Scripture: Luke 16:1-13
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
“‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Consider:
Before we dig into this scripture, let’s acknowledge together that it is a super complicated parable with a bunch of different very important theological ideas.
Wait.
No.
Actually, it’s a super simple parable which we’ve twisted and turned and contorted so as to make as many loopholes as possible because we don’t really like the message it tells us and what the parable asks us to do.
The parable pretty clearly lays out two central ideas in Jesus’ ministry - first, the hatred of waste and a call to responsible uses of our resources and second, the idea that you can’t both serve God and serve something else. You can’t have two number one priorities or nothing is a priority. You can’t love God and money or God and food or God and rules. You have to pick. God comes first or something else comes first.
So why do spend all this effort trying to make loopholes? It’s because trying to figure out the line between using a tool, like money, and loving it as a means to itself is complicated. Our society celebrates people with lots of money, as if to say whatever else they do is ok as long as they are also very, very rich. And we need money to do things like buy food and a nice, safe reliable car. Using the tool and loving the tool can often be a messy proposition.
We fall off that tightrope many days.
Money in and of itself isn’t bad or evil, it’s a tool. But it’s presence, whether a lot or a little, does have a way of revealing to us our inner most heart and the true colors of our character. It’s not the amount that matters, but how and what we do with it that counts.
As Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
Respond:
What do your money habits reveal about your character? Take a no judgment look through your spending for the last month. What do you prioritize with your dollars and what does that reveal about what’s most important to you? If you notice something which sits uneasily with you, make a plan for how you will spend differently in the coming weeks.
Pray:
Lord, help me see my money through Your eyes. I surrender my habits to You without shame, seeking only Your truth. Where my spending reflects my ego or fear, grant me the wisdom to pivot. Align my treasure with Your heart, so my resources honor what truly matters. Amen.
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