Luke 16:1-15

Luke 16:1-15 (New International Version)
1Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2So 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.’ 3"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— 4I know what I‘ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5"So he called in each one of his master‘s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6" ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. "The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 7"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.’ 8"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. 9I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10"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. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else‘s property, who will give you property of your own? 13"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." 14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God‘s sight.

Devotional:
At first glance I find it confusing. What is Jesus saying? Why would a master commend a dishonest manager? Does God favor dishonesty? Who am I in this story?If I‘m honest I have to say that I am the "shrewd" manager. If I start with the understanding that everything I have belongs to God, then I have to admit that I am not always the best at managing what is His. Do I spend my time and energy in the ways that God Himself would?
If I am also aware that God is going to ask me to give an account for how I spent my time and energy, then that may spark something in me to start "making up for lost time". In the culture that this was written, people looked favorably on a Master (land owner), who was gracious and benevolent. So the servant in this story starts going to those he is managing and extending grace in the Masters name. Basically saying, "Hey the Master wants to give you a gift and you don‘t owe him as much as you did." If the Master were to fire the servant it would look like He was not really generous.
If it feels a little confusing, that‘s ok. I had to read this 5 times to wrap my head around it.
So here‘s the point. If God generously offered us grace, He would rather have us extend grace to others so that they get a picture of who God is. A Master likes to be thought of as being giving and gracious. Therefore the servant served his Master by being gracious.
The Pharisees (stuck up religious folk), were bothered by this because they could not imagine forgiving a servant and taking a loss on what "belongs" to them.
So it is important for us to realize that nothing belongs to us that God has not granted.


Prayer: Dear God, everything I have is Yours. Help me to be more aware of so that I do not become selfish and proud. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.