Luke 16 - The Unrighteous Steward Part 1

The parable of the unrighteous steward in Luke 16 is one that is confusing for most. People often wonder what it is that Jesus is trying to teach through this parable. Below are some of my thoughts on this confusing passage of Scripture.

We know from verse 1 that Jesus was telling this parable to the disciples, although from verse 14 we read that the Pharisees were also listening in to Jesus’ teaching. Verse 1 is also where this parable begins. The rich man becomes aware of a possible wrongdoing committed by his steward. Two words I’d first like to focus on are the words “reported” and “squandering” (NASB). I use the NASB which uses these words in this verse. Other translations may use different words here.

First let us focus on the word translated as “reported” which is the Greek word διαβάλλω (G1225). This word is a verb which can more literally be translated as “accuse”. Using a more literal translation for this word here will help us in our understanding as we read further into this parable. Next we see the word “squandering” which is the Greek word διασκορπίζω (G1287). This is also a verb which we can translate as “to scatter” or “to disperse”. We do not know who this man’s accuser is or their relation to the master, the steward, or the debtors. We also do not know if the accusation of squandering/scattering his master’s possessions is true. Based on the master’s response in verse 2 (for you can no longer be manager) and the steward’s inner thoughts in verse 3 (what shall I do since my master is taking the management away from me?) we can arrive at one of three conclusions:

1. The accusation is true and the steward knows he is caught

2. The accusation is false but the steward has no way of disproving it (this also supposes that the accuser is more reputable than the steward is)

3. The steward was acting in good faith all along and made decisions he thought his master would favor but it turns out his actions were wrong

Regardless of which conclusion you choose to believe, in verse 4 the steward knows what his fate will be. He will be removed from his position and will find himself among the people who owe his master money. Verses 5 through 7 the steward interacts with two of the debtors. He allows both of them the opportunity to reduce their debts drastically by simply writing down a new amount owed which was less than before. It is this action that warrants praise from his master.

So what do we make of all of this? It is my belief that this steward was accused of unfair lending practices. I think any one of these scenarios can be true:

1. He lent out more on behalf of his master than he was allowed to (perhaps for personal gain)

- If we agree that this scenario is likely then what we see the steward doing is making an attempt to remove some of the amount owed in an attempt to quickly regain his master’s possessions and reduce the number of debtors.

2. He was asking for too much in return from the debtors (unfairly inflated the loan amounts)

- If we agree with this scenario then what we see the steward doing is perhaps removing any fee that he may collect from the debtors leaving them with just the amounts owed to the master.

3. He was lending out to people that he knew could not repay their debts

- If we agree with this scenario then we see the steward is resetting the loans to what they should have been all along or cutting it down to an amount that is both fair for his master and the debtor.

In all three scenarios one thing is true: the steward is looking to gain the favor of the people he will now have to live among. Some of these people could even be people that he has not treated fairly. He looks to do them right by using the only thing he has control over: money. Even though his actions were an attempt to gain favor of the debtors, we see that it is the master who praises the wise actions of the steward. We do not know if the steward was put back in charge of the master’s possessions or if he was still removed from his position. If he was still removed we do not know if his plan found favor among the debtors.

Whether or not the steward was guilty of a wrongdoing is irrelevant to the story. The accusation was made that he was not being a good money manager and his actions could be interpreted to show that in fact he was not being good money manager. When he was called out for doing wrong (or potentially doing wrong) he responded in a way that showed he was not a slave to money. He showed more desire to do right by his soon to be peers as opposed to looking at ways to get rich quick before hitting the streets alone.

In part 2 I hope to cover verses 9 through 18 and finish out the discussion on the first half of Luke 16.

Thoughts on John 4

Often I feel like I have become negligent in diligently reading my Bible. This feeling occurs a lot when I read through the Old Testament. What I mean by that is I get to a section of Scripture and say in my head, “Oh, I know this story. I've heard it hundreds of times.” I think of stories like Noah, Abraham, David and Goliath, and the list goes on and on. The same is true when I read the New Testament and come across stories of Jesus as he feeds the multitudes, the fruits of the Spirit, Paul’s conversion, etc. It is not an ill intended or malicious thought, but I feel like it is an approach most of us are scared to admit. As a part of a series on the Gospel of John at church we covered the story in John 4 where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. Like most other popular Biblical stories, this is one that I have long heard repeated in my years being active in the church. My initial reaction was one I described above and I approached the chapter with the thought that I will read this to refresh my memory, but I already know this story. I could not have been more wrong. Upon reading I began to see an application of this Scripture that I had not personally noted before (and have not heard in the past). I felt it best to share my initial thoughts before I forget them. I also hope to do more study on this story.

The most well-known part of this story is Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at the well. The section I want to focus on is verses 1 through 38. One of the points of the story that began to stand out to me is the disciples of Jesus and their actions throughout. In verse 8 we read that His disciples had gone down into the city of Sychar to buy food. Sychar was a city in Samaria that Jesus was passing through on His way to Galilee from Judea. I am sure that most people are familiar with the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans as well as the cultural views of women at this time so I won’t go into great detail on those areas. But we find Jesus and his disciples here and in need of food. Verse 27 is where the disciples reenter the story and they come upon Jesus and the woman. The NASB uses the word amazed to describe their reaction to Jesus conversing with a woman. The Greek work here (G2296) can also be translated as marvel which is how the KJV puts it. Verse 30 we read that the people of the city were now coming out of the city to be with Jesus. So what is there for us to discover here about the disciples’ actions and the closing words of Jesus in verses 34 -38?

The first thing that is important to notice is what the disciples were doing. They were going down into the town to buy food. The main thing to notice here is that this is food for which they did not labor, someone else did. Verse 27 confirms for us that they did succeed in their task of acquiring physical sustenance which they were trying to give to Jesus. Verse 34 begins the dialogue of Jesus which starts by answering the question of the disciples in verse 33 about where Jesus acquired His food from. The disciples were concerned about the physical, but Jesus was using this opportunity to make a spiritual application. Jesus relates the Samaritans who have come out of the city to a field white for harvest. What I find to be interesting is that not that much before this statement the disciples were themselves already in “the field white for harvest”. While they had gone down to buy food they had unknowingly entered into this field and were in it, but had no clue what they were experiencing. Since we have nothing from the Scripture that indicates their motives entering Sychar were spiritually motivated, we assume that their intentions were to simply buy food. How easily they could have brought people from the town to Jesus so that they could believe. Instead what we see is the woman is the one responsible for drawing the people out to Jesus and it is by her testimony that many believed. In a sense Jesus got His food as well from the city, just not in the same fashion that the disciples were thinking. In verse 25 we confirm that this Samaritan woman was educated about Jesus, the coming Messiah. Someone planted that “seed” of knowledge within her. The Bible doesn't tell us specifically who does that, but we do know that she knows a Savior is coming. In this way we see Jesus “reaping”. Just as the disciples acquired their physical food from the town of Sychar, so did Jesus also acquire his spiritual food from Sychar as well.

The application for us today I think is that we need to be aware that we live in fields that are white for harvest. Often times it is easy for us to separate our responsibilities as Christians from our physical responsibilities for survival. Many times we wait for some sign or church sponsored event before we actively look for ways to bring others to Christ. If we stopped and looked around we would see that we are surrounded by people who are lost and often times we may appear to be right there with them. We need to work to be more actively aware that everywhere we go we are already surrounded by fields ready to be harvested.

We also can learn that often times it may not always be us involved every step of the way in the process. Christ died and was raised again and it is through this that we now have the hope of eternal salvation if we repent of our sins and are baptized. But beyond that we do not know the stories of everyone around us. Perhaps someone else has already been discussing Christ with a person and planted the seed through that discussion. It could be that the Holy Spirit is working on someone’s heart already. Or it could even be that you planted a seed and didn't know it. The point is that it is a team effort. Helping to bring others to Christ is not about who does what. Some days you may be the sower, some days you may be the reaper, or to paraphrase Jesus, entering into someone else’s labor. The end result is that souls are won and in that we can rejoice together and one day rejoice in heaven. I am sure the disciples rejoiced in some fashion when they bought the physical food for which they did not labor. For them the food is not less filing or less appetizing because they did not sow the seed, reap the crops, make the food, and then eat it. But everyone in that process is happy as each part of their step is completed and successfully gets passed off to the next person. Once the food is sold everyone rejoices because everyone’s part was successful and the end goal was achieved.

I also can’t help but picture Jesus shaking His head and smiling when He sees the disciples coming back with all of this food and then they turn around and see all of these people coming out of Sychar. Not that He was upset or disappointed in them, but simply that they forgot to bring back His food as well.