The Unjust Steward and the Heart

Luke 16:1-18 

1 He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'

3 "Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'

5 "So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' So 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?' So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

The Law, the Prophets, and the Kingdom

14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. 15 And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

16 "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

18 "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Jesus told this parable before answering the Pharisees whose love of money and pride were the root of their evil.  He spoke of ar wealthy man who had a worker who needed to be held accountable for misusing the man’s money and let go from his employment.  The cunning man did not want to steal and was too proud to beg, so he devised a plan to get support from those who owed the master money and support him when he lost his position by helping them pay less of their debts. The original debt reduction plan but with a dishonest twist.  He had them dishonestly rewrite the amounts of their debts so they would owe less and have more for themselves and to help the man being fired for his own dishonesty.  This shrewdness was commended by the master as a “well done” plot but not in agreement with what he had done as a commendation.  This was not an example for us to follow but and indictment against those choosing to use worldly cunning (Genesis 3:1, Ephesians 4:14) but to speak truly (Ephesians 4:15) with love and concern to do right by others in fairness and honesty instead of shrewd and dishonest practices.  Jesus used this to tell them and us not to be as the world in living to love money at the expense of righteousness because any unjust and unfaithful behavior only leads to an eternal home of the same.  True eternal life is found in loving God and keeping His commandments while loving others as we desire to be loved and treated in such a fashion of just and fair dealings.  Why would God entrust true riches to any who seek their own at the expense of others and disregard of Him in the process?  Unfaithfulness breeds  unfaithful people unable to be entrusted with the true riches of God in Christ.  Likewise, we are told that we are unable to serve two masters; either we serve God in willing obedience or we serve the unrighteous gain of wealth for ourselves to our own demise.  Why then would we want to pursue a path of temporal and passing pleasure of prosperity with no eternal gain?  The Pharisees heard this and were incensed against Jesus for exposing their hearts’ desires and worship because it unveiled their unrighteousness and shrewdness.  They tried to justify their actions as if their abominable behavior would not be seen by God or men.  He further exposed their hypocrisy of not keeping the moral commandments of the LORD while posturing themselves as the keepers of the Law modified to fit their ungodliness.  May we never even begin to imitate this line of reasoning!  Not one tiniest detail of God’s moral law will be explained away; Jesus made it clear that it would be easier to make the heavens and earth to vanish than abrogate the truth and need to keep the word of God.  He then left them with an example of how they gave divorces contrary to God’s word and caused others to sin by explaining away (Deuteronomy 24:1-3, Matthew 5:31-32, Mark 10:4-5) that part of His word.  This is an example for us to not disregard what God’s word commands in the scriptures and substitute behavior and reasoning that only give us temporary gain at the expense of eternal riches of justness and righteousness.  Remember the unjust steward and the effect on the heart.