Listen here.

Luke 16:1–15

¹ He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. ² And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ ⁵ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. ⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰ “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. ¹¹ If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will 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 he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

This parable of Jesus is widely considered the most difficult He ever told. A rich man had a manager who was padding his salary. Whatever his problem is, his master’s money was the solution. This manager’s god is money. He trusts in it. And he will do whatever he needs to do to get it – even if it means robbing his boss.

But his money fails him because money is a god that can be quickly, easily taken away. His master catches him red-handed, fires him, and tells him to turn in the books. Now, he has to figure out where else he can put his trust.

The manager asks himself, “Now what? I’m too much of a runt to dig, and I’m too ashamed to beg.” His god has failed, and he realizes it. You know what this feels like because your idols fail you too. A true God, the God of Scripture will never fail you. He always keeps His promises. He always delivers. So whenever you have fear or whenever you are worried about something, you are recognizing the frailty of your false god. The manager needs a new God, something else he can trust.

Now, this is very important. The manager has lost his job. He’s canned. The pink slip has been handed over. He is no longer the manager of his master’s accounts. But notice that the master hasn’t thrown him in jail. The rich man could have done this, but he doesn’t. Instead, the master is mercifully cutting this manager loose. So the manager has a window of opportunity. And he uses it to take advantage of the rich man’s generosity and mercy.

The manager could have tried any number of things, but look at what he does. He banks everything on his master’s reputation of being a generous dude. The manager puts all of his trust where it should have been in the first place – his master’s generosity and mercy.

The manager calls in every schlub that owed his master. They come into his office, and what do you suppose the first thing this fired manager says to them, “I just got canned, but let’s take care of your bill real quick here.” Nope. He keeps that little secret to himself because these clients wouldn’t go for trying to pull one over on the rich man. The clients each report how much they owe, and the manager lowers their bill by about a year-and-a-half’s worth of work each. But also notice (he’s very tricksy) he has the client write the new amount on their bill.

The manager gathers up all the books and heads back to the rich man. You can see him walking up to the rich man’s desk, smiling and waving the paper to help the ink to dry. The rich man looks at the books and realizes two things. First, the debts have been lowered, and second, the debtors know about their lower debt.

The rich man hears the debtors gathering outside his building celebrating how generous their lender is. He looks at his phone and sees that he is trending on Twitter – #GenerousGeorge.

Any other lender would set everything back the way it was. “Hey everybody, listen up. I fired this man because he’s a crook and a scoundrel. Your original balance is still owed. Sorry for any confusion.” He was well within his rights to do so, but he doesn’t. The rich man could have really stuck it to his former manager, but he doesn’t do it. He has a reputation for being generous and merciful, and he’d rather be out all that money than tarnish His reputation. So the rich man drops dead. He dies to all that debt, all that income. He throws up his hands, looks at his former manager, and says, “Well played. You might be a swindler, but you know me like the back of your hand. You are one smart cookie.”

So what does this parable mean?

First, we have to be careful because we can’t press any of the parables too hard. The parables are meant to teach us, but we can take them too far. When we look at parables, we must find the main teaching and then see how the details shed light on the main point. If we look for meaning in every detail, we go too far and kill the parable. Think of the parables like pets. Some of them are sturdy like a dog. You can walk them, pet them, hug them, and even wrestle with them. Some of them are delicate like a butterfly. You can’t hug and wrestle a butterfly.

Jesus’ parables don’t show the Law or how to live a better life. Jesus’ parables reveal how things work in the reign of God. The parables are intended to show you the character of your God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. The parables teach us Jesus Christ Himself.

Last week, we saw Jesus the Shepherd searching for His lost sheep. We saw Jesus as the meticulous woman working to find the lost coin. We see God as the waiting Father, longing for His lost sons (yes, plural). And in all three we see the celebration of heaven when the lost is restored.

Today, we see Jesus as the heavenly steward who banks everything on the generosity of the rich man. Yet unlike the shrewd manager, Jesus wasn’t interested in His self-preservation, but yours.

This is the point of the parable. It looks like Jesus is praising a man for breaking the 7^th Commandment – for stealing. Instead, this parable is about Jesus’ single-minded desire and drive to win you back from death, Satan, and the power of hell. He gave up everything to pursue you. He recognized how desperate your spiritual situation was. He banked everything on the generosity of God.

When God became man, evil was turned on its head for doing evil. Putting Jesus on the cross, humanity’s greatest injustice, was God’s greatest act of mercy. Death gave way to life. The cross gave way to the empty tomb. Good Friday gave way to Easter. Now, your bill isn’t just reduced. It is eliminated, paid in full.

Everything around you is now fair game. Not for you to abuse, but for your soul and for your neighbor. All your money, talents, and possessions are now free for service in God’s kingdom. Now that you are free, God uses everything around you – your money, possessions, skill, power, knowledge, and your good works – He uses it all for His divine strategy.

He won you from your sins. The victory is His and He gives it to you for free. When Jesus bet all His chips on God’s mercy, it was no gamble at all. Because that is what God wanted all along. God wanted to sacrifice Himself for you, so that you could be His. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.