Sometimes We Can Learn from a Rascal

Did I choose a controversial topic for a talk? Today’s message is about Luke 16:1-15, the Dishonest Steward.

The Story

1. He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

The story itself is about a steward who was a rascal. He was likely a slave and probably in charge of his master’s estate. In Palestine, there were many absolute landlords. Apparently, the steward was guilty of embezzlement. However, the debtors were also rascals. The debtors were tenant farmers or sharecroppers, who owed rent and a proportion of their crops to the landlord. The steward, who lost his job, gets a brilliant idea. He will falsify the entries in the master’s book, so that debtors are indebted with far less then they owed.  This has two effects. One, the debtors are grateful to the steward. Two, the debtors are also involved, so the steward’s misdemeanor can be used for future blackmail. The master too was of a rascal. He admires the shrewdness and astuteness of the servant and commends his prudence. 

From the difficulty of the story, Luke addresses several lessons. 

Lesson 1 (Verse 8)

8 The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 

The master commended the dishonest steward, because “for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” What if the children of God were as eager and ingenious to carry out God’s plan for the future Kingdom as the children of the world were to get ahead to attain money and comfort? 

If God’s people would give as much time to things that concern the soul, as they do to things that pertain to their business, things in our world could be quite different. Our Christianity would become real and effective. If we were to spend as much time and effort doing God’s work, as we do in the worldly endeavors, the world would be a different and better place. 

Lesson 2 (Verse 9)

9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.

This lesson is more difficult. The lesson is that material possessions should be used to cement friendships, which is where the real permanent values of life lie. There are two ways to do this. 

For eternity, Rabbis had a saying: “The rich help the poor in this world, and the poor help the rich in the world to come.” Saint Ambrose commented on the rich who build bigger barns: “The bosoms of the poor, the houses of the widows, and the mouths of children are the barns that last forever.” It is a Jewish belief that charity given to the poor would stand to a person’s credit in the world to come. 

A person’s true wealth is not be what he or she kept, but what he or she give away and how the giving affects the world. A person can use wealth to make things easier for herself and himself, or the wealth can be used to further good causes. My friend Bob Pamplin, a local Christian person and a person of wealth, who has given away 15% of his wealth in the last 20 years to help local colleges. The lesson is that possessions and wealth in themselves is not sinful, but that there are great responsibilities of wealth to be used in God’s stewardship. 

Lesson 3 (Verses 10-12)

10 “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, 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? 

A person’s way of fulfilling a small task is the best proof of fitness or unfitness to be entrusted with a larger task. No person will be advanced to the higher position, until they are proven to be capable and trusted in the lower position. Jesus advances and extends the principle to eternity. Stewardship means that, on earth, the things of which you are in charge are not yours. The things you have in this world are only lent to you, and you are a steward of these things. You cannot take them with you when you die. On the other hand, in heaven, you will be given what is really yours and essentially yours. What you get depends on what you do in this world and how you exercise your stewardship. 

Lesson 4 (Verse 13)

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 mammon.”

No person can serve two masters, that is, no servant can serve two masters. One master takes up all his time. The servant belongs every day and every moment of his life to his master. Nowadays people can carry two jobs, because one job allows for leisure time. However, serving God is not a part time job. There is no leisure time. God is the most exclusive of all masters. We either take him totally and all together, or not at all. 

I ask, “Are the children of the world really wiser than the children of the light?” It seems that big industry has oiled the wheels of progress, but often at the expense of the world. We see the Nestle Corporation, for example, with a worldwide promotion of baby formulas that is promoted at the expense of the children and the mothers of the world. 

Lesson 5

What about heaven? Are we being prepared to be human here so we can begin to be humans and truly human in heaven? There are two kinds of travelers in the world: those who are bored and unprepared, and those who are excited to be here. The dream of heaven is where each of us begins with the degree of humanity that we acquired here on earth. The saints shine with the light of God, while others are often disappointed with their acquisitions here on earth. How this is so true for humanity. Although I believe we all grow, what a shame to have to start in kindergarten, when we all could have started at the graduate level.

The right use of wealth is to gift our money. The tragedy of Western humanity is that everything has a price tag. Money is power to be exercised, and it should be exercised responsibly for the good humankind.

The highest reward is using our skills for the good of humankind, such as doctors and nurses having the satisfaction of saving a life. However, we find ourselves between the world of Skinner and the Christian heaven. It is too bad that the satisfaction for doing good for others is not enough that we also need exorbitant monetary remuneration. 

Perhaps someday in our time we will learn to be human loving humans, who can bring back the balance of the abuse of power and inequality. There is such a great chasm between the rich and the poor, between the haves and the have nots, between the hungry and the too well fed, and between those who live in mansions and those in and the tar paper shacks of the world. Someday perhaps we will be able to see our world through the loving human eyes of a Christ and that will make all the difference. 

Our Christianity will only become real and effective, when we spend as much time and effort on our soul as we do in worldly endeavors.