I have always viewed the parable found in Luke 16 as a curiosity. In this case what Jesus said seemed to contradict what I believed. So I ignored it.
Here it is see what you think…
Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'
"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; I am ashamed to beg. 'I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'
"And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'
"And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth."
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. - Luke 16:
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Quite a few years ago I heard a speaker read this parable. He said what he believed it meant is that we need to be good stewards of our money. And part of being a good steward meant being crafty with our money if we did that then we'd be successful on Earth.
Honestly, that didn't sit well with me and I think that doesn't agree with Scripture.
I've also heard it said that the unjust person in the parable was not steward but the rich man who dismissed him on hearsay or a false accusation. But that doesn't explain why Jesus seems to contradict himself when on one hand he says "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." and then he tears into the Pharisees for being lovers of money followed by the strangely random statement at the end about divorce. There has to be more to it than this?
I've done a pretty good job of ignoring this parable for about 8 years but it has irritated me like a pebble in my shoe. This past summer I redoubled my efforts to shake it out. So I spent a lot of time praying about and meditating on it.
I think the parable is about the Pharisees. Jesus makes this pretty clear when he says “"You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
The Pharisees could see that they were being removed from the stewardship of God’s word and it was being passed to another. I can only assume that they were trying to hold onto their influence with the Jewish people by reinterpreting God’s word. I believe Jesus was being sarcastic when He said to them make friends by unrighteous mammon because you can’t serve both and you have lost your place as stewards of the Word.
It’s possible that they were telling people that it was ok to divorce their wives but Jesus was saying that it would be easier for them to move heaven and earth than to change one letter in God’s law. It's also possible he was chastising them by way of analogy for divorcing God and attaching themselves to mammon.
This is a good warning for the church today we’ve made lots of convenient interpretations to God’s Word to satisfy itching ears. I want to go to a church where I feel warm and fuzzy when I walk out the door. I don’t want to be convicted or challenged. It’s ok to have lots of money while others can’t eat. It’s ok to sin. It’s ok to live for myself. In fact God wants us all to be rich and healthy, if someone isn’t then they must not have enough faith or they're not doing God’s will. If I'm rich isn't that proof that I have God's blessing?
That’s garbage “that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God”
Did Jesus say, “in this world you will have health, peace or prosperity?”
No He said we would have trouble but “everyone is forcing his way into (the gospel)”
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