1 Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can’t be my manager any longer.’ 3 The manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe?’ 6 He answered, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.’ 7 Then the manager asked another one, ‘How much do you owe?’ He answered, ‘One thousand bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.’ 8 So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God’s sight.
16 “The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until John came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force. 17 It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.
18 “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”
Read Luke 16:1-18 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
The parable of the dishonest manager is one that has challenged my thinking on multiple occasions. When reading this parable, I sometimes wonder why Jesus would have used this angle to teach, or perhaps, whether we are missing the rest of the story.
However, after looking closer at this passage, I believe this parable may be less about the details, and more about the key truth Jesus pulls out from it: “Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot.” (v. 10)
Ironically, when we look at the parable through the lens of this one verse, the whole scene becomes clearer. The master accuses the manager of cheating him, and wants a full report of where the money/wealth is. We don’t know if this was a strong speculation or if the master caught the manager cheating, but it was serious enough of an offense that this one incident was to cost the manager his job. Even though it was serious, this is Jesus describing being dishonest with a little.
Then, instead of coming clean and straightening out the single offense, the manager pulls all the rest of those indebted to the master and dishonestly discounts all their bills as well. In this reaction, Jesus is describing being dishonest with a lot.
Jesus key point is that our character and our focus remain the same as the size of our influence/status/wealth changes. Those who are trustworthy are trustworthy with both the small and big things, while those who are dishonest will be dishonest with little or lots.
Also, included in this parable and idea is the following truth: our character grows. The more time we spend being either dishonest or trustworthy, the more ingrained these characteristics will be on our character and the more they will spread throughout all areas of our life. Consistent trustworthiness in one area over time will strengthen how trustworthy we can be the other areas in our life, just as being consistently dishonest in one area of our life will eventually erode all the other “honest” areas of our life. What matters is where we place our focus and how we are choosing to shape our character.
Are you intentionally choosing to grow trustworthiness in your character, or are you allowing dishonesty to spread?
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.