Parable of the Unjust

“So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, ‘Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?’ ” (Luke 16: 8-11, NKJV) [Read Luke 16:1-13}

I must admit that I tried to skip over any comments about this parable called that of the unjust steward and given only in Luke’s account. It is hard to understand, hard to get at its truth. After much prayer and meditation—and yes, study and research—I can only pray that my comments here will shed some light on a most difficult passage.

Most Bible teachers (and preachers) had rather turn the page when they come to Luke 16:1-13 than to try to get at the truth of this parable. Remember the purpose of a parable: it is a short simple story intended to teach a spiritual truth, a religious principle or a moral lesson. Jesus himself said, “He who has eyes to see, let him see.”

And so what happened here? A steward, or manager of another’s affairs, was accused of dishonesty. We are not told that he was ever brought to trial or whether the accusations were true. They must have been, however, for the steward realized that he would soon lose his job. In the days remaining, he went to some who owed his boss money and made deals with them. To the one who owed 100 gallons of oil, he changed the books so that he owed 50. To the one who owed 100 measures of wheat, they changed the debt to 80. At the same time, the steward was ingratiating himself to the debtors so that when he was in trouble, without a job, unable to dig ditches and too proud to beg, the ones he had helped would be indebted to him and take him in. He was using his company’s capital to build up personal favors. Was this honest? His boss’s reaction to his “wheeling and dealing” was most unusual. He commended him, not for his actions and writing off part of the debts owed, but for his ingenuity, his foresight and shrewdness. From a bad situation he was seeking gain for the debtors and at the same time assuring that he himself would not be in penury.

Jesus nor the “imaginary boss” in this parable ever praised dishonesty, creative bookkeeping or deceitfulness. However, with the boss’s commendation, the unjust steward was praised for his vision and shrewdness. What this whole parable is about is the love of money and money is called “unrighteous mammon.” Mammon was another name for the deceiver, or devil. When the steward was faced with a very serious problem, he did not run and hide. Instead, he set upon a plan, even though in all honesty we see it as deceitful. He was helping the debtors by making their debts less. He was thinking about his future by ingratiating the debtors to him for his favor. And does all this land a person in “everlasting habitations,” or heaven? Dr.Bill Hybels in writing “A Most Unusual Reaction,” (Men’s Devotional Bible, Zondervan, 1993, p. 1111) states: “Jesus commended him because, as soon as he saw his problem, he became solution-oriented.” And a noted German minister of another century, Helmut Thielicke, in The Waiting Father: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus (Doberstein, c1959; Quell-Verlag, 1957, pp. 102-103) stated: “You have made the unrighteous mammon righteous because you used it to feed the poor and hungry and to clothe the naked. Enter into the joy of your master! Let us therefore hallow the unrighteous mammon by the use we make of it. Let us not make it a god, an idol, but a servant. In the last analysis, there is only one thing that matters…the eternal habitations which the Cross of our Lord has secured for us…’As you did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me’ (Matthew 25:40). And this I have done for the eternal habitations and for myself. Our pocketbooks can have more to do with heaven, and also with hell, than our hymnbooks. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus ended this parable of the unjust steward by a very strong declaration. Perhaps many of us memorized it in the King James Version: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Luke 16:13).

Our attitude about money, whether it rules us or we rule it, how we earn it and how we use it, and whether we are considerate in helping those less fortunate is a part of Christian principles and Christ’s teachings. Where do we stand with “unrighteous mammon”? This principle is especially relevant in this era of economic stress. It is time we did like a dear man I knew who was baptized in my husband’s early ministry. In going into the baptismal waters, the new convert said: “Wait a minute.” He went back to get his billfold and put it in his pocket, saying, “I want you to baptize me with my billfold in my pocket. I dedicate my money to the Lord, too.” And Joe did just that. I can see him, although that’s been long ago, and how carefully he handled his money and the Lord’s money from that time forward. Praise be to God.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, September 3, 2010