Luke 16:1-13 - Wise Stewardship

The Pharisee’s concept concerning wealth and money was greatly skewed. To them, wealth was a sure sign of God's favour. They thought that those whom God loves, He makes rich. As a result they would go after wealth to show that God had accepted and approved of them. Unfortunately, this is also a prevailing thought in our day. One's riches is often seen as an indication of God's blessing. So some would pursue wealth relentlessly with unscrupulous means. Aware that there was this prevailing misconception, Jesus set out to correct the wrong idea about wealth and possessions, through a parable recorded in Luke 16:1-13. The purpose of this story is to help us cultivate a right attitude concerning wealth. And also on how we can be wise stewards of our possessions.

The parable is about a steward who handled his master's estate irresponsibly. When the master had news of this, he called the steward in for accounting. That steward then engaged in a serious reflection, and came up with a plan for his own future. He knew that he couldn't do hard labour but to beg is unthinkable. So he devised a scheme that would win him friends when his service with the master came to an end. He called the master's debtors and had their bills reduced. So now those debtors became his friends and were indebted and beholden to him. So whenever he made his rounds, he was always welcomed by them.

At this point, the disciples would have expected Jesus to tell them how the master uncovered the scheme, and dealt a serious blow to that irresponsible steward. But to their bewilderment, the shrewd steward was praised. Of course Jesus didn't commend his shrewdness but his foresight and astute-ness. Jesus said the sons of this earth are smarter than the sons of light in this sense: they had foresight. They saw what was coming in their future and acted to secure it for their comfort. But we, the children of light, standing at the brink of eternity, lack the foresight and the will to do something about it, especially on our relationship with others.

There are a few things we can see from this parable. Firstly, we are called to be generous, we should use worldly wealth wisely with the future in mind and not just for the present. Secondly, we are to be faithful in the stewardship regardless of how small the task may seem to be. Thirdly, in verse 13, Jesus said that we are either slaves to money or slaves to God, we cannot be slaves to both at the same time. We are stewards and not owners of our possessions. God is the real owner. The way we handle them will clearly show whether we have a right perspective. Let's cultivate a right attitude as we seek to advance the cause of God.  Let's be found wise, faithful and diligent.