Luke 16 verses 1 thru 13 the Unjust Steward

[Hoofer]

Long Bible quote, you're probably heard it before, and all sorts of interesting "applications" - which just don't make sense (well, didn't to me, until TODAY...  funny how that happens.)

"1And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? 13No 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 16:1-13

I highlighted the "sticky verses"... 8-9

WHY would Jesus commend the Steward for ripping off the boss (lord as He calls him)??  The guy is CAUGHT, red handed, told he's gonna be fired, replaced, yet.. He considers him WISE:  "And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light."   

Are you thinking, "Hey man, Thou Shalt NOT Steal... it was written in STONE!  Come on, Lord! What gives???  This thief of the Lord is WISE?!?!?!"   Preachers start tripping all over themselves, trying to figure this out - WHAT was He thinking???

Then, there's something that's always MISSED - verses 14-17 and unless you're listening to a narrated Bible, or just reading it like a news paper, the real context & audience is completely missed.
...I plead guilty, for neglecting the context!

14And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. 15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. 16The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. 17And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

IMO - the audience is key.  Plus, hindsight is 20-20 here, one of those, "how could we miss the obvious?"

I think the passage is prophetic - Jesus was warning the Pharisees, "You will be REMOVED from your stewardship, start planning ahead, the end in this little endeavor is near - be wise, make friends with the unrighteous mammon - while you can.  the Church age is about to be ushered in, do you see the writing on the wall, your stewardship is gonna END, start making friends outside of this religious realm you've been milking - I got 12 new guys who are gonna take over My work.  The Church age is coming, you're gonna be unemployed.... I love you, start making alternative plans."

Resurrection Day, kicked off the whole works, Pentecost completely confirmed, the New Covenant was alive and well, the Gospel message or responsibility of spreading it, was taken from the Religious Leaders and put in the hands of rank amateurs, who would be empowered on High, with attesting miracles, signs, healings, and all sorts of gifts to equip the new kids on the block, to raise up new people for God's work.  Another blow, one of their most Zealous persecutors, Paul, would flip, and become a powerful testimony for the Lord & His church.

The Good times of Pharisee life... favor with Rome... fizzled out, no matter how much they tried, the Romans eventually came in, and started slaughtering Jews.  A few zealots held out for awhile on Masada, faithful to the end, but the Temple was utterly destroyed in 70ad by Titus (aka ROME).  If you were a Pharisee, too lazy to dig, too proud to beg... but familiar with MONEY... meh, become a banker, jeweler, do what you've always done, make MONEY, and they'll beat a path to your door, again.  Prestige restored.  (Jesus was addressing Pharisees - not the populace at large, please remember that).  As an reminder, the Pharisees were rather worried about Jesus' displacing them as leaders of the people and Rome endorsing them - they sought to shut Him up, discredit & entrap Him, finally conspired to have Him executed.  Jesus gave them ... as incredible as it seems, a gentle warning, "start making friends with the friends of mammon (money), so you don't go hungry."  With that thought, His ministry truly was grace, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17


There are many difficult passages of Scripture, mishandled for centuries, this being one of them, I hope what I've said, makes sense, it does for me.

[RV]

With all due respect, I get an entirely different meaning to the passage than what you have listed. The first clue is the first sentence, "And He said to His disciples: There was a certain rich man..." In other words, Jesus is telling them a parable, it didn't really happen.

There is nothing in the passage in Luke that I can find that praises the Stewart, the rich man in the parable praises the Stewart, Jesus does not. Theft is theft regardless of how it is portrayed. The commandment "Thou shalt not steal" is not fudged, compromised, ignored or cast aside.

The rich man praises the Stewart for being shrewd. Evil people always believe that they are intelligent and smarter than anyone else in the world. This is one of the deceptions that the devil uses. Christians are to be a "peculiar people", IN the world but, not OF the world.

In those days, the word "Lord" was a title given to those who hired people, it was not saying that the rich man was THE Lord. This title was also given to those who were in positions of power, etc.

The parable was given to the disciples ("lovers of money"), to reiterate the concept that one cannot have two masters.

So, anyway, I get a much different purpose and meaning from the passage than obviously you got.

[Hoofer]

Did you miss this?
"8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

I don't see the Lord as "praising" but, more like "you made a wise choice - BECAUSE, the end of your Stewardship is very near".  Like recommending someone start dusting off the resume, 'cause that guy is gonna be out-of-a-job' in pretty short order... which is why I also see this a prophetic, the Church age is right-around-the-corner.

We need to keep in mind, the Jewish leaders wanted to put Jesus to death, actively looking for ways to entrap Him, all throughout the Gospel accounts.  They attempted to trap him with questions about Taxes, Divorce, Sonship, and many, many times Working on the Sabbath (which were miracles), even wanted to hunt down Lazarus and kill him!  The Pharisees had quite a financial racket going on, so many "traditions" which made their "ministry" cultic  - so *far* from the Gospel, and the ministry the Jews were suppose to have, per God.  When Jesus mentioned the poor widow who dropped 2 mites into the temple coffers, 'she gave of all her substance, more than anyone else' - I take that to mean, she was FLAT BROKE & went home to die.   That's a pretty powerful cult-like influence, just as a blind, halt, crumpled up guy(s) whom Jesus deliberately healed on the Sabbath - which made the Pharisees furious!  They *owned* the Jews, had "agreements" with Rome to sort of keep the peace - Jesus was a *threat* to their authority, power, position and income.  The Pharisees *were* stealing from the people in tithes and offerings.

The Pharisees were RIGHT THERE - hearing the whole story - which was directed at *them*.
"14And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. 15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."
Highly esteemed among men (the Pharisees, their so-called ministry), is abomination in the sight of God (a slap in the face to the Pharisees).


It doesn't matter WHEN the removal of the unjust Steward was going to happen - IMO, it was a warning to the audience, both to the Disciples (the love of money corrupts), and to the Pharisees (your gig is just about up, make plans).

We could say the same thing today, "The church age is almost OVER, the attention of the Lord will return to the Jews (following the Rapture), the restrainer (Holy Spirit via the Believing church) will be taken away, and then the man of sin will be revealed."  The transition is going to happen, just as the transition to New Covenant (of love), happened.

[SueAnn]

Hoofer, you are a terrific teacher, thank you.

More, please, any scripture God asks you to explain.

[Hoofer]

If I've learned one thing, listening to the New Testament, the heavy emphasis that Jesus' ministry AT THIS TIME was to "Seek and Save" the lost tribe/house of Israel.  It was *not* a ministry of judgement, even though John His disciples, (of all people), didn't catch on till much later.  Everyone, save a few of them, had Jesus Christ swooping in, kicking the Romans out and restoring the kingdom.

Jesus' ministry was not to the Gentiles, thought He clearly included them in Salvation.

The ruling Jewish class, wanted NOTHING to do with Jesus.  Conspiring how to get rid of Him - because He represented a THREAT to their control, the sweet deal they had with the Romans, how they held such power over the populace, if you were a Pharisee, you were respected, WEALTHY and above all else, FEARED.  Nobody is gonna come along and take that away, so they schemed and plotted from early on, "How do we get RID of this Jesus???"  It was like CULTIST control over the people, even to the point if anyone said anything positive about Jesus, they'd get kicked out of the Temple! The perversion Jesus repeatedly exposed, "God does not HATE you, He LOVES you and wants to commune with you".   I imagine the Pharisees as stopping people at the door, "Hmm, that's gonna cost you 2 doves and a spotless lamb, pal... 85 Sheckles (pick up the cage birds there, and the lamb is over there -or- leave, we're here to do God's work, you're holding up the line!"  Where's the *grace* in that?


While listening to the Gospels - I marvel, Jesus didn't just "snap" one day, >poof< "he'll never bother us again (pile of ashes on the ground).  But, I'm really GLAD, 'cause God has been very good to me.