – he just wasn’t managing in a way that the master approved of. It is interesting to note that in the previous chapter, Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), in which the son also “squanders” the inheritance that he had demanded from his father.

So in this context, the manager is administering the property in a reckless way – one that has no beneficial purpose, and puts the owner in a less than positive light with his other servants, as well as with his peers throughout the region. The problem for us is that Jesus doesn’t give any information as to what standard the manager should have been following, nor are we told what he did to violate the trust. Regardless, the difference must have been rather significant, for the manager was required to explain his actions, after which he would be removed from his job for incompetency.

The manager who had held a very respected and responsible position as a servant, was probably not being fired, but rather was being demoted to a very low and subservient position.

Read Luke 16:3-4

The servant had gotten used to a pretty cushy job, which was about to vanish from his life. But what would be waiting for him? Would it be common, every day labor, which in that day would typically be working in the fields, or would he have an even more demeaning job, which would pay practically nothing, and he would have to beg to just get by? Neither option appealed to him – he didn’t have the physical ability to do the first, and he was too proud to resort to the second.

But he must have had some intelligence if he had been assigned to manage the estate, so he comes up with a plan to ensure that he would be cared for. He would do a favor for the others who he had a working relationship with, so that they would feel an obligation to help him out. Deceitful? Perhaps, but let’s see how it works out.

Read Luke 16:5-7

In those days, rental for the use of property wasn’t paid monetarily – it was given in produce. And judging by the amount of oil and wheat that was owed, these must have been very successful tenants that the manager had been dealing with. But what right did the manager have in reducing his master’s income? Was he, after all, cheating his employer? Or was the issue totally different?
Is it possible that the master had decided to tack on interest for unpaid debt, which, by the way, was forbidden by the law (Deuteronomy 23:19-20), and the manager was just righting a wrong? Or was the steward eliminating his own commission from the debt that was owed? Or could it even be possible that the manager was finally treating the tenants exactly the way that his master would have, by reducing the standard rental price to a more manageable level?

We don’t know for sure, as Jesus never offers an explanation of this story. But the next few verses may give us some insight into Jesus’ intent.

Read Luke 16:8-13

With this reading, we begin to see that the parable has a purpose other than relating the events surrounding the manager’s attempt to improve his lot in life. “The master commended the dishonest manager…” He had been entrusted with the master’s property and income, and had, indeed, reduced his income without authorization. But he was also complimented “… because he had acted shrewdly.” Apparently, the master approved of the manager’s actions.

Originally, we read that the manager “wasted” the master’s possessions – he had expended them for no good purpose. But now, realizing that he had been given, not only authority, but responsibility for these gifts, he was using them for a specific and beneficial purpose. His actions would cast a good light on the master, as he, unknowingly, has reduced the rental agreement for the tenants, and it guarantees that the manager will have friendships to help him through the lean times. And that is truly a shrewd and effective transaction – everyone involved comes out ahead!

But then in verse 9, an additional thought is revealed – that we are to use our worldly wealth to gain friends and to help them during this lifetime, with the express purpose of using it up so that we can enter the kingdom without all that excess baggage! Jesus is telling us that the riches of earth – those that we see as God’s blessings - are simply there for us to use in a wise and “shrewd” way – ways that actually become a benefit - and not to just squander them on meaningless things!

The Lord implies that the way we use, and share, our worldly possessions is more of a test than anything else. Do we use them for our own selfish pleasures, or do we use them in a Godly and appropriate way? Remember the parable of the Minas (Luke 19:11-27) and the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)? The servants who faithful used the master’s wealth (which represents our worldly wealth) were granted authority over true and heavenly riches of God, but the ones who failed to use them in a beneficial and appropriate way lost everything!

Where is our loyalty? Is it in the gifts that come to us from the world, or in the riches that can only come from our Almighty and All Gracious God? Jesus tells us that we can only show loyalty to one or the other, and that we need to choose wisely.

How do we use the gifts of earth that have come into our possession? Is it in pleasurable but wasteful ways, or do we use them for valid and constructive purposes? Do we use our worldly possessions and human abilities for our own benefit, or do we look to bring a benefit, a gain, a blessing to someone else’s life? Do our lives serve to raise another person up in this life, or is our entire focus on what we can get and try to keep (Luke 12:16-21)?

How will you respond when the Lord asks you about the use of your worldly possessions? He is watching, you know!