Discovery: A common problem for many Christians is that we compartmentalize our faith. There is a separation between "spiritual" and "mundane" things. Things such as reading the bible, going to church, giving tithes and offerings, etc. are consider "spiritual" while other things such as working, shopping, and saving are considered more "mundane." This is definitely not what Jesus had in mind when he called us surrender our lives to Him.
Our passage today seems strange at first and a little confusing. In this parable of the dishonest manager, we see a character who clearly has major character flaws. Knowing that he is going to get fired, we see the dishonest manager go and make backdoor deals with some people who are indebted to his master and cuts them a nice deal. What is particularly jarring to us "good" Christians is that Jesus affirms this dishonest manager's mentality. In v. 8 it says, "The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly." It is important to note that the master commended the manager for his shrewdness and not his dishonesty. There are a lot of technical definitions for the word "shrewd." I would define it as "street smarts." This guy is knows how to survive and he knows how to leverage things to his benefit.
Application: A few things stood out to me in this passage.
1. Context: The previous chapter (Luke 15) Jesus lays into the Pharisees for their self-righteousness and hard hearts. He tells three parables about how God is the one who seeks, saves, and loves the lost (parable of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son). Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they have missed the mark and are out of touch with God's heart. Here in Luke 16, Jesus is talking to his disciples. He is also warning his disciples to not "miss the boat" like the Pharisees.
2. Call to be shrewd with our money: For the disciples, the area in question is money and how they will manage money. The call of Jesus is to be shrewd money managers just like the character in this parable. I told the story of a customer at Bank of American in Hawaii where I worked part-time as a teller. He would bring in a dozen malasadas (Portuguese donut-like confections) almost every week to our branch. We loved the Malasada Man. Whenever he walked into our branch, we would bend over backwards for him. Even if you were closing up for the day, people would open up their window and have him come to front of the line because he came bearing tasty treats. Not only was the Malasada Man very sweet and generous... he was shrewd. This weekly $5 investment gave him privileges and service that even the best of our business and Prima customers could only hope to get. This is what Jesus is talking about! In fact, Jesus says in later part of v. 8 "For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." This is unfortunately so true.
3. How can I/we be shrewd with our money and our witness? We are right in the heart of the holiday shopping/craziness. I believe the challenge from our passage is not "don't give into the materialism of Black Friday" but rather "how can we exercise godly spending during this holiday season." I know for a fact that our church family is good at finding deals. Rather than just finding deals for ourselves or our loved ones, could we also be shrewd in finding deals for others? What would it look like to buy something extra (i.e. a scarf or sweatshirt) and gift it to a neighbor or friend? What would it look like to pick up a great deal for toys for a niece or nephew and buy another for your neighbor who has a child the same age? Wouldn't this be a great way to open doors in relationships and bridges in friendships? Jesus says it very clearly in v. 9, "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." He continues in v. 11, "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" I hope we really will step up to the challenge to be shrewd in our monetary witness.
Prayer: Lord, help me be "street smart" with my money and creative in my monetary witness as I move into this holiday season. Please lead our church as we experiment with some creative shopping exercises to not only bless those who don't have as much but also our seeking friends whom we will bring along for the experience.
