Luke 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.
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. 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. 4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put
out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 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? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And
he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 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. 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. 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. 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. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the
unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in
that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? 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. 14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous,
heard all these things: and they derided him. 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 The law and the prophets were until
John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth
into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven
and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. 18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth
another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her
husband committeth adultery.
First, before I give my
general thoughts on this passage, let me define a steward and a debt and
what they can mean beyond the literal.
The elder, whether it
be a pastor/teacher, a bishop, which is what we call a pastor today, a deacon
or some other function in the church, is called a steward of the mysteries of God.
They must handle God’s word, not deceitfully, or for gain, to make
merchandise of the church, but faithfully.
1Corinthians 4:1 ¶ Let a
man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
In literal terms, a
steward is a manager of a house, what we might today call a butler or, if they
had more responsibility, even an estate agent, as the one in this parable.
A debt cannot only
refer to a financial obligation it can refer to sin debt, the debt one owes God
that they can never repay and the debt one owes to a person they’ve sinned
against. See the example of prayer Jesus gave on two separate occasions.
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Luke 11:4 And forgive us
our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.
The steward here had
wasted his master’s goods, not stolen them. He is not in prison but being
terminated in his employment. The coins that Jesus used were Roman. This
passage represents the non-monetary part of this society which we have seen all
through the Bible where wealth was measured in goods and produce. Throughout
history, from the serfs of the Medieval world to the sharecroppers of the
Southern United States rents were often paid at least partly in produce and
goods made.
A current Turbotax
website makes this pertinent statement regarding taxes; “Most landowners
contract with farmers under a crop-share arrangement, in which "rent"
is paid in crops or livestock produced by the farmer. Form 4835 only recognizes
income to a landowner in the year that these crop or livestock shares are
converted to cash.”
The master demands that the steward make an accounting, to
see the books so to speak. He apparently is not getting the rents he expects
and the steward has failed in his job. The steward, being afraid of what will
become of him, knowing he’s too old to do common labor and doesn’t want to be
reduced to the level of a beggar, thinks to forgive some of his master’s debt
to get at least partial rents in, hoping to not only please his master but to
perhaps have one of the tenants hire him out of appreciation.
Jesus says in verse 9 to forgive the sin debt to you and to
God as this failure of a steward has done. A friend of mammon, the mammon of
unrighteousness, or the unrighteous mammon knows how to handle it. Jesus’
Jewish followers under the Law have spiritual wealth to dispense, forgiveness,
and to collect, the repentance of the wayward Jew who has not been forthcoming
in his responsibilities to the Lord who created him. Those you have forgiven of
the sin debt owed to you and to the Lord, and we all know that the person who
truly forgives receives less from the debtor than he deserves to receive but is
willing to accept what he gets, but those who have been forgiven by the Jew are
a currency that prepared the Jew for eternal life. Forgiveness is very
important to Christ. In this passage He is starting with a worldly scene and
transforming it into a spiritual meaning.
Forgiveness was essential to salvation, as far as Jesus was
concerned. How can you be faithful in great spiritual matters when you are
faithless in such a basic component to obedience to Christ as forgiveness? There
is also a warning here to be diligent in worldly matters. How can a Jew who is
careless with worldly wealth be trusted to handle spiritual wealth? Be liberal
and free with your money in dispensing it to those in need and do not be
covetous. Be faithful in your obligations and handle money wisely. Do not
worship mammon but use it rather in the way God would approve.
God doesn’t value the things we do in the way we do. But He
does value forgiveness and unjustly divorcing one’s spouse is included in this
passage to give us a personal reference. Our representation of Christ, our
expression of faith, begins at home. If we cannot be trusted to show Christ in
our most intimate relationships we cannot be trusted with His spiritual riches
in public. For instance, a man who is cruel at home, unyielding, implacable,
unmerciful in speech or deed at home, is a roaring hypocrite when he smiles and
shakes hands at church with a pious grin on his face in the love of the brethren.
Think about this when you absentmindedly purchase a pack of
gum at the convenience store. Are you as free with God’s spiritual wealth such
as forgiveness as you are in how you use money? You think nothing of making an
impulse purchase, some doo-dad you want, but how miserly you are with
forgiveness and mercy to those closest to you.
Of course, there are many sermons to be made out of this
regarding faithfulness with money as all of what you own is God’s etc. etc.
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