Luke 16:1-13; 1
Corinthians 10:6-13; 2 Samuel 22:26-34
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
“Who then is the faithful and wise
manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their
portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master
will find so doing when he comes.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke these
words to His disciples but a little before today’s Gospel text. The point is
this: What will you do throughout this time of your life in which you have been
given management over His blessings and goods? And, what will you be found
doing when He returns at a time and an hour you cannot know? Do these questions
unsettle and distress you? If so, repent of your pride and idolatry, for you
have clearly forgotten that all you have, even your life, your reason, and your
strength, are not yours, but they are the Lord’s, over which you have been
given management, stewardship, throughout the days of your life. In truth, you
have often made these gifts and creations of the Lord to be your idols and gods,
and you have lusted and coveted for them, and have greedily clung to them,
placing your fear, love, and trust in them before the LORD who has given them
all to you.
No, Jesus’ Gospel should not
unsettle and distress you, but it should bring you great comfort, contentment
and peace. For, Jesus is the “faithful and wise manager” whom His Father, the
Master, has “set over His household.” Jesus has done all things necessary and
well that you may cease from your striving to acquire and to preserve and to
protect what you have, both material and spiritual. Jesus has set you free from
slavery under His Father’s Law to live in the freedom of the Gospel, freely showing
mercy and freely giving of what you have freely received, to all, without distinction,
without loss or resentment or sorrow. For, the one who humbles himself and is
merciful will be exalted, and the one who loses his life in this world will
keep it in eternity.
The Parable of the Unjust Steward,
if it is indeed a parable at all, is one of the most challenging of Jesus’
teachings that we have. Let’s face it, it is challenging to understand Jesus’
meaning in commending a man who squandered his master’s wealth and then
dishonestly reduced his debtor’s bills in order to win their favor and save his
own skin. What could this possibly mean? Well, here is a case when the titles
we have given pericopes (stories) in the Scriptures often do us a disservice. Truly,
this parable is much less about honesty than it is about showing mercy. Indeed,
one of the most important details in this pericope is that, when He learned
that his manager had wasted his possessions, the master did not cast His
manager into prison, but he merely terminated him from his position. Thus, this
parable is very much like the account of our First Parent’s sin in the Garden when
the LORD gave Adam an opportunity to confess his sin and be forgiven. The LORD
did not destroy Adam and Eve, but He banished them from the Garden and from
access to the Tree of Life. This was an act of mercy on the part of the LORD
then, and an act of mercy on the part of the master now.
As in the Parable of the Prodigal
Son – another misnamed parable – both of the main figures in the story do
unexpected things. The prodigal son shockingly treats his father shamefully,
but his father, even more shockingly, forgives him and restores him. In today’s
parable, the dishonest manager shockingly cuts deals with his master’s debtors,
and the master, even more shockingly, commends him. What is going on here?
Well, first, we must consider the actions of the dishonest manager. This man
had been caught red-handed squandering his master’s possessions. In fact, the
very same word, squandered, was used also
in regard to the prodigal son. He knew that he had no way to rectify his
situation with his master and that he deserved imprisonment or worse. He was
soon to be out on the street and penniless, a pariah among his peers. Holding
no faith or trust in his own works and aware of his own weakness and inability,
he confessed that he was not strong enough to dig and that he was too proud to
beg. Like the prodigal son, he had hit rock bottom. But, that’s when he came up
with an idea – an idea based, not upon his own works and merit, but upon his master’s
goodness and mercy.
The manager went to each of his master’s
debtors and told them to sit down and quickly write a fraction of the debt they
owed. He had them do this quickly so that they would not think that he was the
one granting them the reduction, but his master. The manager was counting on
two things: By showing mercy to his master’s debtors, he was hoping that they
in turn might show mercy to him when he was penniless and unemployed. And, he
was counting on the goodness and mercy of his master, that, because his debtors
would think well of him, he would honor the reduced debts. What he was not counting
on, however, was that his master would commend him for his shrewdness.
But, why did the master commend his
dishonest manager? Jesus explains saying, “Make friends for yourselves by means
of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you in to the
eternal dwellings.” The manager is not being praised for his dishonest and illegal
activities. Rather, he serves as an example of how one may use unrighteous
wealth to make friends for oneself. We are all managers, stewards, of
unrighteous wealth – the material, monetary, and even spiritual “stuff” of this
life and world. None of it belongs to us, but it is all the Lord’s and we are
but managers and stewards of the Lord’s goods.
We are the manager in this parable
[as we are the prodigal son in that parable]. We have been entrusted with the
Lord’s possessions to manage, to steward, on His behalf. But, we have
squandered and wasted them. We have managed them poorly. We have put our fear,
love, and trust in them before our LORD who created them and us, and have made
them into false gods and idols. We have greedily sought to acquire them and
have fiercely clung to them. We have covetously desired those things that
belong to others and secretly wished that we would have them and that they
would not. It is not that we have been dishonest with our management, but we
have been utterly merciless, and that is by far the greater sin.
The Prophet Samuel confesses, “With
the merciful You [O LORD] show yourself merciful, with the blameless man you
show yourself blameless; with the purified you deal purely, and with the
crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. You save a humble people, but your
eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.” The LORD desires mercy from you
before obedience and sacrifice. The LORD desires that you show mercy to others
as He has been merciful with you, for mercy is faith, hope, and love in action,
and love is the fulfilling of the Law. When you show mercy, you show love for
the LORD and for your neighbor. Mercy is also faith, hope, and trust because
the merciful love not their lives or the things of this world more than they
love the LORD and their neighbor, and they are free so to do because their hope
and trust are not in men or in possessions, but in the LORD alone.
However, while we are the manager
in this parable [and the prodigal son in that parable], there is someone who is
the manager and the son with us, and before us, and in our stead, and that is
God’s Son and Steward Jesus Christ. Jesus became these men for us and redeemed
them, and redeemed us. As God’s Manager and Steward, Jesus didn’t merely reduce
the debt we owed to our God and Master, but He paid it off in full in His own
holy, innocent, shed blood. Therefore, our God and Master has commended Him and
has given Him all authority in heaven and on earth and the Name that is above
every name. And, as God’s Prodigal Son, Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself
and placed Himself into the mercy of His Father who has restored Him, and us in
Him, to full and complete Sonship and has blessed us with an eternal
inheritance. “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will
set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?”
That one is Jesus.
We are called as managers,
stewards, to use what has been given to us to help and to support our neighbors
in need. By aiding them with our financial and spiritual resources, we make
friends of them. But rather than being received into their houses, as the
manager had hoped, we will be received into the eternal dwelling of our
heavenly Father on the day when unrighteous wealth fails, that is, death. What
will you do throughout this time of your life in which you have been given
management over His blessings and goods? And, what will you be found doing when
He returns at a time and an hour you cannot know? Show yourself merciful as you
have received mercy from the Lord. Keep yourself blameless and pure in the
absolution of Jesus’ blood. Humble yourselves. Die to yourselves and to the
passions of your flesh. Live in the freedom of the Lord’s mercy and grace and
permit these to flow through you and from you to your neighbor. This is what it
means to be a manager and a steward of the Lord’s possessions. This is what it
means to be a Christian.
And, do this quickly. Do it now!
Do not procrastinate as men are want to do. For, a day is coming when you will
be called to account for your management of the Lord’s possessions. But, do not
be afraid! You are not asked to give of anything that you have not freely
received, only not to fear, love, and trust in it so that it becomes your idol,
your god, and you become enslaved. That is to say, be as shrewd in your use of
unrighteous wealth in the service of others as you are tempted to be in service
to yourself. In this way you serve your true Master, your Lord and your God.
Yet, you cannot serve your neighbor,
and consequently your Master, Lord, and God, unless you are first served by
Him. Therefore, also be as shrewd in obtaining the heavenly things of
forgiveness, faith, and the Spirit as you are in obtaining material wealth, for
the heavenly things are certain and do not fade away, while the things of this
world are perishing day by day. And, behold, your Master’s Steward and Manager Jesus
is here now to forgive your debts anew, to strengthen your faith, and to equip
you for service in His kingdom to the glory of His Father. Jesus summons you
and proclaims to you that your debt is paid in full. To God alone be the glory.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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