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16 Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'

3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg 4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'

5 "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

6 "'Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied.

"The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.'

7 "Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?'

"'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied.

"He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'

8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

13 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.

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This is the toughest parable to uncover, I think. The feel good answer to what this is about is that you shouldn't be dishonest in your dealings with others, but value wealth as a means to do Kingdom work, an exemplify Christian values in your daily job/life.

That message is there, but I think it is still deeper. This manager acted in his own self interest, and made things better for himself. As Christians, we shouldn't ignore that people are people, and will act in this way. We should recognize this, and be careful. Jesus was not a rube, far from it. He was famous for his wit and his ability to avoid confrontation by picking his battles.

I think that this teaching is pertinent when it comes to subjects like politics. We should always act with love and integrity, but shrewdness in and of itself is not a bad trait.

I also think that this is pertinent when it comes to obeying the law. Remember that Pilate released Barrabbas, a literal rebel, to crucify Jesus, who was expected, as the Messiah, to free the people from oppression. Barrabbas was a failure of a Rebel, Israel was a failure as a rebellious state. A physical revolt against Rome was foolish and foolhardy.

I think that there is some amount of this wisdom in Romans 13. There is no reason to carelessly revolt against an unscrupulous government. Pay to ceaser what belongs to ceaser. The Roman Empire provided a perfect tinderbox for the explosion of Christianity. Pilate was an evil dude, but his actions while in power resulted in important kingdom work.

So, I hate the overuse of Romans to say we should blindly follow our government. We should address the institutions of the world with care and shrewdness. But, violence is almost never the right answer, including rebellion. That said, we shouldn't be so arrogant to think that we have the power to frustrate the overarching will of God. If things get too out of whack, we will trust God to fix it. If you find yourself in a situation where you can do real kingdom work through interaction with political issues, I think the Bible encourages you to take it, but be wary of corruption of your values.

I've read a lesson on this parable that says it wasn't uncommon for stewards to charge tenants more than the landlord knew or required. So the steward here cut his illicit "take", making friends of the tenants and the landlord, both who were none the wiser. This is shrewd, and also shows sacrificing current gains for future gains. In this way we should emulate him by sacrificing our current gains (material wealth, power, etc) for future (heavenly) gains. It also shows in a way that worldly people in a way are shrewder than their pious counterparts, because they follow through. The steward knew he either had to sacrifice his current gains or lose everything. Christians have the same proposition, to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Him - or lose everything. But we're not always as good at the calculus, not as willing to pay the world from our current gains to ensure future ones. It also shows how we can take the idol of money and win friends of the world by sacrificing for the poor. The shrewd steward's story and solution isn't all that dissimilar from Zaccheus, who also repaid those he had wronged from "his cut".

I do like your post quite a bit. There is almost always value found in nuance and avoidance of simplistic or binary interpretations of issues, and I think that you've captured that well here. If there is thing I've learned it's that everything is more complicated than it appears at first glance.

Thanks for the good post. It was much needed, as I've clearly been struggling with maintaining my gentleness lately. I think it goes to what you were saying about being on guard against the corrupting effects of politics if you get involved with it. Even though I don't participate, when the discussion touches upon it, especially from a theological perspective, I struggle to remain gentle. It's ironic, but telling, because I lose my more gentle approach because I hate the corrosive effects of man's politics on the witness of the church. So I become what I warn against.

So, thank you for the post, even if that eliciting that reaction wasn't the purpose.

The point is to use your money shrewdly....."make friends for the kingdom".

The shrewd manager wasn't using his money, at least not on a plain reading of the text.

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8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

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My guess as what's going on with the scenario - Guy gets fired > guy goes to all of the 'bosses' debtors', most likely because they know him, but do not know that he's been fired. So he goes to them and asks them to pay half the bill and then he keeps it instead of giving it to the master.

The master is probably thinking, that shrewd blankety blank really got me.

Lesson's to learn below

9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

13 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.

You can see the cautionary tale against desiring material blessings here, too.

Worldly wealth's only use is to gain friends because it will be gone. And if that gain is not there, you will not be welcomed into eternal dwellings. This is no different than the virgins with their lamps, or the talents. Material things are not ours - they're "someone else's property" and are also contrasted with true riches, material things are "little" and divine things are "much".

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So he goes to them and asks them to pay half the bill and then he keeps it instead of giving it to the master.

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I can't get there from the reading of the text, including a cursory review of the Greek.

He asks them to reduce their bill, not pay him. The message is pretty different if he directly stole the goods.

BusterAg said:

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So he goes to them and asks them to pay half the bill and then he keeps it instead of giving it to the master.

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I can't get there from the reading of the text, including a cursory review of the Greek.

He asks them to reduce their bill, not pay him. The message is pretty different if he directly stole the goods.

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It doesn't make sense from a logical standpoint either.

The Debtor still owe the Master, yet he's going to commend the Manager for stealing from the debtors who likely cannot pay him now?

I don't read that he was stealing the payment, but rather that he reduced their debts in order to win friends so he would have somewhere to go.

yep, I overlooked this phrase "people will welcome me into their houses" I missed the initial motivation and therefore was trying to make sense of the motive. I agree with you all and thanks for the correction.

4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'

DirtDiver said:

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yep, I overlooked this phrase "people will welcome me into their houses" I missed the initial motivation and therefore was trying to make sense of the motive. I agree with you all and thanks for the correction.

4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'

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Nice point.

I will reemphasize the point that Jesus seems to be saying here that people obviously act in their own self interest, and Christians would be foolish not to take that into account when we deal with others.

Even more strongly: worldly people are better at determining what their self interest is with regard to worldly things than Christians are with regard to divine things.

k2aggie07 said:

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Even more strongly: worldly people are better at determining what their self interest is with regard to worldly things than Christians are with regard to divine things.

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Nice. I agree that puts an added layer of complexity to it.

The parable of the shrewd manager is one of my favorite parables because I think it is largely misunderstood. Christians are too eager to either 1) believe that the manager is "dishonest" or 2) we should identify with the manager rather than the people who he is managing. I don't reject such interpretations, but I think our perspective limits the power of the story.

It's important to understand that the relationship between the absentee landlord (the rich man) and the laborers was predatory, particularly in the context of Roman Palestine. He is the landlord due to patronage from some governmental ruler, not because he's the "rightful" owner of the land. The "rightful" owner from a Jewish perspective are the Jews who have been living there for generations, not some wealthy, foreign, Greek landowner. The landlord and the laborers are constantly playing a dangerous game of resistance and domination. The manager is in charge because he plays the game well. If he wasn't shrewd, he never would have been in the position and would not be able to represent the landlord. He isn't dishonest. He's doing his job.

In this instance, charges have been brought against him that he is wasting the possessions of the landlord which mean he is either taking too much off the top (generally they augment their salaries by under the table deals, not as a cut of each transaction), that he is being too lenient to the laborers, or he is making bad investments. This is the type of charge that would regularly come his way. The laborers, apparently, are attempting to hurt his bargaining power, and increase theirs, by accusing him of robbing from the master. If he is fired, then the next manager knows the laborers are strong. If he stays, then he is in a weaker position but may try to retaliate. Being fired is probably a death sentence for the manager.

The manager "acts shrewdly" by reducing the debts of the laborers. The laborers as a result would praise the master as just and merciful, as responsible for releasing them from the harsh prices of the manager. The master can either accept such praise and attempt to make it up later, possibly through closer scrutiny of the manager who is apparently taking more money off the top than is acceptable, or the master can fire the manager, and charge the full amount to the debtors, of which he is not fully aware. He would then be admitting that he is not in control of his affairs.

In this story, the "weapons of the weak" as Richard Herzog calls them, win out. The master loses to the laborers and the manager is in a wekaer position in future dealings. Resistance to the powerful, whose tools exist throughout the Old Testament, rule are a glimpse of future salvation from oppression and tyranny.

Identifying with the manager doesn't allow us to reach this conclusion, and looking at the story "from below" can help us reach different interpretations.

I firmly believe Christ spoke in parables to allow all believers to interpret them as they are led by the Spirit. That is just one of the reasons I believe Christianity is inclusive and not exclusive.

The most interesting thing to me in this parable is how the manager was praised in Scripture for using wise business acumen.