Biblion Bible Commentary
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The Shrewd Manager
Luke 16:1-13
1 He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. · WEB
A dishonest employee buys himself a future with his employer's money, and is held up as an example of foresight.
"There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions" Luke 16:1.
The parable is this Gospel's alone and it is the most puzzling in the book, because the man commended is a crook. It helps to be clear at the outset that nothing in the story approves of his ethics; what is commended is named exactly, and it is not his honesty.
He is dismissed and given notice to produce the accounts. "I don't have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg" Luke 16:3 — an office worker with no trade and no stomach for the alternative.
Calling each one of his lord's debtors to him Luke 16:5, he reduces their bills sharply — half off the oil, a fifth off the wheat. These are substantial commercial debts, and while he still holds the office his signature is good. He is spending his employer's money to buy obligations from men who will owe him hospitality when he is out of work.
"His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely" Luke 16:8.
The adjective and the commendation are in the same sentence, which settles the difficulty. He is called dishonest in the act of being praised, and what he is praised for is wisely — clear-sightedness about his position and decisive action while he still had the means.
"For the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light." The comment is the parable's point and it is an uncomfortable one. People who want money are often more serious about getting it than people who want the kingdom are about anything.
"Make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents" Luke 16:9.
Money is called unrighteous — not because owning it is sinful but because it belongs to an order that is passing. And the instruction is to do with it what the manager did: convert a temporary asset into a permanent welcome, before the notice runs out. This Gospel has already said what that looks like in practice — sell what you have and give gifts to the needy Luke 12:33.
"He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much" Luke 16:10. Money is then reclassified again, as the small thing. It is the training ground, and the true riches Luke 16:11 are what is being decided by how a person handles it.
"If you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?" Luke 16:12. Everything a person manages here belongs to somebody else, which is the position the manager was in from the first verse.
"No servant can serve two masters... You aren't able to serve God and Mammon" Luke 16:13. The saying closes the chapter's first half, and the word is left untranslated for a reason. Mammon is not money; it is money treated as a master, and the sentence says that the vacancy for a master is single.
settled What this mark means