Stewardship
Jesus teaches his disciples, by using another parable, about stewardship.
There is a broader context that this section fits within Jesus and his teaching on the Kingdom of God. He has shared how to enter the Kingdom, expanded on who is there and what is happening and how we are received. Here Jesus advises on how we should live now with these future possibilities. How should we live in this life with the prospect of resurrection life to come?
The parable has difficulties regarding interpretation. It is often titled ‘ The Unrighteous Steward’. How can a story about an unrighteous steward explain stewardship in the Kingdom of God? Jesus is again using shock tactics, ensuring that what he says is heard and considered.
The parable identifies someone who is a poor manager, not properly looking after his employers interests, and is therefore about to be fired.
At that time the manager would survive by living on some of the interest on the debts he has to collect from tenants. He would pass on some to the owner and retain a portion. He would be viewed similarly to a tax collector at the time, keeping a commission.
The general view of these people was that they would collect and keep as big a portion as possible, therefore oppressing those in debt and also depriving owners. As such therefore they were hated and had no friendships.
The thinking of the person in the parable is that if they target as much income for themselves as possible they will ultimately lose out worse. But if instead, they look to the future and change their priorities now, it will be better in the long run.
If, instead of looking after themselves, they minimised any benefit to themselves, and then they would maximise the benefits to their employer and those under their responsibility. This would endear themselves instead of causing hatred.
This requires a change of priority. Instead of looking after oneself first, others should get prior consideration. This results in good stewardship.
Jesus puts importance on this, how we live our lives now. He wants us to be good stewards of any responsibility that falls to us, whether with money or anything else. He talks about this being an example of faithfulness, trust and righteousness.
As usual, the Pharisees provide the example of the opposite, they were lovers of money and scoffed at him.
This is an issue that is of the heart, what is central, what drives ones actions. There is a choice, to follow God or selfishness.
Jesus uses other examples that were relevant to the Pharisees. They preferred to keep rules and regulations, thus suggesting externally that they kept God’s Law, whilst maintaining their selfish ambitions. They also treated marriage as something that they could end in divorce if there were reasons of convenience, often financial.
Good stewardship is not slavery. The example in the parable is a person who is free to make their own decisions. There is a choice, service to God or to wealth (perhaps wealth in a wider context, riches and other things).
Background
Luke chapter 16 verses verses 1 to 18 - Now he (Jesus) was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.' The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.' And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at him. And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
There is a broader context that this section fits within Jesus and his teaching on the Kingdom of God. He has shared how to enter the Kingdom (chapter 13), expanded on who is there and what is happening (chapter 14) and how we are received (chapter 15). Here Jesus advises on how we should live now with these future possibilities. How should we live in this life with the prospect of resurrection life to come?
Jesus puts importance on this, how we live our lives now. He wants us to be good stewards of any responsibility that falls to us, whether with money or anything else. He talks about this being an example of faithfulness, trust and righteousness (Luke chapter 16 verses 10 to 13).
As usual, the Pharisees provide the example of the opposite, they were lovers of money and scoffed at him (verses 14,15).
Jesus uses other examples that were relevant to the Pharisees. They preferred to keep rules and regulations, thus suggesting externally that they kept God’s Law, whilst maintaining their selfish ambitions. They also treated marriage as something that they could end in divorce if there were reasons of convenience, often financial (verses 15 to 18).
Good stewardship is not slavery. The example in the parable is a person who is free to make their own decisions. There is a choice, service to God or to wealth (perhaps wealth in a wider context, riches and other things) (verse 13; Matthew chapter 6 verses 24 to 34; 25 verses 14 to 30; 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 1,2; Titus chapter 1 verse 7; 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 10,11).