Luke 15 records the beloved parable of the prodigal son. The very next parable in Luke’s Gospel, however, is far less known and far more difficult to understand. While it’s commonly called the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, it would be better called the Parable of the Shrewd Manager.
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
In this parable, a rich man gets word that his manager is wasting his possessions. So the rich man calls his manager and says, “What’s going on?! Turn in your report, you can’t be my manager anymore!” The manager is distraught because he has no other way to make a living. So the manager decides to take advantage of his position while he still has it. He calls everyone who is in debt to the rich man and lets them off the hook if they pay a mere portion of what they owe (e.g., 50 measures of oil instead of 100!). The manager hopes that if he helps out the debtors, they will return the favor after he’s fired, and they will give him a place to live (an earthly home).
At this point, we expect the rich man to find out and blow a fuse over his manager’s dishonesty. But as is so common in the parables of Jesus, there’s a twist. The rich man commends the dishonest manager for being so shrewd! Perhaps this is because the debts were hard to collect, and the rich man realized that although the manager didn’t collect everything that was owed, he got more out of the debtors than if he had waited around for them to pay up. Or, perhaps the rich man is simply saying, “Wow, I have to give it to you, that was crafty!” While it might be difficult for us to imagine a rich man saying this after being swindled by his manager, we have to remember that this is a parable, and the whole point is to draw our attention to the shrewdness of the manager.
The story ends abruptly, and Jesus explains the lesson: “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:8–9).
“Make friends by means of unrighteous wealth”—what are you talking about, Jesus?! Is Jesus telling us to be dishonest, deceptive, and manipulative like the world in order to gain influence with people, as long as it’s in service of some bigger kingdom purpose? Is he saying that the ends justify the means?
Shrewdness for the Sons of Light
Well, Jesus is telling us that we need to be more shrewd, like the dishonest manager (and so many others in the world). But he is not telling us to be shrewd in the same way as the world. When Jesus says to “make friends by means of unrighteous wealth,” he doesn’t mean “make friends by means of wealth that you have personally gained or manipulated in an unrighteous way.” Jesus is simply characterizing wealth in general as unrighteous since, in this world, wealth changes hands many times and often through unrighteous means. Wesley explains, “It is termed the mammon of unrighteousness, because of the manner wherein it is commonly either procured or employed.” The manager was shrewd by using earthly wealth to gain an earthly home from the debtors who became his friends. Jesus wants his disciples to show even greater shrewdness by using earthly wealth to gain a heavenly home: “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth [the wealth of this unrighteous world], so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Lk. 16:9).
Give generously, lavishly, and sacrificially to the needy and thereby leverage the world’s money to gain an eternal reward!
Here’s the point: If you’re a son of light, you should know that earthly wealth is fleeting. It’s going to “fail.” But if the shrewd manager found a way to use it to gain friends and an earthly home, don’t just sit around until it fails! Give generously, lavishly, and sacrificially to the needy and thereby leverage the world’s money to gain an eternal reward! This is very similar to what Jesus taught earlier in Luke’s Gospel:
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:32–34)
Grant Osborne explains, “The world takes in order to ‘gain a home,’ while God’s people must give their resources to the needy in order to gain an eternal home (v. 9). Thus shrewdness for the children of the kingdom is the reverse of shrewdness for the world.”
One of the most basic ways that Jesus expects his disciples to express and exercise saving faith is by generous giving to the needy.
None of this means that we can work or buy our way into heaven, but it does mean that our works and our faith are very closely connected, and one of the most basic ways that Jesus expects his disciples to express and exercise saving faith is by generous giving to the needy.
Seeking After True Riches
The next few verses in Luke 16 are closely connected with the parable:
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Jesus doesn’t want his disciples to be attached to money or earthly possessions. He wants them to be completely devoted to God so that they are faithful in what he gives them. What he gives them is earthly possessions, which is (relatively speaking) “very little.” But if they are faithful with it—giving it away to the needy in order to lay up treasures in heaven—then he will indeed reward them for their “shrewdness” with the true riches they seek.
Generous stewardship of money was of great importance to Jesus.
Generous stewardship of money was of great importance to Jesus. “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy” (Luke 12:33) still applies to us today. It’s not like the rich young ruler being told to go and sell his possessions. It’s not in a context where Jesus is trying to get to the heart of a particular individual who loves money more than him. It’s about every disciple trusting God completely to provide their needs while actively increasing their heavenly treasure. It’s about every disciple learning how to be shrewd from God’s perspective—by using earthly possessions for the sake of heavenly treasure.
We are quick to say what verses like these don’t mean (or so we think). But what do they mean? They mean something. They were radical then, and they’re radical now. Sadly, I think we’ve become so comfortable in our affluence and cynical about others that we read right past these passages.
At this point, for me, these teachings of Jesus at least mean that I need to be more intentional about actively pursuing a simple life and looking for needy people that I can sacrificially help and serve. Perhaps I need to actually, literally sell some of my unnecessary possessions and give the money to those who need it more than I need my trinkets and treasures.
I want to take Jesus’s ethical teachings as seriously as I take his doctrinal ones. I want to be more shrewd in God’s eyes than the sons of this world, even if my actions seem foolish from their perspective. I want moneybags that don’t grow old.
