Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Ninth Sunday after Trinity

July 24, 2016

Luke 16:1-9

Parable of the Shrewd Manager

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (Luke 16:8)

There once was a rich man who had hired a manager to take care of his money. But after some time word got back to the master that this manager was wasting his money.

So the master called in the manager and asked him, “What is this I hear about you?” He was hoping that his manager would panic and spill the beans. But the manager keept cool. Like a seasoned suspect in police custody, he didn't say anything. So the master gave up and told him that he's fired. He wanted the manager to turn in his paperwork and get out.

The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ (Luke 16:3-4)

The manager analyzed his situation and realized that he needed friends. And he came up with a plan to make some friends fast.

So he called in each one of his master’s debtors [one at a time].

He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

He replied, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’

The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’

Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

He replied, ‘A thousand bushels of wheat.’

He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ (Luke 16:5-7)

These debtors were renters on the master's land. They paid their rent with goods like olive oil and wheat. The manager knew that as long as these renters still thought that he was the manager, he could act quickly, giving them deep discounts to their rent, and show himself and his master to be compassionate and caring.

So here's the rub. The master is stuck. The manager has returned the books, as requested, and it's quite possible that they both can hear cheering down in the village. It's a celebration in honor of their kind and generous master who has slashed their rents. If the master fires the manager now and then reverses the discounted bills (which the master had ever legal right to do, since the manager had been fired when he made the changes), the village will speak of the master as the old cold man in the big house on the hill who only cares about money. So this is what the master did.

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. (Luke 16:8a)

The master was impressed by how well the manager had analyzed his situation, determined what he needed most in the world, and then acted and boldly. The manager had also trusted that his master would honor these deep discounts. The manager knew what he would do.

And so Jesus ended His story and got to His point.

For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (Luke 16:8b)

Unbelievers are more shrewd than us. They analyze their situation, they determine what they need most in all the world, and they act boldly and decisively to get it. So many unbelievers say they want to be rich and then they get busy making money. Everything else comes second. Others want to save the world from pollution or hunger or immorality and then they commit their lives boldly to that end.

Unbelievers are consistent, but they have based their analysis on false assumptions. They think that the things of this world are the most important things in this life. They are wrong; they don't see the big picture.

Believers have the big picture. This world is temporary; it will end soon. Jesus is coming back, hopefully today; until He returns, He is with us now through His Gospel Sacraments.

So all the money we have now isn't ours. It is on loan from Jesus to us to use wisely. Like the manager of the story, we are taking care of someone else's money. Like the manager of the story, we often mismanage our Master's money. We assume that the money we have is ours to make ourselves comfortable and happy. It is truly a miracle that knowing how we treat God's money, worshiping the gift, instead of the Giver, that Jesus still gives us money.

Jesus gives us brains and hands and bodies to make money through our work. This money is put into your care for a short time. (Just think of how many $20 bills will go in and out of your purse in 80 or 90 years.) So use your money shrewdly. Analyze your situation, determine what you need most in the world, and then act boldly.

Our situation was grim. We are sinners who were born hating Jesus. We thought that everyone around us should worship and serve us. But then everything changed, when your Pastor baptized you and spoke you into life through the Words of Jesus: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And he keeps on bringing Jesus to you every Sunday: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is using the pastor's voice to say, “I love you.”

Everything looks different now. We look around shrewdly and see not people who should serve us, but neighbors we get to serve. We get to use “our” money to take care of them. After the receiving of God's forgiveness together, there is nothing less important than caring for the physical needs of others. And so we act boldly and decisively to take care of them.

So look around and be shrewd. First, analyze your situation. You are a forgiven baptized soul whom Jesus has entrusted with many gifts and some money. Now determine what is most important in all the world: receiving Jesus for the salvation of your soul. Now act boldly and decisively with this joy with the promise of Jesus ringing in your ears:

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:9)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!