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The parable of the shrewd manager explained

by Michael Hume
7/21/2021 / Christian Living

1Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2And he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is thisI hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

The rich man heard that the manager is corrupt, and is holding him to account, and is going to fire him.

3And the manager said to himself, ‘What am I to do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’

In keeping with his corrupt character the manager is hatching a plan.

5And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6And he said, ‘A hundred jugs of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

The plan was to make the rich man’s debtors pay a lot less. This way the manager is seen as being on the side of the debtors,and is doing them a favour, and expects a favour back. The debtors are also corrupt and dishonest since they agree with the scheme.

8And his master complimented the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.

The compliment was to do with the cunning used by the manager, and not the immorality. The ungodly do a lot of plotting and scheming.The godly simply don’t think crooked thoughts or plan immoral plans because they are guided by God. The godly can have godly ingenuity for God’s purposes. The godly have to handle money. Money is not bad in itself, but a love of it is bad. The godly should be good stewards of money and other assets God gives them. If you are consistently godly He will trust you with money and other assets. The worldly are crooked shrewd, but the godly are wise shrewd. The godly are also aware of the devil’s ways and schemes, but do not participate in them.

9And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it is all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

This verse runs in parallel to verse 3 and 4. I repeat it here so you can see by glancing back and forth that the two run together.

The manager is making friends by means of both wealth and worldly dishonesty, knowing his job will soon be gone, and because of his crooked foresight, the crooked friends he has made by reducing their bills will welcome him, and take care of him financially and in other ways.

Now we also have to note the nuances of what is implied by Jesus in verse 9. The emphasis is on the word ‘make’ in verse 9. If you say it one way it will mean one thing, and if you say it another with a different tone it means another. Here, He is saying ‘Go ahead, make ungodly friends with ungodly means and when it goes, and it surely will, your godless friends will one day welcome you into their midst and also into eternal hell. There you will all pay for your dishonesty’. This explanation is consistent with Jesus’s character. He is saying if you are worldly you will pay the penalty. Jesus is actually implying you should be doing the opposite of what the shrewd manager does.

Did Jesus speak this way at other times? Yes, I think so. Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Luke 9:60. It seems Jesus is saying let the spiritual dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim Life. He is being dismissive of the worldly here too.

10“The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much.

If you are faithful in small things you will also be faithful in much. Your consistency will follow you.If you are loyal to God in small matters, He will give you more to do once your faithfulness is established. If you are unrighteous in small things, you will also be unrighteous in big matters.

11Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true wealth to you?

If you are not upright and honest in a secular job, or in any other part of your life, then you will be consistent and not be upright in matters of God, heaven and faith. Why then should God entrust the things of God to you? He won’t.

12And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

If you are not faithful with someone else's money or things, why should God give you things to do for Him, which would qualify you for rewards for yourself?

13No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The KJV uses 'mammon' instead of 'wealth', which I prefer. Mammon to me covers all worldliness, all fleshly loves including love of money, love of being crooked and dishonest, love of devilish things, love of power, love of fame, self love, selfish ambition, and all other godless loves.

We can’t have double standards. We can’t be worldly and godly. It won’t work. If you want to be worldly you will be consistently worldly, and you will get rid of God in your life. If you want to serve God, you have to get rid of worldliness. Our loves will be consistent and our thoughts and actions and will reveal who we are within. If we are worldly we will gravitate towards worldly people and be comfortable doing worldly things. If we are godly we will seek out the company of godly people and will be at ease with them, but not with the worldly.

Luke 16

Jesus said “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:13 NKJV

Jesus was God and with God the Father created man in the beginning. Jesus knew what He was talking about since He programmed and invented man. Man has been designed to have one chief love. It is either going to be God or mammon. I prefer the word ‘mammon’ to ‘wealth’ since for me mammon covers all worldly loves. Some people are turned away from God for reasons other than the love of money. Some store unforgiveness in their hearts. Some are hardened by sin. Some have sexual lust, some love devilish things. Some have selfish ambition, pride, arrogance, dominate others, hate towards others, false philosophies, false views which start as little lies, and work up to big lies. Envy, rivalry, slander, persecuting others, manipulating others. Some people love to have power over others to the point when they think they are gods. There are many other things too which turn a person away from God.

Michael Hume. The Holy Spirit teaches you everything. Copyright belongs to author.

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