It is not all that long ago that we ceased to be fascinated with Christopher Skase. The whole country was on the Chase for Skase. Perhaps for some it was part of the tall poppy syndrome. Perhaps for others it was the desire for justice, particularly for investors who lost money. And then they turned on the TV and saw the Mjorka mansion and restaurant pictures. Only his death ended the media fascination and legal manouverings. For he was finally extradited to a higher court.
But it's a story that repeats over and over again. A business crisis, and a tycoon acts quickly to transfer assets. He acquires the $7 million bonus, the termination payment, secures the future, and then the legal chase begins.
Well these things are not new with us. They were there in Jesus’ day, as the parable of the dishonest but shrewd manager shows. Only the names are changed.
Jesus tells this parable en route to Jerusalem. In this part of Luke's Gospel, Jesus keeps telling his disciples he is going there to die. Like a kamikaze pilate heading for his target, Jesus knows what awaits him in Jerusalem: rejection by the religious leaders, abandoned by his disciples. He expects mocking, flogging, crucifixion by the Romans, and after three days, vindication in resurrection.
And this context gives the parable an urgency. It is spoken directly and primarily to the disciples, verse 1. But the Pharisees were there listening, verse 14.
Jesus tells us of an employer-employee relationship. In the days before unfair dismissal legislation, the rich man, the master, hears an accusation. His manager is wasting his possessions (v. 1). This is the very same thing that the prodigal son did[1]: squander the inheritance.
So the master, literally called 'the Lord', gives his servant notice. This is summary dismissal. He simply cannot afford this wasteful manager. So he sends the ‘please explain’ email, and this gives a brief reprise for the manager. The manager has a window of opportunity for to gather his accounts together and give his final report (v. 2).
It all looks a bit draconian. Perhaps the servant is the victim of vicious rumours and neo-nazi industrial relations policy. But this servant doesn’t cry ‘unfair dismissal’, perhaps because he knows his dismissal is not unfair. Rather, his thoughts turn to his future survival. Verses 3-4:
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.’ (NIV)
Here is a crisis! A middle-management retrenchment with no unemployment benefits, no centrelink, no welfare safety net or income insurance, and no sending your wife out to work. The future looks bleak. The options are either hard labour or humiliating begging.
But then the manager thinks, "What about my network? My business colleagues? It’s time to win friends and influence people! Perhaps they might be my superannuation. Maybe I can use the 'mutual obligation' policy: you know, mates rates. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours."
The black economy is his future. And so, the manager sets about rewriting history. He adopts some novel and creative accounting techniques. Now such practices are not unknown to us. Why do you think we’ve had the Global Financial Crisis? It is no different with this manager. Verse 5:
So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ (NIV)
Was he so negligent that he didn’t keep records? Or is he subtly emphasising how much he is helping his mates. In any event, the first replies:
‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil’, The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ (NIV)
Here’s a drastic discounting program. He wants him to be quick because he doesn’t want to be caught. He offers a 50% discount for the first, and 25% for the second, taking liberties both with his Master’s property and with the truth. No qualms of conscience from him or his debtors, it is a substantial asset write down. It’s all a bit sus. The whole thing stinks.
Jesus tells the parable because he wants his disciples to copy the manager. Look with me at verse 8:
The master (lit. the Lord) commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. (NIV)
We might feel awkward about this. Surely Jesus isn’t commending lies and false accounting, is he? Some people feel this. So they suggest that the servant waives illegal interest charges, or that perhaps the manager is discounting his own commission.[2]
This is possible, but unlikely. It is more likely that his actions confirm the master’s decision to sack him. We see him again wasting his master’s goods. The servant finishes his management the same way he conducted it: with extravagant squandering.
Note that Jesus doesn’t commend the dishonesty. No, the Lord calls the servant ‘dishonest’: literally, the manager of unrighteousness. He is not excusing corruption. Rather, Jesus wants us to copy two things about the dishonest manager.
The first is in verse 8. The manager acted shrewdly. The manager was wise: he had street-smarts. He knew human nature. He knew the present crisis. He knew the present opportunity. He knew the future danger. So he acted quickly in the present to secure a welcome for his future. And Jesus wants us to pay attention to this shrewdness. Jesus thinks that Christians suffer from a chronic lack of Kingdom street-smarts. Notice the last bit of verse 8:
For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (NIV)
We’re a bit slow. We need to learn from worldly people, and how they deal with each other.[3] Time was short for the dishonest manager. But he knew human nature. He acted quickly Because he had to give an account to his Lord.
And how much more does this apply to us. Time is short for us. We don’t know when we will die, or when Jesus will come back. We don’t know, for example, how long the gospel opportunities in this country will last. We too must know human nature. What is it, humanly speaking, that motivates people? What things will enable us to befriend people for their sake and the sake of the gospel? We too must act quickly. Our opportunities are limited. Who knows for example how long will we have rights to public school scripture? How long will we have freedom of speech? How long will Christianity be acceptable in polite society? If we are saving for a rainy day, it’s raining outside! And we too must give an account to our Lord, who will return to judge us for the things done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).[4]
Solomon says this:
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land (Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 NIV)
We are in the midst of a crisis. Our Lord will return. And we must give an account. Therefore, we must act shrewdly.
The second example to copy lies in what we should do with our Lord’s possessions. Verse 9:
I tell you, use worldly wealth (Lit, unrighteous wealth) to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed (Lit, they may receive you)[5] into eternal dwellings. (Cf. English Standard Version)
We, like the manager, don’t really own anything. We might own a part of a house, or a car, or a little more. But really we are merely stewards. Our possessions belong to our Lord, and we manage them. Jesus makes this clear in verse 12.
And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (NIV)
We really own nothing. What is ours is God’s. So this might make it a bit easier to be spend thrifts. We’re only giving away God’s money! And we only have it for a time. There is a time coming when it is gone.
Paul Kelly sings:
You might have a happy family
Nice house fine car
You might be successful in real estate
Even be a football star
You might have a prime time TV show
Seen in every home and bar
But you can’t take it with you!
The time is coming when we can’t be managers any longer. And so we are supposed to use God’s money to gain friends: win friends and influence people, to be extravagant, to squander God’s money, so that we gain friends for ourselves.
Yes, that’s what Jesus says. With our money (that is not really ours) we must make eternal friends!
The unrighteous manager used his master's possessions to gain friends. So must we use our master’s possessions to gain friends. The unrighteous manager gained friends and homes for a time. We will gain friends and homes for an eternity.
This raises a few questions. Can you buy true friends! Can’t buy me love! Everybody tells me so! Isn’t this bribery? After all, look at the Prodigal’s friends! When the money ran out, they left him feeding pigs. Or more seriously, isn’t this buying your way to heaven? Is this saying that God will give me heaven if I give others money?
Jesus means neither of these things. Neither heaven nor friends can be bought. But Jesus directly relates the richness of our heavenly welcome to our expenditure now. We can use worldly wealth to gain friends. And those who benefit will provide a welcome into eternal dwellings.
Let me give you some personal examples. About 20 years ago, people I don’t even know provided some money for an MTS worker named Charlie at my University, who evangelised and discipled me over two years. And those people, who I don’t even know, now have an eternal friend in heaven. How can I not be grateful to them?
While I was at College, Kath and I were given some money. It was from a church not in a rich part of Sydney. But 10 years ago they collected money and invested it, with the aim every year to give the interest to a Moore college student. Every year they take a collection to add to the amount so they can keep doing it. They didn’t know me or have a previous relationship with me. But how can I not be their eternal friend?
How about you? What are you going to be extravagant on? Why don’t we thumb through the catalogue together.
What about on missionaries. Invest in them. CMS always needs money.
Perhaps kids church. Or what about that school, providing a scripture teacher. Or youth ministry, so that more young people will come to know Jesus, and so in heaven they will say, "Thank you. Because of you I heard about Christ from infancy. From my youth, I knew Jesus as Saviour and Lord, because you enabled someone to teach me scripture."
And the list goes on. You have to spend money to make it. So be a spendthrift.
Some years back after I finished university I did 6 months full time at the College of Law, St Leonards. That is the practical training necessary for being a solicitor in NSW.
When I went through there were about 25 of us in a class. Our instructor was a solicitor And we would all pretend to be solicitors. We were in pretend firms. We had pretend clients. We would argue pretend cases before pretend judges. We even had a pretend bank. We would write our pretend cheques and give them to the pretend banker. We had to maintain our pretend trust account according to the regulations.
Six months of pretending, it was like an enormous game of Monopoly. But though it was pretend, real people really failed the course. If you didn’t pretend right, you couldn’t graduate. It was necessary to pretend to become a real solicitor.
Well, in verses 10-12, Jesus points out that this life is a bit like the College of Law. It is a test for admission into our future life. Verses 10-12:
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. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth [lit. possessions of dishonesty], 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? (NIV)
Here, Jesus could be using the manager as an example of what not to do. So he is saying, be honest. And we all need to hear that. It is tax time. We need to be honest, declare what we earned, and claim only what we are entitled to.
Or Jesus could be still using the manager as an example of what to do. Be trustworthy with property now and so get real riches in heaven.
Either way, he talks about worldly wealth as 'dishonest'. It is deceptive. It tricks us. It is not true. Paul says this:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age (1 Tim 6:17-19 NIV)
Our generosity matters, because it is evidence that the Lord, not money, is our master. And our generosity now will regulate our rewards in heaven then. In the end, Jesus says that the heart of the matter is this: Is God God, or is money God? Verse 13:
No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money. (NIV)
A few years back there was an add on the M4: “Metaphysical Mastery”. It was an ad for “sales pursuit”. Come, we will teach you to sell more, make more. They offer “mastery”
But notice the choice Jesus offers. It is not whether the master is God or me. It is whether the master is God or Money. If we choose money, it is the master, not us. We are going to be servants, either way. We’ve got to serve someone. It is a matter of who we choose.
There is real danger here. I think of a Christian mastered by money. Fantastic testimony at church, he devoured the bible. But I didn’t see him at church for a while. A while later I saw him in my lunch hour at work. We had lunch. He no longer had the bible, but a how to get rich book. Well, the last chapter of that story isn’t yet written. But it is a warning. What chokes out the word but "the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, the desire for other things” (Mark 4:19). We cannot serve God and money.
Let’s pray.
[1] Compare the verb diaskorpizein in Lk 15:13: L T Johnson, 243.
[2] E.g. Bock, Luke, 1330.
[3] I H Marshall, 621.
[4] L T Johnson, 248.
[5] Most commentators I read, consistent with the NIV, took the Present Subjunctive Deponent or Present Future Deponent 3rd Person Pl form of dechomai as a divine passive (ie 3 singular). E.g. L T Johnson, 245; J A Fitzmeyer, 1110; D Bock, 1334; N Geldenhuys, 419. The ESV more accurately translates as 3rd person plural. Marshall adopts the 3rd person plural and takes the subject to be angels, and not the recipients of alms. He then sees a difficulty: ‘This sounds suspiciously like salvation by works but the point is surely that the giving of alms is a testimony to the reality of discipleship.’ (I H Marshall, p622). Green leaves the issue undecided (p594 n280). In my opinion, it is the recipients of our worldly wealth that welcome us, consistent with Luke 16:4, where the friends welcome the unjust steward into their homes. We need not see salvation by almsgiving once we realise that the recipients of our gifts are welcoming us in eternal dwellings. They share in and fellowship with us in an eternal salvation. Perhaps it is an encouragement to give for the salvation of others, then. It is also true that generosity is a good work that evidences salvation.