This is one weird parable. There are as many interpretations of it as there are people who have read it.
Here’s my take on it. The man was given a job to do, and he was equipped with the tools to do it. But he was a shark, and his boss finally caught him at it. So to save his own neck he cheats his master some more. From back to front the guy is unscrupulous. Even though the master is firing him, he commends him for his crafty shrewdness.
Jesus concludes, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” I’m sorry, but to me this doesn’t sound like Jesus. He doesn’t talk like this, and he doesn’t use this kind of expression (it sounds weird to hear Jesus call his followers “people of the light”). The only other reference that’s even close to it is Mt. 13.38 where he says, “people of the kingdom.” But that is more like him.
Maybe I can approach it this way: the manager is shrewd in dealing with people, and the rich man not so much, because he hired a dishonest guy, but he didn’t even know it until he was told, and then he let the guy off the hook.
But why is Jesus even talking about this? He has just finished telling 3 other parables about the lost being found. So this is the 4th parable. In that case, it sounds like the parable is about reckless grace that lets people off the hook even when they have noticeably and intentionally sinned. God, and his people, are not shrewd, calculating, bitter, vengeful, and cutthroat like earthly managers, but full of grace.
V. 9: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” This is a bizarre kind of saying, and still just doesn’t sound like Jesus. But if I had to make something of it, which I do, I would say it sounds like an odd combination of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, and the Parable of the Generous Landowner, as well as the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Be reckless in your grace. Be generous to a fault. Lavish unearned blessing on the poor and needy.
V. 10: “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.” You are who you are, and that will show itself whether your task is large or small, important or insignificant. “By their fruits you will know them,” said Jesus. Your character, values, and priorities will show regardless of your station in life or the responsibilities on your list. It’s a fallacy to think that you will show your true self when your ship comes in and you are finally given something important to do. As my father says they were taught in the Navy: if you can’t figure out how to fold your socks and keep your footlocker arranged, you won’t be able to figure out how to steer a ship.
“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?” This still doesn’t sound like Jesus. It’s hard to imagine him ever saying that only if you’re good at handling money would I ever trust you with salvation. This is so weird, but I’ll give it my best shot. Stewardship is stewardship; responsibility is responsibility. It doesn’t matter if it’s small or large, earthly or spiritual. Can you take what you have and use it responsibly? Can you use what you’ve been given to its greatest possible advantage for its own cause rather than for your own? Can you use what you’ve been given to its greatest possible advantage for its own cause rather than for your own?
V. 15: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’ ” People can get away with all kinds of deceit, false impressions, and mask-wearing in front of people. There’s a sucker born every minute. You can fool most of the people most of the time and get away with it. You think you’re fooling the people it is important to fool, but ultimately, you are only fooling yourself because the One who really counts, God, isn’t suckered, and you will be held accountable for your actions. Meanwhile, Satan broke into God’s “store” and changed all the price tags (just as in the parable). Our value system is both upside down and inside out. God sees through the falseness, and so must we.
That’s the best I can do wit’ it.
While I do agree that Christ says he gave us a new command, to love your neighbors as I have loved you. I don’t agree with you assessment that the meaning of this parable is to lavish your grace on those who wrong you. What I think is that as the manager is shrewd in dealing with others for earthly gain, followers of Christ should be shrewd in dealing with others for heavenly treasures. For example, use earthly things such as culture, money, influence, and fame to lead people to Christ. But for Christians, we should seek a life in the Holy Spirit and bear it’s fruits.
Ken, thanks for your thoughtful comment. You probably know that there is hardly a consensus on any single aspect of this parable. If you talk to 15 different Christians, you’ll likely get 15 different interpretations. There are so many ways to look at it. I see some elements that may guide us to meaning:
1. A man was given a job to do, and he was equipped with the tools to do it (v. 1)
2. He was accountable for what he did, and was judged for his decisions and actions (v. 2)
3. He shows unscrupulous behavior, both by wasting his master’s possessions (v. 1), and acting selfishly to save his own neck (v. 6)
4. The manager is admittedly and recognizably dishonest (v. 8)
So where do we go with this, and what is Jesus’s point? And that’s where just about everyone comes up with a different answer, including yours and mine. I came up with no less than 17 alternatives for what the parable means:
1. Money should be used in such a way that it is used to bring others to heaven and also yourself. Jesus is challenging us to use our money to make Christian friends. Make the fundamental principle of handling money the winning of friends and influencing them for Christ, to influence people who will one day welcome you to heaven.
2. Don’t be like the steward! Don’t even get into the situation. He was wise in the situation, but Christians should not get into that kind of situation! (Alan Johnson)
3. The manager was wholehearted in his rascality; we should work at our Christianity with the same enthusiasm.
4. Be faithful in all things.
5. See what is coming, and plan for it.
6. Be alert to energetic and decisive action in a time of crisis. Bring to the work of God all the resources and resolve that the sons of this world bring to theirs.
7. Despite his cheating, the steward shows wisdom, a quality to be imitated by Christ’s disciples in their use of material possessions in light of the coming eschatological kingdom.
8. A steward has acted dishonestly in releasing debts, but shrewdly in preparing for his future. Jesus uses the parable to inculcate in his disciples the need to be equally wise (though not dishonest) in their use of material possessions in light of the coming eschatological kingdom. (D.J. Ireland; Dave Mathewson)
9. The parable conveys a lesson on justice by challenging the reader’s conception of justice where power and justice are coordinates. The master’s praise and the manager’s behavior clash with justice normally implied in the kingdom. Thus the parable breaks loose the bond between power and justice and instead equates justice and vulnerability. The kingdom of God is for the vulnerable; for masters and managers who do not get even.
10. The manager is Jesus, who releases the debts of sinners.
11. The first readers would not assume the usury or firing the manager was the focal point of the story. We have to understand the socioeconomic background. When the social codes that the story evokes are understood, the focus of the story becomes the master’s honor. Others have some to him with the charges that his steward is wasting his goods. His peers charge him as incompetent and not in control of his own household. What is at stake is the master’s honor. Therefore the master dismisses the steward, who then defrauds his master. In praising the steward the man has ignored his own honor and the honor/shame codes of society, thereby challenging the appropriateness of insisting upon one’s honor.
12. The master’s praise reflects God’s praise of his followers, the cleverness of the steward emphasizes the need for prudence in Jesus’ disciples, and the debtors’ welcome of the steward reflects the future heavenly reception awaiting God’s followers.
13. The inductive study reveals the parable is filled with contrasts, an indication of its meaning. It’s about contrasts, and about the management of resources. (JDW
a. V. 1: wasting (Lk. 12.15)
b. V. 2: give an account (Rom. 14.12)
c. V. 8: Commended for how he had handled his situation
d. V. 9: Can you do good with even worldly things?
e. Vv. 9-12: All about the responsible handing of resources (1 Tim. 6.17-19)
f. Vv. 13-15: priorities should be God-centered
g. Vv. 16-18: Examples
i. You can’t justify yourself. It’s a new system (cf. Lk. 15)
ii. The Law is not abolished, just fulfilled. It tells what is important to God
iii. Even relationships need to be handled responsibly.
14. The parable is a rebuke of the Pharisees. God weighs them in the balances and finds them wanting, but then to try to please him they go out and tell people that their standing before God is not as bad as they thought. God praises him because that is true—they finally got something right, but they are still out of a job. Verse 8b puts the Pharisees on the same level as the sinners, and in contrast to the children of light. Then he uses vv. 10-13 to rebuke them to their love of money and their lack of love for God.
The context: Luke 15.1 – 17.10 seem to make up a section.
15.1-32: God’s grace and his willingness to welcome sinners
16.1-18: Handle what God has given you responsibly
16.19-31: You have your lifetime to honor God. During life He is full of grace and forgiving. After life comes the accounting.
17.1-10: Avoid sin, help other avoid sin, and live a life of faith and obedience
You can see why so many people analyze it differently! It’s very difficult to sort out. And that’s where I concluded, that I think the parable is a rebuke of the Pharisees. God weighs them in the balances and finds them wanting, but then to try to please him they go out and tell people that their standing before God is not as bad as they thought. God praises him because that is true—they finally got something right, but they are still out of a job. Verse 8b puts the Pharisees on the same level as the sinners, and in contrast to the children of light. Then he uses vv. 10-13 to rebuke them for their love of money and the lack of love for God.
But truly your thought is a good one, also. It’s true that followers of Christ should be shred in dealing with others for heavenly treasures, and that we should seek life in the HS and bear its fruits. Can’t argue with that!