the shrewd manager

I'll be honest, Jesus parables are hard. I often find them confusing. And this morning was no different. I was actually asked by someone in my congregation about a particular parable and I was a little bit at a loss. That's a bad feeling as a pastor. But I couldn't blame him for asking about it. And while I sort of just wanted to not answer, I found that that wasn't really an option. The parable in question is one of the harder ones in my opinion. It is found in Luke 16:1-9 and is affectionately known as the parable of the shrewd manager.

And while I can't claim to be 100% certain about the full meaning of the parable (like most of Jesus parables) here is what I think Jesus was trying to make clear:

It seems to me that Jesus is contrasting this manager with the rich man found at the end of chapter 16. There the rich man walked by Lazarus every day and took no pity on him, hording his wealth. When they both die it is clear that while the man might have thought himself to be blessed by God because of his wealth, it was really Lazarus who experienced eternal blessing. Abraham tells the man he has received his reward on earth, for he wanted to be rich but had no room in his life for other people or the law of God as is made clear at the end where he is now nervous for his family. Abraham makes clear that those who do not recognize life as revealed through Moses and the prophets will not recognize it even if they see someone coming back from the dead. They have no concept of true life. Had this rich man been shrewd he would have recognized that his blessing on earth was not to be confused with eternal blessing and would have used it rightly to help the beggar he passed by every day and in doing so his heart might have opened to the kingdom life. Instead he got what he wanted, riches in this life, but he missed that that is of little import in eternity.

In a similar way, the shrewd manager opted for life after his job not by taking more from his manager but by giving much away. It is an example, like many of Jesus parables, of the upside down nature of the kingdom where we give in order to receive and lose so we might save. He is not commended for his dishonesty but for his wisdom into the nature of life. If life is found for him in giving and forgiving, how much more is eternal life found in this way. If only "people of the light" had such wisdom to understand the nature of blessing in life and in the kingdom of God.

The Pharisees "who loved money," (vs. 14) were not brought into the family of God by it. The parable teaches that money and other earthly possessions are to be used as needed for life here, but this life will come to an end. It's sort of like Jesus teaching on the rich having a harder time entering the kingdom. If your heart is set that earthly blessing is of great value and equates with eternal blessing you will find that you are mistaken.

Sometimes the pastoral life is a tricky one. I feel like I am still learning what Jesus' teachings mean in my own life, and then people ask me how to help them understand it. Yet we are all called to share what we have. I think this is money as well as time and knowledge. And we are to give it to others not to be found as a wealth of information, but in order that we might have space in our lives for the message of the kingdom to sink down deep. No matter what we give away, it is in giving that we receive. I was blessed to attend seminary and take a few steps down the road of understanding Jesus deep and sometimes confusing teachings. But this blessing was given to me that I might share it with others. That too is the pastoral life, passing on the wisdom that God has given, not just so that others can understand Jesus teachings, not just to dump knowledge from one person to another, but so that we might have open hearts that are ready to accept all that Jesus has for us. It is not primarily through study and reading that I receive from God but in giving what he has given to me to others.