What's Up With That? [3-8-26]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VptkdAQnZDU

March 8, 2026

Luke 16:1-13

“What’s Up With That?”

Today we arrive at a doozy of a difficult chapter in Luke. Luke 16 ends with the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. That is teaching gold. These first thirteen verses are a little denser. But discovering what Jesus says about wealth is worth the slog.

There’s a lovely juxtaposition at work here. We spent a lot of time peeling the layers off of the three parables in Luke 15. There was so much to see of grace and mercy. God seeks to save the lost. It is His initiative. If our salvation was dependent on anything we could think, say, or do, we would never be saved. It’s all about God reaching down to us. Remember, we love because He first loved us.

In the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin, two things are lost that have no 

deliberative or determinative will. They’re simply lost. The big point with these first two parables is the big deal made when they are found. Much celebrating is to be had. There is joy when that which is lost is found. Jesus is anticipating the joy in heaven when lost sinners are saved through his death and resurrection. Remember, Jesus set his face for Jerusalem. There is joy in the trajectory of his life.

The Parable of the Lost Son differs from the first two in that the lost son repents. Coins and sheep can’t do that. But people must. Remember what the Bible says. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” {Romans 5:8} That’s why we repent. Not to earn that love. But because that love has been shown to us in Christ’s death on the cross. That order of things is huge. And it will be hugely important to our understanding of Luke 16:1-13.

It’s perfect that the Parable of the Lost Son is our launch point into the weighty Parable of the Dishonest Manager. Keep in mind from the lost son that both sons were cherished by their father because they were his sons… not because of what they did or didn’t do. The same applies to God’s love for us. We are not loved based on conditions as in a contract…I’ll love you if you do this-and-that or such-and-such or so-forth-and-so-on. No, no, no. I love how one man puts it:

“The shepherd in his search for the sheep, and the woman in her search for the coin, do not do anything out of the ordinary beyond what anyone in their place would do. But the actions the father takes in the third story are unique, marvelous, divine actions which have not been done by any father in the past.”

• Egyptian Protestant scholar Ibrahim Sa’id

With that, let’s now look at Luke 16:1-13:

He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 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.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 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.

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 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.”

This parable is going to be a toughie. Are you with me on that?

The place to start is with a go-to favorite phrase of mine:

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME.

We’re talking about money. We’re talking about economics. We’re talking about the ways of the world.

Money corrupts. Money has a corrosive effect. And don’t misunderstand. Money, in and of itself, is value neutral. It can’t do anything without human help. The badness of money comes from its interaction with dreadfully sinful people. It is the stench of our sin nature which makes money bad.

The Bible says as much. It’s best summed up in 1 Timothy 6:10:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

That nails it, right? In order to understand this challenging parable, we have to first dig deep into the socio-economic context of life 2,000 years ago.

The historical record shows that, at the time of this parable, rich people were generally thought of as dishonest and greedy. They were viewed as depriving others in order to hoard more for themselves. Unlike Sally Brown, Charlie Brown’s sister, who famously said, "All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share," rich people accumulated more than their fair share. Remember, get all you can, can all you get, and sit on your can.

Rich people then were the same as most rich people now. They flaunted it. They wanted people to see their wealth and status. Designer clothing, fancy cars, large homes, indulgent travels. Always wanting more. Never satisfied with what they had. Only thing different between then and now is the technology.

We’ve already heard Jesus condemning those who were rich and full:

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”

That applied to people back then. And that applies to many folks now. At one point, as we’ll see in Luke 18, Jesus says it’s impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. That means get into heaven. That’s how we let the corrosive nature of money eat away at our lives.

Are we feeling bad enough about our economic comfort yet? I know I am, and there’s more to come. This parable serves as gut-check time for how we view the world and our place in it.

Back in Jesus’ day, all material goods were assumed to exist in limited amounts. The pie could only yield so many slices. Therefore, if you were rich, you got there by taking from the have-nots. Am I starting to sound a bit like the new mayor of New York City and certain members of the Democratic Party? As 4^th century Christian philosopher Jerome once said:

“Every rich man is either wicked or the heir of wickedness.”

But it’s not only the rich man whose sinful nature allows money to corrupt him. His manager is also a horrible human being. The rich man should have hired a manager who possessed reliable and trustworthy qualities. It’s important to surround yourself with good, decent, hardworking people, right? But word spreads about this manager’s dishonesty. It isn’t just rumor. The corrupt manager knows it will only be a matter time before he is caught, confronted, and terminated.

What the corrupt manager does next is what makes the parable so confounding. He continues in his dastardly deeds. This time he rigs the game. When he’s finally sacked, others will be indebted to him so he will have a place to land. Clever man.

All his machinations lead us to a shocking conclusion. Jesus says…that’s the meaning of verse eight…the master commended the dishonest manager…which marks a shift from the man in the parable to Jesus. The title translated as “The master” is better translated as “The Lord.” Kyrios, when used with the definite article, “the,” almost always refers to Jesus. That’s the shift in narrative. It is Jesus commending the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. The entire parable is about a confederacy of rogues. Go figure.

So, what’s the point?

Zephaniah 1:17-18 helps to get us there:

I will bring distress on mankind,    so that they shall walk like the blind,    because they have sinned against the Lord;their blood shall be poured out like dust,    and their flesh like dung.Neither their silver nor their gold    shall be able to deliver them    on the day of the wrath of the Lord.In the fire of his jealousy,    all the earth shall be consumed;for a full and sudden end    he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

A day of reckoning is coming. Money and possessions won’t save us. Good looks fade away. I loved how the 1980 men’s Olympic hockey coach, Herb Brooks, captured it:

“You’re not talented enough to rely on your talent.”

Hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and character are equally important. Money will fail. It’s not a matter of if money will fail you. But when. That’s why Jesus says we cannot be devoted to making money and to serving God. One will always be more important than the other.

With that in mind, here’s something you might want to write down:

WE SHOULD FOCUS OUR ENERGIES ON DOING WHAT IS PLEASING TO GOD.

The message from Jesus is quite simple. As repentant sinners saved by the grace of God, we are to use our money to do good. What that looks like in your life is between you and God. The only important thing is generosity. And we don’t do it to earn God’s favor. We are generous because of His generosity shown in the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen?

Here’s the positive lesson Jesus teaches us from a bad example. If sinful, 

greedy people work so creatively and diligently to secure their future, how much more should we? Here’s what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7:15-20:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

How are we investing in the lives of others? Are we helping those in need? Are we investing in ministries bringing about the salvation of sinners? Are we using our blessings from God to purchase friends for eternity? In other words, are we decent, generous people who are having an impact for Christ wherever we go? Will others begin walking with Jesus Christ as a result of our decent generosity? Or, to put it another way, because of our generous decency? How good is God? When we get to heaven, we’ll meet people whose lives were positively impacted because of what we did 

and/or because of what we supported. Our God is an awesome God.

Last word goes to New Testament Professor Robert Gagnon:

“How can I as one of the children of light make the best use of money now so that when I am unemployed in this world {i.e., dead}, I will have a new employer {God} in the age to come who will give me an eternal home?”

What good are you doing with your worldly blessings in this life? Because when you’re dead and gone, everything will be out of your control.

Let’s pray:

FATHER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SALVATION GIVEN TO US IN CHRIST. YOU HAVE GIVEN US THE JOY OF HEAVEN. IT IS BEYOND COMPARE TO ANYTHING WE’LL EVER EXPERIENCE IN THIS LIFE. IT IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE GIFT. LORD, MAY WE BE FAITHFUL STEWARDS OF THE FULL JOY THAT HEAVEN OFFERS. WE PRAY IN CHRIST’S NAME. AMEN.