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It is a very DIFFICULT parable. The message is not clear. Not only is it not clear, it is disturbing.
The manager was not a good person. He was dishonest.
So what Jesus was trying to teach us is not a moral lesson. Then what is the lesson can we get from this parable?
Today’s story begins with this.
There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. (Luke 16:1)
The manager squandered the owner’s money. He was not a good steward.
It sounds like the story of the prodigal son who squandered his father’s inheritance. The same word was used.
Squander – same root as being scattered: Like the chaff that flies away.
This is the first lesson we can learn from the story.
We believe that what we have is not our own. Everything comes from God.
All the good things you enjoy in life are gifts of God. God gave you all these good things for you to enjoy the abundance of life.
Everything good comes from God. Good food, good shelter, good clothes, good friends and family – They are all gifts of God.
That is our basic theology.
You don’t own anything. You are only a steward. Like the manager in the story.
And you have all the freedom to enjoy good things of life. With this freedom, you can enjoy the abundance of life. We are very thankful.
But unfortunately, this freedom sometimes can be misused and abused.
While we are freely using all the good things God gave us, slowly we forget whose they are. They are not ours. They are what God gave us. God can take away any time.
That’s what we learn from the story of a rich fool.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ (Luke 12:19-20)
Without life, what you have is nothing. God has provided all the good things for you and you should never take that for granted.
That was what the manager did. He had the freedom to take care of owner’s property. He could enjoy his position.
The owner had a full trust in him. He had the total freedom.
But he misused and abused his freedom. He forgot whose property it was and he squandered instead of taking good care of it.
Even though he had everything he needed, he wasn’t satisfied. He didn’t see his life with gratitude. He wasn’t thankful for what he had.
What was his problem?
Greed.
This is our second lesson.
The first lesson is all the good things come from God and they are not yours but you have freedom to use them for your enjoyment.
The second lesson we need to reflect on is:
Not only do we forget everything belongs to God, but we also become greedy.
It was his greed that was the problem.
When greed takes over, our freedom becomes corrupted. Freedom is no longer received with gratitude but we abuse our freedom. We start having the entitlement attitude.
When greed takes over, everything becomes ugly.
Money can be good. It can enrich our lives. God gave us money to bless our life.
But he put a warning label and that label is
DO NOT BE GREEDY.
The Scripture clearly warns us,
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1 Timothy 6:10)
The love of money = Greed for money.
Money cannot be mammon.
The root word for mammon is money, wealth, profit but also it means “to place trust in.” The same root word for Amen – let it be so.
That was why Jesus said at the end of this parable,
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)
The manager in the parable fell into the trap of greed.
He lost everything. He was at the brink of losing his job too. He came to his senses.
As Simon preached last week, he repented. That sermon had a healing effect on me. Thank you, Simon.
The manager repented.
And this is what he did and that was strange. That was the difficult part to interpret.
The owner was about to fire him. Rightly so. So, the manager came up with an idea to save himself.
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ (Luke 16:5-7)
That’s strange. In what way is this a good behaviour?
To our surprise, the owner commended what the manager had done.
DURING THAT TIME, the economic system differed from ours.
The owner set a certain amount to be collected and whatever the manager collected beyond what the owner wanted, it was his income. That was how tax collectors collected the tax.
So if the owner wants to get $50 from this olive oil, you sell it for whatever price. Let’s say $55. Then you get $5. That’s your income. It’s like commission.
So either he gave all his commissions or at least he charged a fair price. He let go of his greed. He learned to share with others.
His circumstance FORCED HIM to share with others. Even though his situation forced him to do that, he learned to let go of his greed.
Letting go of greed is probably the most difficult thing to do. Since it is so difficult, many people don’t let go of greed until they are forced to do so.
You cannot serve God until you let go of your greed.
There is no salvation until you let go of your greed for your own salvation.
So Jesus said,
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. (Luke 9:24)
Hanging on to your life is greed for life. Giving up your life means letting go of your greed and letting God.
Salvation is possible not hanging on to your life. But letting go and letting God.
Often our idea of salvation is salvation of our false self. That’s why we are trying to save ourselves by hanging on to it.
Saving our image. Saving our face. Saving our status. Saving our comfort. And even saving our immortality.
It is all about saving your false self.
But there is no freedom. Freedom is possible only when you let go of your greed.
God gave you all the good things. Do not let your greed spoil them. Enjoy them and be thankful.
But ultimately learn to share your good things with others.
When you let go of your greed, you can freely share what you have with others because you enjoy sharing them.
Your money, your talents, your time, your care and consideration, your love, your compassion, and your life.
That is what a good stewardship is.
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