The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
A rich man hears that his manager has wasted his possessions and demands an account. The manager, facing loss of position and unable to turn to labor or begging, plans a path to future welcome.
J1esus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. 4I know what I will do so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’
The manager reduces the debt of the master’s debtors, and the master commends his shrewdness. Jesus contrasts that worldly sharpness with the lesser shrewdness shown by the sons of light.
5And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first. 6‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered. 7Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ 8The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.
Jesus urges the use of worldly wealth to gain friends who will welcome the giver into eternal dwellings. He then ties faithfulness in small things to trust with great things, and ends by naming God and money as incompatible masters.
9I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings. 10Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own? 13No 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.”