The Key to the Shrewd Manager
Luke 16:1-13
August 6, 2023 anno Domini
When asked why He spoke in parables Jesus gave this answer, “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Then He continued, But, blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear.”
The parables are nonsense to the world and wisdom for the Christian. One pastor said the parables are like Jesus speaking in code. Only those who have the key can decode them to hear what He is speaking and see what He is revealing.
The parables make no sense apart from faith in Jesus. Why would a farmer plant his corn on the field road? Yet, that’s how the sower sowed his seed. Why would a shepherd leave 99 sheep in the open field to search for one lost one? I wouldn’t hire that shepherd to look after my flock. If an unbeliever read the parable of the prodigal son, he might conclude “I can do whatever I want and in the end God will welcome me into heaven” because that seems to be what the parable is preaching.
That brings us to today’s parable, the toughest parable in Scripture and to the question which guides us through its difficulties: What does this parable teach me about life in the Kingdom of God? What does this teach me about faith in Jesus?
First, this parable tells you that you don’t own a thing. I believe (and there are good and smart theologians who disagree with me) that the rich man is God, and the manager is you or me. God created everything and He lets you manage it. Some of you manage a lot and some of you a little, but everything you have – house and home, wife and children, land and animals – it’s all a trust to you – a revocable trust. Someday it will all be taken away from you and given to another.
Such wisdom is foolishness to the world and to your sinful heart. Likely the first or second word out of your mouth was “mine.” If not the first or second, it is your favorite and most common word. You think your skills, your hard work, your smarts, allowed you to possess whatever you possess. “Not so,” says the parable because “not so” says God’s Word. Dr. Luther teaches us this same wisdom when he says, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures, that he has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members” and that he “richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” You’re not an owner. You simply manage the Lord’s goods. The old word was steward and what you do with the Lord’s goods is stewardship. That simple lesson changes the way you look at everything from your body to your billfold.
The second point of wisdom the parable reveals is that the manager wasted the rich man’s possessions and so do you. You waste your children when you abuse or neglect them or fail to teach them God’s Word at home. You waste God’s wealth when you look after all your desires first and then, if there are leftovers, give a few dollars to the Lord. Have you ever given to the Lord to the point where it curtailed your spending on the things you wanted? Did you ever spend as much time teaching the faith to your daughter as you did requiring her to practice that clarinet? Repent of how you’ve wasted the time the Lord has given you, the children he bestowed on you, the wealth he has entrusted you.
Repent. Because of his wastefulness the manager then faced judgment. He was fired. That’s another revelation of this parable. If you treat the Lord’s gifts as your own possessions, if you use those gifts only to serve yourself, you’re fired, and that fire burns for all eternity. It’s never quenched.
Now the parable gets tricky. The manager realized his predicament. He was an old guy, probably 61. He had a desk job and didn’t have to work too hard. Sound familiar. It does to me. Well, at 61, you become accustomed to living in a certain way. You’re too old to start a construction job and too proud to beg on the corner by Taco Bell. The manager realizes that he has no ability to secure his future and neither do you.
Of all your beliefs, this one the world considers most foolish — that you have no power to secure your future and it’s your own fault. The world trusts in Trump or Biden, in Artificial Intelligence, in this investment or that one, in this discovery to treat cancer or that one to treat mental illness. The world trusts that man will save man.
This wisdom is called repentance. I am sorry I have sinned against God by my own most grievous fault. I deserve nothing but death and hell from Him. I cannot and do not have the ability to deliver myself from sin and judgment. I need help. I need Someone or Something outside of me to save me. Lord, have mercy.
At this point the manager thought about the help outside of himself. He still had the books. He still had access to the rich man’s list of renters and the debt they each owed. Here, some theologians speculate that the manager knew his master to be a gracious man and in fact, this practice of forgiving debts was a regular occurrence. That fits well with the rest of Scripture and it’s possible, but it might push the parable too far.
Learn from the manager. You need the help of your Rich Master. If your future is going to be secure when you draw your last breath, then you need riches of Jesus. You need what God the Father has provided for you. Unlike the parable He doesn’t cancel half your debt. He isn’t like Joe Biden who wants to cancel only student debt using money other people earned. God cancels out all your sin, the entire debt you owe, an eternity of torment and suffering, the agony of the Devil’s mastery over you. He took all your debt and nailed it to the cross. He cancelled all your debt from His own pocket. His own flesh and blood paid the price. You’re forgiven, not some, but all. Not just the little sins, but the big one, the worst one, the nagging, bothersome one. You don’t help yourself to salvation, like the manager helped himself to the books. But like him you need to look outside yourself to secure your future life and prosperity. You need to look to Jesus.
The last point for you is that the manager was generous with his master’s goods precisely because he had his future in mind. Granted he was unrighteous and shrewdly was looking out for his own skin, but here again Jesus says there is something to imitate, “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” Dr. Luther, in a sermon on this text, encouraged his congregation to imitate thieves and crooks, not in their dishonesty, but in how hard they work not to work. Think of all the work those Somalian restaurants went through to defraud the Minnesota Department of Education of $250 million dollars during COVID for “Feeding the Future.” All they got out of that was multiple homes and luxury vehicles and now hopefully prison. You are a child of your heavenly Father. You have been forgiven all your sin. Your future is looking brighter every day. Christ is right now preparing a place for you. In the resurrection, you will be free of your selfishness. You will sin no more, cry no more, sorrow no more, suffer no more. Your body will be resurrected to the perfection of Adam and Eve and Christ. God is not cheap. He doesn’t shortchange anyone. If He has given His own Son for you, do you really need to worry about keeping enough for yourself? Be generous with your future in mind. Be generous in helping your neighbor, loving your children and grandchildren, forgiving those who sin against you. Live, work, and give with your future in mind – the certain future you have in Christ your Savior.
So those are insider revelations for you from this parable. Everything you have is God’s. You’ve wasted it and deserve judgment. So, repent and look outside yourself to the abundance of your Rich Lord’s gifts – chiefly look to Jesus. Bank on His mercy and rich forgiveness. Then be generous because your future is secure. In the name of Jesus. Amen.