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“The Shrewd Manager”

photo of Greg preachingSermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on Luke 16:1-13
given September 23, 2007

Upon hearing this parable, many people scramble for a Bible to verify they heard the story correctly. Then, once they confirm it, what generally follows are furrowed brows, looks of skepticism and a question: “Did Jesus really say that?”

Most of Jesus’ parables show up in more than one gospel. However, Luke has a few that we find nowhere else and this morning’s story is a good example. Perhaps Luke was the only one who had this parable passed down to him or maybe the other gospel writers heard it and decided they would just as soon do without it.

Augustine, the great leader of the church in the fourth century was baffled by this parable and said, “I can’t believe this story came from the lips of our Lord.” Many others nod in agreement. Does Jesus really intend for us to emulate the behavior of the dishonest manager?

If we look closely at the entire passage, which Shelley and Mary-beth so beautifully shared, we discover that the gospel writer himself seems a bit queasy with this story, because at the end of the parable, we find several interpretations, and some of them seem to be a real stretch.

The setting is a wealthy estate. The rich man who owns this land receives a report that his manager is squandering the property, so he demands that the manager give him a full accounting. The manager must have been guilty as reported because he makes no attempt to deny the charge. Instead, he says to himself, “Busted! What in the world am I going to now? I’m in no shape to do common labor and I’m too proud to beg…I know what I’ll do.” And he hatches a scheme that will insure that, after he’s fired, people will welcome him into their homes.

He calls in the people who are in debt to his master and has them change their bills. One man owes 100 jugs of olive oil. The manager says, “Let’s change that to fifty.” Another owes 100 containers of wheat, and the manager says to him, “What do you say we make that 80?”

The actions of the manager “are self-serving, but most of us can relate to his frantic scrambling to salvage whatever he can out of the situation.”1 What catches us off guard is when the owner of the estate who suffers the loss, commends his dishonest manager for acting so shrewdly. It’s not exactly the kind of bedtime story we tell our children. And if you own a business, you do not pass out copies for your employees to read.

As I mentioned, at the conclusion of the parable, there are several interpretations of it. New Testament scholars debate which ones were a part of the original story Jesus told, and which ones might have been tacked on.

The parable ends with: “And the owner commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.” Then, Jesus says: “For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

We read on and find another interpretation. It reads: “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” Did Jesus add these lines, too? Maybe; maybe not.

In the next line we find interpretation number three. This one sounds like a proverb you would find in a fortune cookie. It reads: “And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?” What?

Moving right along to the final verse, it sounds like an authentic saying of Jesus, yet it sounds out of place. It reads: “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’” It feels as if Luke has been handed this important saying of Jesus, but could not figure out the right place to put it.

Let’s go back to the parable itself, before all of these lines of interpretation, and see if we can figure out why the owner who took the financial hit would commend the dishonest manager’s actions. Some have speculated that the owner was afraid that the manager might have caused greater financial damage, and he was thankful to get back any of the money. But if so, why doesn’t the text make that clear? Others have argued that what the manager really did was deduct his commission from the bill and the owner received what he was expecting in the first place. Nice try, but again, there is nothing in the parable to point to such a conclusion.

I am especially fond of the scholar who explains that the dilemma is solved once we understand the intricacies of the Jewish law of usury. He goes into great detail of how the Pharisees had found a way around the law and were charging interest, something forbidden by the Law of Moses. This scholar argues that the manager deducted the interest from the bills, so the people were only paying back the principle. With no written evidence to the contrary, the owner was in no position to challenge the manager’s claims. So, instead of complaining about his loss, he played along, and thus acquired a completely undeserved reputation as a pious believer who did not charge interest on his loans. He was ready to make spiritual capital by appearing generous, especially when no other course was open to him.2 I really love the ingenuity of that interpreter; but I don’t think it’s the key to understanding this parable.

Then, what is the parable saying?
If we go back to the end of the parable, we read: “The owner commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” The parable clearly states that the manager was dishonest, but the owner did not commend him for his dishonesty. Rather, he commended him for acting shrewdly. The manager was facing a crisis. He was on the verge of being tossed out on his ear. However, just moments before he landed with a thud, he figured out how to land on his feet. The owner saw how the manager’s quick resourcefulness saved his neck, and said, in effect, “I’ve got to hand it to you. That was shrewd.”

It reminds me of the story a colleague told about a small town that had only one church. Also in this town were two well known brothers who were crooks. Hardly a day passed when one of them didn’t cheat someone. One day, one of the brothers died, and the other brother went to the pastor and said, “I want to have a service in the church for my brother. I want a fine service in which you refer to my brother as a saint.” Then, before the pastor could deny the request, the man added, “And, I want to give your church all the money it needs to build the new youth center.” The pastor thought about all the young people who would be helped by the new facilities, so he agreed to do it.

Within a couple of days, everybody in town knew that the money had been given to the church because the banker let the word out. So everyone in town showed up for the funeral. They wanted to see for themselves how the pastor would handle it. Was he really going to call that conniver a saint?

To their surprise, he began forthrightly. He said, “Now, everyone here today knows this man was crooked. At one time or another, he swindled each one of us. Most of us are angry about one or more things he did to us, BUT,” he said, “compared to his brother, this man was a saint!”3 A shrewd way of dealing with a problem.

When Jesus told this story of the manager who acted shrewdly, he wasn’t advocating dishonest actions. He was encouraging his followers to be as clever and focused as some non-believers are. He was pointing to Donald Trump and saying, “See how shrewd he is in his business dealings in order to amass great material wealth? I wish my followers were as shrewd in amassing spiritual wealth.”

As mainline Protestants, why haven’t we been shrewder in spreading Christ’s teachings of compassion and justice? Why have we allowed the media to equate Christianity with right-wing fundamentalism? Why haven’t we been as shrewd as the gun lobby, and gotten semi-automatic weapons off the streets and handguns OUT OF the hands of thugs? Why haven’t we been shrewd enough to get health care INTO the hands of the poor? Why haven’t we been shrewder in protecting God’s creation? Why haven’t we been as shrewd in pushing peace as others have been in pushing war? Jesus wants us to be as shrewd in expanding God’s kingdom as some non-believers are in expanding worldly kingdoms.

The second point Jesus makes is this: “Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

It’s an awkward sentence and the phrase “dishonest wealth” throws us off because it makes us think of money that was derived from selling drugs or peddling pornography. A better translation is “worldly wealth” or “the money of this unrighteous age.” The money is not what is corrupt, the culture is. The point of the sentence is making friends. Even this dishonest manager figured out that he needed to convert economic realities into relational realities. In the midst of his crisis, he realized that friends are more important than money.4

In the Gospel of Luke, who are the friends that we are supposed to make for ourselves? In chapter 14, Jesus said, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.” In chapter 15, the Pharisees grumble because Jesus’ friends are those who had been pushed to the margins of society. And in the story that follows this morning’s parable, a rich man ignores the poor man at his gate. They both die and the poor man goes to heaven while the rich man goes to Hades. And since the rich man had not made friends with the poor man, he was not welcomed into the eternal home.

Professor Tom Long had a student in his preaching course who was the son of an inner city pastor. One Christmas, the student was at home with his family and spent an afternoon talking to his father about the ministry. His father talked about the difficulties of ministry in the inner city and the struggle for justice.

As the conversation continued late into the day, father and son decided to get some fresh air by taking a walk around the neighborhood. Near the end of their walk, the father said, “It’s almost dinner time. Let’s order a pizza to be delivered to the house. By the time we get home, it will be there.” So they walked over toward the nearest pay phone, only to encounter a homeless man.

“Spare change’?” the man asked.

The father reached into his pockets and held out a heaping handful of coins. “Here, take what you need,” he said to the homeless man.

“Well, then, I’ll take it all,” said the surprised man, sweeping the coins into his own hands and turning to walk away. Before he had gotten far, though, the father realized that he no longer had any money to make the phone call. “Excuse me,” he called after the homeless man. “I was going to make a phone call at the pay phone, but I have given you all my change.”

The homeless man turned around and walked back to them and extending his hands, said, “Here, take what you need.” 5

Jesus wants us to be as shrewd in advancing God’s kingdom as others are in working against it. And he wants us to remember that despite the dangers that are inherent in wealth, it’s possible to use it to advance God’s kingdom if we use it to make friends with people from all walks of life.

NOTES

    1. Mary H. Schertz, “Shrewd Steward” in Christian Century, September 4, 2007, p.19.
    2. G. B. Caird, Saint Luke, (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1972), p.187.
    3. Michael Anderson, “Just Begin,” August 28, 1994, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City.
    4. Mary H. Schertz, “Shrewd Steward.”
    5. Thomas G. Long, “Making Friends,” at Columbia Theological Seminary, May 19, 2006.

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