Luke 16:1 Speaking to the talmidim, Yeshua said: “There was a wealthy man who employed a general manager. Charges were brought to him that his manager was squandering his resources. 2 So he summoned him and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in your accounts, for you can no longer be manager.’
3 “‘What am I to do?’ said the manager to himself. ‘My boss is firing me, I’m not strong enough to dig ditches, and I’m ashamed to go begging. 4 Aha! I know what I’ll do — something that will make people welcome me into their homes after I’ve lost my job here!’
5 “So, after making appointments with each of his employer’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my boss?’ 6 ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. ‘Take your note back,’ he told him. ‘Now, quickly! Sit down and write one for four hundred!’ 7 To the next he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your note back and write one for eight hundred.’
8 “And the employer of this dishonest manager applauded him for acting so shrewdly! For the worldly have more sekhel than those who have received the light — in dealing with their own kind of people!
9 “Now what I say to you is this: use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it gives out, you may be welcomed into the eternal home. 10 Someone who is trustworthy in a small matter is also trustworthy in large ones, and someone who is dishonest in a small matter is also dishonest in large ones. 11 So if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who is going to trust you with the real thing? 12 And if you haven’t been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what ought to belong to you? 13 No servant can be slave to two masters, for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money.”
Have you ever tried to make sense of this parable?
We’re pros at pulling out the God vs Mammon part but what in the world is being said right before this?
“Hey, good job ripping me off. That’s what a shrewd servant of mine should have done.”
Would Yeshua, being the boss, applaud such a thing? Kind of tough to sort out, huh?
What if we reframe this parable and the people involved by starting with the last sentence:
“You can’t be a slave to both God and money.”
Odd question: What if the bossman here is not Yeshua? What if it isn’t God?
Think about it…we have TWO masters being discussed, God and money. In addition, we see that this manager was employed by the boss and about to be fired. Meaning, this was a professional relationship. A worldly relationship.
We also have the following statement that could help shed light on the dynamic, as well:
“For the worldly have more sekhel (shrewdness) than those who have received the light — in dealing with their own kind of people!”
The commentary here is that the people of the world deal more shrewdly with one another than one who receives the light. There is a different attitude and way of doing things in the light. Those in darkness find it fulfilling when you are able to act shrewdly with others. It’s a sign that you are part of the world and you also are in the darkness. It proves you have the wherewithal to do what has to be done in order to properly manage your affairs.
In this context, the manager going to those that owe his boss money and dealing with them as he does is seen as shrewd. He’s not dealing shrewdly with the debtors, but with the wealthy man. His relationship with the debtors is strengthened and there is no shrewdness in that.
Notice what happens here. He’s about to be fired because a report comes to the wealthy man and he immediately eliminates him from his position. The manager had no opportunity to defend himself or even speak for that matter. He knew that as soon as his boss said these words that he was immediately done. No chance to explain, no chance to repent.
Fired.
But the debtors are not aware of this sudden change. When the manager approaches them they assume he has the authority to make decisions regarding the wealthy man’s accounts. So when he gives them an offer they can’t refuse, they jump on it.
The wealthy man gets some stuff from those indebted to him and the manager has made friends, knowing his position in the world would be drastically different here very soon.
His boss doesn't commend him for being responsible or honest. No, he applauded him for shrewdness. The wealthy man had no recourse on those indebted to him because the manager used the resources of the world to free these men from bondage. The wealthy man had no legal bond in which to potentially enslave these other men. They were set free. They were set free by having their debt reduced and their note destroyed.
Imagine it is the Adversary that has these men in bondage. Also suppose you are an agent for the Adversary but one day find out he’s turned against you. Knowing you are about to be blacklisted, you then take the opportunity to use the worldly system to free these men. The Adversary then realizes he’s screwed in this deal at which points he applauds you for working the system and using his own pieces to beat him. “Well played,” he says, “well played.”
If this works for the manager, it can also work for us. We can take the world system of money and use it to set other people free. We can use finances to free people from the spirit of Mammon. We can use our position of authority to make decisions that help others, not enslave them.
Craig Hill mentions in his book, Wealth, Riches, and Money, the 5 uses of money for the believer. These come from the following verses:
2 Corinthians 9:10 He who provides both seed for the planter and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your tzedakah. 11 You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous in everything.
Here we have:
Seed for the sower
Bread for eating
Multiplication of seed for sowing
Increasing your fruits of righteousness
Generosity
#4 is the point of this parable. Using the world system to set people free is what we are called to do with the money we get from it. It isn’t there for us to continually put ourselves in bondage to the world.
This is exactly what debt is. The borrower is a slave to the lender. It’s as simple as that.
Proverbs 22:7 The rich rule the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
This is the story of this parable. These men were essentially slaves to the wealthy man and the manager set them free using the system he had available to him.
“Now what I say to you is this: use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it gives out, you may be welcomed into the eternal home.“
Does this make a little better sense now? Using your worldly wealth to set free those in the world. This is what opens up the eternal home for you.
So if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who is going to trust you with the real thing? And if you haven’t been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what ought to belong to you?
This manager has finally shown himself trustworthy in handling worldly wealth. And this language of “what belongs to someone else” we attribute to the wealthy man. But maybe it’s what belongs to the debtors that is being discussed.
The wealthy man had these men on the hook for interest. If all of the players here were part of Israel, there should be no interest being charged according to the Torah. Now we don’t have enough evidence to say that’s necessarily the case. But what we can determine is that the amount of interest being charged was 20% in one case and 50% in another. This seems pretty high to me. Like, title loan high.
It clearly had to be interest that was forgiven, otherwise, this manager would have been a thief. He wasn’t reprimanded for thievery so this excessive amount wasn’t stolen from the wealthy man. Besides, the wealthy man would have had the manager arrested if he had done something illegal. (Or maybe it was illegal but the wealthy man had done something illegal himself and would have gotten exposed. This doesn't really change the punchline, though.)
Some interpretations say that the extra amount was the manager’s add-on fee and he decided to let go of his commission for the sake of these other men. That may very well be the case, as well. Either way, the wealthy man was not stolen from. And the manager had the authority to cut that bill if he saw fit. Whether it was compounded illegal activity, a “promo code”, or his commission doesn’t matter, he had a “legal” right to do what he did.
“No servant can be slave to two masters, for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money.”
It’s either the world or the Kingdom. Or. Not both, not “and”.
We like to believe that we can successfully navigate both worlds. We are convinced we’re smart enough to decipher the two. My lifestyle and His Kingdom -- closely related, right?
Framed like this we can hesitantly agree they are not the same. But that doesn’t negate the practical application in our lives. We know what we should do but at the end of the day we always do what we want to do. And that’s ok.
But if you want to free people and gain entrance into your eternal home, the rules of the game change. And they change beyond anything you can comprehend.
Can you see it now?
Can you see how the world system and Abba’s system are vastly different?
The good news is that we can use the world system of money to free those who are held captive by the world. But we can’t do it when we are one of those that are captured. A slave can’t set another slave free.
This is one of the primary goals of the Adversary. Have you seek provision beyond measure and put yourself into debt to his world.
Do you feel it? Do you feel the pull into the continual striving it takes to survive in his world? Do you really believe this is how a person free of mammon is supposed to feel?
But there is a path to freedom. It requires a drastic change in your life but the path is there. True freedom sits just beyond the gate. It’s there for the taking.
The cost? Everything.
Then, once you are free, you now have the power to free the slaves of the world. This isn’t the careless act of just throwing money into the wind and hoping it sticks. This is methodical and well-planned. It’s keeping an ear open so you can detect which of those are truly wanting to be set free like you. It’s a power and boldness that must go before you when the time comes to have difficult conversations with those held captive. The responsibility is great but I have no doubt you can walk in this space.
You have been given the opportunity to free people from this dreadful, life-stealing spirit of mammon. But it requires you get set free first.
Going back to Craig Hill’s book, he gave us 10 things to look for in ourselves to see if mammon is alive within us:
Are you in here somewhere? Can you see mammon in your life? Be honest with yourself. No one is watching you right now. If so, it’s time to repent. It’s time to free yourself from the bondage you’re under.
And once you are free, you must start showing others how they are also held captive by this perverted spirit. Then you go to work helping them get set free. But not without a cost. We’re not called to be enablers, we are called to bring truth to their doorstep and have them decide to which world they want to belong.
This isn’t about your lake house or a Corvette in retirement. This is about expanding the Kingdom and being welcomed into your eternal home.
The best thing to ever happen to this manager was having a false accusation brought against him and thus getting fired. Not the formula of success we’ve all been fed but most certainly the pivot point into moving into his eternal home.
Are you ready for this?