Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Lk 16:1-15

¹Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. ²So 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—⁴I 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"`Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied.

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

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. ⁹I 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. ¹¹So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹²And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³"No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money."

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

Resources:

☰ Simon Kistemaker, "Shrewd Manager. An Exposition of Luke 16:1-9," Evangel (Spring 1984):13-14.

☰ Luca Marulli, "And How Much Do You Owe? Take Your Bill, Sit Down Quickly, and Write (Luke 16:5-6)," Tyndale Bulletin 63 (2012): 199-217.