Scripture Daily

Context No. 2886 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 16:8-13: in context

8“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light. 9I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents. 10He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”

Jesus draws the lessons out of the parable of the shrewd manager. The people of this world, he notes, are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than the children of light are. Use worldly wealth to make friends, so that when it fails you are welcomed into eternal dwellings. Whoever is faithful in little is faithful in much; if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

The surprising thing is that Jesus praises the manager's shrewdness, not his dishonesty, and tells his followers to be at least as clever about eternal things as worldly people are about money. Money is to be used, not served, spent now in ways that store up a welcome that lasts. And the test is faithfulness in small things: how I handle a little money shows whether I can be trusted with true riches. Then the line falls like an axe, you cannot serve God and money. One of them will end up being master.

Am I using money in the service of God and others, or has money quietly become the master I actually serve?

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