The connection between the parable and Jesus’ audience (ancient and modern) comes in verse 9: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Jesus calls His people to imitate the steward’s wise actions through unrighteous (worldly) wealth in securing a physical dwelling place, but with one major difference. We are to use our worldly wealth to make friends and thereby secure for ourselves an eternal dwelling place.
Our parable begins with a “certain rich man” who has a “manager” or “steward” (Greek oikonomos; Luke 16:1). An oikonomos in the ancient world was a trusted servant who doled out the goods of his master to his clients and kept an honest record of those who owed his master. However, this steward is dishonest. His master receives an accusation that the steward is “wasting his possessions” (v. 1). Without hesitation, the master calls on him to submit his accounts. He’s fired. The steward immediately wonders what he will do. He’s too weak to dig and too proud to beg (v. 3). But then, initial panic gives way to wisdom. He approaches all his master’s debtors, asks them what they owe, and then tells them to rewrite their contracts.
His strategy is simple. He hands out discounts before turning in his name badge so that, in his own words, “when I am removed from my stewardship, people may receive me into their houses” (v. 4). His plan capitalizes on the ancient conventions of benefaction and hospitality. These debtors owe his master. But if he provides a “discount,” then they’ll owe him. And when they discover that he’s out of a job and on the streets, they’ll feel compelled by his generosity to return the favor and give him a place to stay.
It is a pretty wise plan, but is it honest? Some commentators don’t think so. They consider the actions in verses 5–7 to be dishonest and against his master’s wishes, like an employee who hands out freebies on his last day. But if that’s true, how does he receive the praise of his master in verse 8? It must be that his actions are actually praiseworthy. More than likely, the steward has lowered the amount owed by taking off his own commission to benefit both his master’s debtors and himself. In other words, this steward is not dishonest for lowering the amount owed by debtors (vv. 5–7). He is wise. What makes him dishonest is that he wastes “his [master’s] possessions” (v. 1). Jesus then picks up on the “wisdom” or “shrewdness” of the steward rather than his dishonesty and declares that “the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (v. 8).
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