The Point of Wealth and Business According to Jesus
Luke 16:1 ¶ He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
Luke 16:2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
Luke 16:3 And the manager said to himself, ’What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
Luke 16:4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’
Luke 16:5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
Luke 16:6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
Luke 16:7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
Luke 16:8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Luke 16:9 And 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.
So, yeah, stealing from your boss?
But remember those last three parables? They were all about celebrating when a lost thing was found. And how hard people worked to find the lost thing. They left 99 sheep to find one. They killed the fattened calf and partied over the return of the son that was thought to be dead.
The other secret slips out in Jesus’ explanation. The wealth that the man had acquired was unrighteous. The whole call to account was happening because the man was wasting his possessions. Put it all together and we see that the man was taking more from people than he should have been taking, and then wasting it on himself.
When he cut everyone’s debts in half, it was super kind to the debtors, but it was also fair. His master commended him because he went from wasting his possessions to being fair and just in his business. The dishonesty came in that the customers now thought that they got a discount, but the rich man was now just treating them fairly.
So even though this Daily Bible Reading is worth about $400, today you can read this one for free. Today only. Supplies are limited.
I don’t think it’s like that.
I think Jesus is saying exactly what He says at the end. It’s better to store up friends than wealth. Use your wealth to make friends because they are a lot more likely to keep you company in heaven. That PS5 isn’t going with you, and nobody should eat a dozen donuts alone.
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