The Parable of the Dishonest Manager, Luke 16:1-13, Sermon given Sept 22, 2019

Photo by Christian Begeman

Last Sunday's sermon was over one of the most difficult to process parables of all... the parable of the 'Dishonest Manager'.  This parable is one of those that makes us scratch our heads... then even cock our heads and squint one or two eyes... just what in the world is Jesus trying to tell us?  Well, I do suspect that we generally fail to grasp this parable and much of that has to do with not know whether or not Jesus was being sarcastic or if there is some meaning that we just don't understand due to our distance from the time and place into which it was spoken.

In the sermon, I do try to look beyond what we first encounter and I present a somewhat less troubling way to understand the parable... well, less troubling in that we can see the message... but, it is as I present it a parable of warning...

Please take a few moments and listen to the sermon, it's not a long one.  I had to present a short message as the town's "Fall Festival" was going on just a block and a half away and there was a "Chili Cook-Off" going on.  Everyone in Church was anxious to get to the event and eat... so thus... it was a short sermon.

Thank you for coming through this tiny corner of the internet and please, please, please...

Be a blessing to someone today!!

In Christ,
Roy

Luke 16:1-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Parable of the Dishonest Manager
16 Then Jesus[a] said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position 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, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth[b] so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.[c]

10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth,[d] who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”[e]

Footnotes:
a) Luke 16:1 Gk he
b) Luke 16:9 Gk mammon
c) Luke 16:9 Gk tents
d) Luke 16:11 Gk mammon
e) Luke 16:13 Gk mammon