Monday 2021.10.25 15:33 hrs
Today, for my New Testament reading, I read through chapters 16 and 17 of the Gospel of Luke
Luke 16:1 - 12 records the Parable of the Dishonest Steward (or Dishonest Manager), a parable that I had for many years found rather puzzling, even disturbing, because of two things mentioned in it.
Firstly, in verse 8 our Lord tells us in this parable that the Master praised his dishonest manager for "doing such a shrewd thing". Why would the Master praise his employee after getting cheated by him?
Secondly, in verse 9, our Lord tells his followers to "make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home". What friends do we make with our worldly wealth? Who are these friends who will welcome us in eternity?
- Luke 16:1 - 12 GNB
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1Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a servant
who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting
his master's money, 2so he called him in and said, ‘What is this I hear
about you? Hand in a complete account of your handling of my property,
because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3The servant said to himself,
‘My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not
strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. 4Now I know what I
will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me
in their homes.’
5“So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6‘100 barrels of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘sit down and write fifty.’ 7Then he asked another one, ‘And you — how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand sacks of wheat,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘write 800.’
8“As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light.”
9And Jesus went on to say, “And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home. 10Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones. 11If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?
Eight years ago in September 2013, after pondering over this passage, I came to two conclusions about the parable which I discussed in detail in a devotional blog post, linked below:
