Sermon preached 2 August 2026 · Trinity 9
Reading: Luke 16:1–13
Context
In the previous chapter of Luke’s Gospel, chapter 15, the scribes and Pharisees had been grumbling about the company that Jesus kept, so He taught them about those who God seeks and welcomes into His Kingdom, the lost, the poor, the sinful. He used 3 parables to wonderfully speak to their hearts: The Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son.
In those last two parables Jesus used the theme of money to illustrate His teaching, and now we hear Jesus continuing that theme to teach His disciples, and the Pharisees, with a parable about a Dishonest Manager’s misuse of his master’s money.
The characters
In the parable we hear of a rich man who is so wealthy that he employs a person whose full-time job is to manage his wealth and his possessions. The manager is employed to be a good steward of his employer’s wealth, to invest it, to loan it to gain interest, so that the rich man can become even richer.
But the manager was not doing his job properly, a classic case of mis-management:
and charges were brought to him (the master) that this man was wasting his possessions. 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.’
The scheme
The manager is ordered to give an account of his mis-management, and is suspended from his role. He knows it will not end well when the accountants inspect his books, he knows his permanent removal is inevitable.
He concludes that he is not fit enough to do physical work and he is too proud to beg, so he comes up with a scheme:
He will call in his master’s debts but reduce them so that all are happy to pay them and will therefore be grateful to him. His plan is that whenever he needs a meal or somewhere to stay, he can call on these people to help. After all, he helped them so why wouldn’t they help him in his time of need?
The master learns of the manager’s scheme
But as if he wasn’t already in enough trouble, the manager’s scheme comes to the attention of the master. Surely, he’ll now be dismissed immediately, and handed over to the authorities to be imprisoned for stealing or embezzlement? Verse 8 tells us what the master did in response:
8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
Sorry? What did the master do? He commended the dishonest manager!
Confusion and misunderstanding about the parable
It is here where the first of two main points of confusion and misunderstanding about this parable arise.
The first being: Is Jesus here teaching us to be devious with money and possessions that others have put us in charge of, and have trusted us with? That we’ll be commended and praised for our unethical behaviour?
The second common misunderstanding of this parable arises from the very next verse, verse 9, where Jesus says: “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.”
The confusion here is that it appears that Jesus is saying we’re to bribe people to be nice to us with ill-gotten gains. Or even that a disciple can earn their way into eternal dwellings by using money wisely.
First point of confusion
Let’s look at the first of these misunderstandings:
8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
Note that the manager was commended NOT for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness. He was praised NOT because he cheated his master, but because of his cleverness in looking out for himself and his future.
And Jesus goes on to explain:
“For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.”
The people of this world are wise when it comes to business affairs. The worldly are concerned about their earthly wants and future comfort, and so act to provide for that future.
Christians, on the other hand, live with the higher purposes of God in mind. But regrettably, Jesus says, the people of this world work harder, and show more shrewdness, ingenuity and passion in managing their temporal lives, than the children of light do in managing their lives for the higher and eternal purposes of God and His Kingdom. And that’s Jesus’ point here – that Christians can learn from the world: be wise, be shrewd with both the things of this world and those of the next.
Jesus teaches a similar message in Matthew chapter 10, when He sends out the 12 chosen Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves!”Matthew 10:16
Second point of confusion
So what of the second point of confusion arising from Jesus’ words:
“… make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.””
Is Jesus teaching that we should bribe people to be nice to us in this life? Or buy our way into heaven by being wise with our money?
Unrighteous wealth
The NIV translates the phrase “unrighteous wealth” as “worldly wealth”.
Jesus here is describing the material things that this earthly world values. The treasures that “moth and rust destroy”, that are fleeting and count for nothing in God’s Kingdom.
And it can be considered unrighteous because it has the power to corrupt. It is tainted by sin, and can ensnare and distract us from the heavenly things that really matter.
Look at the example of the rich young man we hear about in Mark 10:17-22, who came to Jesus and asked:
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus gave him the solution:
“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But he went away from Jesus disheartened and sorrowful “for he had great possessions”
He came to Jesus in the hope that He could give him the secret to eternal life, but what Jesus called him to do was too hard for him. He was in love with his wealth more than God, he was so in love with worldly possessions that they became his idols, so much so that he doesn’t even hear Jesus’ gospel message of “come, follow me”.
Jesus clearly summarises the potential corrupting power of wealth in verse 13 of our text:
13 No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
But He is not condemning money and possessions in themselves. It is what they do to our hearts and how they are used that counts. Our use of money reflects what we value and believe. Believing that salvation matters most, we will use money and our possessions to serve and glorify God.
Despite its potential to corrupt, money is a gift from God through which our daily and future needs are met. The daily bread we humbly petition God for in the Lord’s Prayer. And with it, God can work through us to bless others.
We are “to make friends” with these gifts from God.
As Jesus told the rich young man:
“give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”
We can be a blessing to those in need, our neighbours, with our worldly wealth, these are the ‘friends’ that Jesus is talking about when He said:
“make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth”
For they are the recipients, the witnesses, of the fruits of our faith. As Jesus teaches in Matthew 25:
37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’Matthew 25:34-40
The small acts of love that God has prepared for us, with the wealth and time He has loaned us while we are on earth, no matter how insignificant they may seem, are the fruit that show that we are good trees planted in the life saving soil of the gospel. For:
18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.Matthew 7:18-20
Look at how God blessed Joseph in our Old Testament lesson for today, so he could be a blessing to others:
5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge
And eventually he was able save his family from starvation, the family that would become the mighty nation of God’s chosen people.
The presence of faith is invariably shown by works of love. But:
19 We love because He first loved us.1 John 4:19
Because He first loved us.
He loves each of us not just with the love that gives a cup of water, or hospitality, or a coat to others from earthly wealth that is already God’s anyway, but the total love that:
While we were still sinners He died for us.
Who redeemed us with His blood, the lost and condemned sinners that we were. To rescue us from the foul pit of despair that we deserve. Who washed us clean at our baptism and created life-saving faith in our hearts,
The love that gives us the strength to endure and resist and escape temptation.
The love that clothes us in His righteousness, that reconciles us to God forever.
The love that makes us truly good so that we desire to do good for Him, to put Him first in all things.
So that when this world ends, when it all fails, we, the children of light, know we will be received into the next with joy.
Amen