Scripture Daily

Context No. 786 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 16:1-7: in context

1He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3“The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’ 6He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

Jesus tells a parable that has puzzled readers for centuries. A rich man's manager is reported to be wasting his master's property, and the master calls him in: give an account of your management, for you are fired. The manager panics. I am not strong enough to dig, he says to himself, and I am ashamed to beg. And then he gets an idea for landing on his feet. Before the news is out, he calls in each of his master's debtors and slashes their bills, a hundred measures of oil written down to fifty, a hundred of wheat to eighty, so that when he loses his job these people will owe him a favor and take him into their homes.

The strange thing is that Jesus praises him, not for the crookedness, which he does not defend, but for the sheer foresight. The man saw clearly that his position was ending, understood that the assets in his hands were temporary and about to slip away, and acted at once to convert them into something that would outlast the job, into people who would welcome him. That decisiveness is what Jesus holds up, with a rueful edge: the children of this age, he says, are shrewder in dealing with their own generation than the children of light. Worldly people are often far more strategic about getting what they want than believers are about what actually lasts. The manager knew his money was slipping and spent it fast on a welcome that would remain.

The manager saw that what he held was temporary and moved decisively to invest it in what would last. Am I as strategic and urgent about what endures as I am about what I know I am going to lose anyway?

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