Sermon on Luke 16:1-13

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Some of Jesus’ parables seem straightforward, and others require some more unpacking. And this one is downright perplexing!

The main character was getting fired for “squandering[his boss’s] property.”

He then effectively stole a bunch of his former boss’s future profit by lowering debts owed to him.

And then, his former boss said, “Good job!”

But instead of explaining this surprising reaction, Jesus went on to teach about “children of this age” and “children of light, “dishonest wealth,” “eternal homes,” “true riches,” and not serving “two masters.”

Jesus taught over and over again that his disciples should give up their earthly possessions and not trust wealth. And yet, this parable seems to glorify committing fraud.What are we supposed to get from this?

One thing that really helped me get a better understanding of this text this week was finding out that this might be a collection of a couple different teachings that the writer of Luke put together because they had similar themes, which explains why Jesus seems to be glorifying a dishonest manager and then discouraging being dishonest and why the teaching jumps around so much.

We know that no one was following Jesus around with a tape recorder or furiously scribbled notes day by day throughout his ministry. None of the Gospels were written until decades after Jesus’ death.

That’s not to say they aren’t faithful representations of Jesus’ teachings, but they may not be completely chronologically accurate.

So, when someone sat down to write this Gospel, they wanted us to know about these teachings of Jesus, and it made sense to put a parable about gaining friends through “dishonest wealth” next to a poem about “dishonest wealth” and “true riches.”

They’re similar in theme, but we can take the pressure off trying to find a single takeaway from this whole reading. We might think of it more like listening to two songs from the same album and seeing how they enrich each other.

So, let’s look at these teachings on their own and then look for common themes.

First, we have the parable.One of the ways Jesus uses parables is to tell a story and then say, “how much more”—for instance,how much more is God going to listen to your prayers than this unjust judge listened to this persistent widow.

In today’s parable, it’s surprising that the rich man doesn’t have the dishonest manager thrown in prison either at the beginning or the end.

We can understand this parable as teaching that the manager was trusting his boss’s mercy. When his boss merely fired him, he figured he could do more to secure his future without feeling the wrath of his former boss.

Jesus, then, is essentially saying, “if the dishonest manager trusted his entire future on his boss’s mercy, how much more should Jesus followers trust God’s mercy and provision for our future?”

And with Jesus’ explanation of the parable— “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes”—he encouraged his followers to be cunning and creative in the ways we build community.If this sketchy manager could store up favors, how much more should Jesus followers be investing in relationships instead of finding security in accumulating their own wealth?

Then, the poem that follows goes on to contrast being “faithful” with being “dishonest.”Taken on its own, it can be understood that God wants us to be faithful with the earthly things God has entrusted us with before giving us God’s true riches. We shouldshow faithfulness to God instead of wealth.

A more faithful translation of the word “wealth” that’s confusing for modern audiences is “Mammon,” a personification of wealth.It’s like wealth as a god or idol. We can’t serve both God and Mammon. Take a look at the iconography of any celebrity magazine or the holy ritual of Prime Day or Black Friday, and it’s not hard to recognize Mammon today.

So, if you take these teachings together—the parable and the poem, these two songs from the same album—they do bring richness to each other.

Jesus was encouraging his followers to renounce their service of Mammon to secure their futures and instead build community. Money doesn’t last, but relationships do. His followers should hoard friendships, not gold—stockpile community, not goods. That’s how we declare our allegiance to God instead of Mammon.

That also sets the stage for next week’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, so stay tuned.

But these teachings are hard to hear. They go against dominant American middle-class respectability.

We’re taught that if we work hard, we’ll succeed. We shouldn’t depend on anyone else, because we should be “self-made” people. Anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and anyone who doesn’t is just lazy, and we definitely don’t want to be lazy.We’re encouraged to succeed on our own and not let others know if we’re struggling.

But that’s not the way of Jesus.The way of Jesus is not about independence but interdependence.

Depending on each other builds bonds and strengthens community. There’s an African proverb that says “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”

We followers of Jesus need to go far, together. It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and we don’t know how much longer it’ll be until the fulfillment of the Reign of God. We need to keep our stamina up—together.We need to trust each other, not Mammon.

It’s a little early, but I’m reminded of the classic Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life, where after George Bailey has kept having to defer his dreams to help others, he faces almost certain financial ruin. After miraculously witnessing the difference he had made in so many lives, he watches in astonishment as his community rallies around him, donating the money needed to thwart the plot of greedy Mr. Potter.

The town toasts George as “the richest man in town,” and his angel companion Clarence leaves him some parting words: “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”

George’s actions have a surprisingly similar outcome to the shrewd manager in our parable today.

Relationships formed over time can beat overwhelming circumstances and can fortify us better than any bank account.

We can depend on our merciful God and the Beloved Community gathered through the Holy Spirit.

So, be shrewd: serve God by abandoning the idol of Mammon and investing in relationships instead. Loving relationships with God and our neighbor are the true riches.Be like George Bailey and become the richest person in town.