Luke 16:1-18

Whose Stuff Is It?

What a difficult parable. On one hand it seems that the manager who was accused of wasting his master’s possessions comes up with a scheme to waste them more and is commended for it. What’s going on here?

Let’s assume that God is the master and the manager is me, or you. Once the manager learns that he is losing his job he frets that he isn’t able to dig and doesn’t want to beg. Apparently digging and begging are not a part of the job description God hands us when entrusting us with His wealth. Yet, we often “manage” as if digging and begging were what it is all about. Some dig and dig and dig earning... something. But all the time all that we need has been freely given. Others beg and beg and beg. They beg God or they beg others. God doesn’t like it any more than the “others” do.

Rejecting those two things that managers really aren’t supposed to do anyway this manager comes up with the idea of cutting other people break and allowing them to lessen their load at his master’s expense. When the master finds out about it he isn’t upset. What? In fact, it seems as if the master is saying, “Now you’ve got the idea. Manage that way and you can keep your job.”

So, what does it mean to say that this manager was accused of wasting his master’s possessions? If giving his master’s possessions away to other people is OK then how was he wasting them?

Have you got it yet? Wasting his master’s possessions was obviously using them on himself. He had a good job; well paid and not too taxing. But apparently that wasn’t enough. He could lord it over others and splurge on himself which apparently he did. Once he learned to be generous with others he was commended. A couple hundred gallon of olive oil or a few hundred bushels of wheat are no big deal to God. Taking care of others? He cares about that a lot because the manager who does that is correctly representing his master.