Luke 16:1-13 (NRSV)
Read Luke 16:1-13 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 16Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. Verse 2So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Verse 3Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. Verse 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' Verse 5So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' Verse 6He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Verse 7Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' Verse 8And his master 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. Verse 9And 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. Verse 10"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. Verse 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? Verse 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? Verse 13No 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."
Devotion
Confused? Still puzzled? To the careful reader isn't the parallelism in v. 10 odd, when it places the concept of faithful alongside dishonest? And not just once, but twice, when vv. 10 and 11f. are grouped into the same discussion? Moreover, doesn't v. 12 seem to get it backwards, since we twenty-first century contemporaries first observe how someone handles his/her own things, not those of others, before entrusting our precious things to them?
Jesus provides a clue to solving this riddle in v. 13 when he speaks of what it is that frees a servant for true or faithful service. Only after first demonstrating trustworthiness or competence in managing the property of the master will a servant be given his/her own things to manage.
Now we return to v. 10 and its mention of trustworthiness–because the word translated faithful can also be rendered trustworthy. Similarly the word dishonest might be rendered as untrustworthy. To do so reveals an interesting parallelism. Verse 11 is then to be rendered, "If you do not prove to be trustworthy in the handling of untrustworthy mammon [which is indeed the case], then who will entrust to you the genuine or authentic or real thing that is of much greater value?"
The good news is this: God has already bestowed on you the genuine or authentic or real thing.
Prayer
Triune God, at your invitation, we exposed, surprised, confused creatures come to you in prayer, somewhat aware of our untrustworthiness, yet trusting in your promises, and longing for their fulfillment. Amen.