The Parable of the Dishonest Manager
1 Now he said to the disciples: “There was a rich k man who received an accusation that his manager l was squanderingm his possessions. 2 So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, n because you can no longer be my manager.’
3 “Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master? ’ he asked the first one.
6 “ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said.
“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’
7 “Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe? ’
“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said.
“ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’
8 “The master praised the unrighteous manager o because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age p are more shrewd than the children of lightq in dealing with their own people. 9 And I tell you, make friendsr for yourselves by means of worldly wealth ,s so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.10 Whoever is faithfult in very little u is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. 11 So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?13 Nov servant can serve two masters, since either he will hatew one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Kingdom Values
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, x were listening to all these things and scoffing y at him. 15 And he told them, “You are the ones who justifyz yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. a For what is highly admired by people is revoltingb in God’s sight.
16 “Thec Law and the Prophets d were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God e has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it. 17 But it is easier f for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.
18 “Everyone g who divorcesh his wife and marries another woman commits adultery,i and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, j feasting lavishly every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate. k 21 He longed to be filledl with what fell from the rich man’s table,m but instead the dogsn would come and lick his sores.22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side.,o The rich man also died and was buried.23 And being in torment p in Hades, q he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. 24 ‘Father Abraham! ’ r he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony s in this flame! ’
25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things,t just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, u while you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’
27 “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28 because I have five brothers—to warn v them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; w they should listen to them.’
30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ” x
16:1–7. The parable of the dishonest manager (16:1–13) is difficult to interpret. Why does the master praise the dishonest manager (16:8)? The manager is not merely an ordinary household servant but an estate manager, the agent of his master. He probably handled all the economic affairs of the master. He is charged with dishonesty (16:1), and the charge must be true because no self-defense is attempted. The master fires the manager and asks for a final accounting sheet so that his successor can conduct business (16:2). The manager realizes his predicament. He is a white-collar worker, and so he cannot handle manual labor. Also, it would be a blow to his pride to beg (16:3). By lowering the bills of the debtors, he will win their friendship, ensuring a future place for himself (16:4–7).
16:8–13. The parable itself ends at 16:8a. The “master” referred to in 16:8 is not Jesus but the master of the steward. The comment in 16:8b is from Jesus; a religious application is now being drawn from the story. The master is not praising the dishonesty of the manager or his illegal and immoral behavior; the master praises him because he does something that is clever and prudent. The lesson that Jesus draws from the parable, then, involves both comparison and contrast—use money wisely and prudently as the steward did, but do not use it dishonestly as he did (16:10–12). In 16:11 Jesus is saying not that money is intrinsically evil but only that it is easily abused and used for evil. Jesus draws several lessons from this parable: (1) Use your money for kingdom purposes so that in the end your use of wealth will indicate that you are worthy of entering into heaven (16:9). This is not salvation by works but salvation with works. (2) If one is faithful in handling a small amount of money, one will be faithful with large amounts (16:10). (3) One who cannot be trusted with money cannot be trusted with spiritual riches (16:11). (4) One who cannot handle his or her own affairs will not be called on to manage the affairs of another (16:12). In 16:13 Jesus penetrates to the root: no one can give exclusive service to both God and money.
16:14–15. The reproof of the greedy Pharisees continues to focus on money, but it takes the discussion in a new direction. Apparently the Pharisees were ridiculing Jesus because they imagined some compatibility between serving God and serving money (16:14). Jesus replies that their attempt at self-defense is hollow because God penetrates to the true state of their hearts (16:15). An attempt to appear pious before people without being pious before God is detestable to God.
16:16–18. It is hard to see how the statements on the law in this paragraph relate to the preceding paragraph. In 16:16 discontinuity is drawn between the period of the law and the period of the kingdom. “The Law and the Prophets” refers here to the OT Scriptures. Whether John the Baptist is to be included in the former or the latter is disputed. The main point of the text is that with Jesus the proclamation of the kingdom has arrived.
16:19–26. At this point the chapter returns to the theme of the proper use of riches (16:19–31). Verses 19–26 teach that there will be a reversal of fortunes after death. The rich man lives in great luxury during his life, but he is apparently unconcerned about the plight of the poor (16:19). Lazarus is abandoned at his gate, diseased and hungry (16:20). Dogs, which were considered to be unclean and a nuisance, lick the sores on his body (16:21). He is even denied the pleasure of eating the leftovers from the rich man’s table; however, when the two men die, their roles are reversed. Lazarus goes to Abraham’s side (16:22), perhaps another way of describing the messianic banquet. This expression occurs only here in the Bible.
16:27–31. In verses 27–31 the parable takes a different tack. The rich man realizes that it is too late for him, so he entreats Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers of their imminent doom (16:27–28). Abraham dismisses the suggestion because the brothers already have “Moses and the prophets” (16:29). This also suggests that the message of Jesus does not invalidate OT revelation (cf. 16:17). The rich man, however, protests that the Scriptures are not enough. They need the definitive proof that a resurrection would provide (16:30). Abraham retorts that this is incorrect. Those who do not put credence in the Scriptures will not be persuaded by a resurrection (16:31). Certainly Jesus’s resurrection was in Luke’s mind when he wrote this.