Luke 16: 1-15
1 He also said to his disciples: There was a rich man who had a servant, and he was accused before him of having squandered his possessions. 2 Then he called him and said: “What do I hear from you? Be responsible for your stewardship, because immediately you will not be able to be a servant. 3 Then the servant said to himself: what should I do? Because my owner takes away the stewardship from me. I cannot dig, begging, I am ashamed. 4 I know what I will do so that, when they remove me from stewardship, they will welcome me into their homes. 5 And he called each one of his lord’s defaulters, and said to the first : How much do you owe my lord? ” 6 He said: One hundred barrels of oil. And he said: Take your note, sit down quick and write fifty. 7 Then he said to another, How much do you owe? And he answered: One hundred measures of wheat. He said: Take pearl and write eighty. 8 And the owner praised the miserable servant for having interpreted with insight; because the children of this age are wiser in their relationships with their equals than the children of light. 9 And I say to you: Make friends with unjust fortunes, which in case of failure will take you into eternal abodes. 10 He who is faithful in a little is still faithful in much; and the one who is unjust in the very small is still unjust in the most. 11 For if you were not faithful in unjust fortunes, who will trust you with assurance? 12 And if you were not faithful abroad, who will give you what is yours? 13 No subject can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will give himself up to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and capital. 14 And the Pharisees, who were greedy, heard all these things and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them: You justify yourself to men; Yet Almighty knows your hearts; because what men consider wonderful is an abomination before the Creator.
REFLECTION:
Considered the parable of Jesus that is the most difficult to interpret, because at one point in history it is said that the teacher praised the bad steward, but if it is a dishonest and disloyal act, why praise him? This is confusing, yes we take a first look at it. Other debating factors are the identification of the character in verse 8 and in which verse the parable ends, among other minor details. We will see the parabolic illustration, the context of the time of Jesus and its application in modern times.
There is a main theme and it is how we use material wealth to fulfill the purposes of the kingdom of God, here called unfair wealth.
The story of the parable begins with a rich man who has an administrator accused of having lost the assets he received for his administration. Apparently the trustee has time until the day comes when his job is taken from him, so he thinks that he cannot work as a laborer or beg, and it is up to him to call each of his master’s debtors and start changing the value of the debts in a dishonest way with each one, because when they are dismissed, the debtors can receive them in their homes. By that day, the owner had discovered what the butler had done and praised him for his carelessness in getting out of the difficult situation.
The parable ends in verse 8a and is addressed to the wider circle of disciples, although we see that in verse 14 the Pharisees also listened closely. The identification of the master in verse 8 is the owner of the properties. My reasons for deciding this are as follows:
If the parable is complete in verse 7, the story is incomplete, and there is no comparison in the spiritual realm, because how does one know on the subject of sagacity, until verse 7 dishonesty for both the steward and the debtors, even if it stands out they are butlers. If we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who praises the steward, how to highlight it from the story to verse 7, if it is only seen, is dishonesty.
The rich man could not have mentioned the children of light, because in history we do not know that he believed in God.
And although the master of the master is the one who mentions sagacity or cunning, the Lord Jesus Christ also mentions it in other verses, that the children of light must be wise, wise according to Matthew 10:16 “be cunning as serpents” In other In other words, it is careless in the sense of resolute and cunning action in the midst of a desperate situation.
I see. 9 The Lord Jesus says: “And I say to you: Win with friends from the riches of iniquity, so that when they fail, they will receive you into eternal dwellings.” What is unfair wealth? It is money, material goods, and it refers to its earthly and temporal nature, it is not money obtained illegally.
The unconverted or unbelievers put all their strength, time and enthusiasm to achieve their goals, they think about their earthly future before dying; Most believers take it for granted that they go to heaven just by going to church every Sunday, reading the Bible regularly, tithing, and giving, not caring if they get bored of doing the same thing every day. God calls us to love him with all our heart, but also with all our strength (Mark 12:30), to do his will, full of joy and hope. God wants our lives to be given to the King, just as hymns and songs are sung in Sunday services, so we must translate God’s word as we hear it in the sermon.
God tells us in Luke 12: 33-33 NLT “Sell your possessions and give them to those who need them. He will collect treasures for you in the sky! And heavenly bags never get old or delicious. Your tax will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth destroys it. Where your treasure is, your heart’s desires will also be ”, and the guiding text of verse 9 says to win friends through unjust riches because when material good is lacking, that is, when we die, they will welcome us home. .. eternal, honey, the friends that await us. It is not that we fill people with gifts to have friends, it refers to how we use that money to expand the kingdom of God, which also includes helping them in need. You must collect treasures, but in heaven no one will steal real riches, there are no thieves.
God calls us stewards of his grace, if we are faithful in small things, we will be faithful in small things, and we are unfaithful in small things, we will be unfaithful in the same things, and if we are not faithful. in the handling of unjust wealth, how to trust them? The true and true wealth is Christ, the hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44). The value of tangible assets is uncertain and temporary; the value of spiritual realities is fixed and eternal. It is a waste to put all our efforts on something temporary, when we leave this world we cannot take anything from it (1 Timothy 6: 7). But God calls us to be faithful, to help those in need, to get involved in our goods in the expansion of the kingdom of God. Look, when we get to v. 13 we are told that we cannot have two masters, they are exclusive,
In the V. 14 the Pharisees appear who also heard this, and worse still, they mocked the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, their greed and their boasting of justice and obedience to the laws of God made their hearts have a veil. For this reason, Scripture says that the root of all evil is the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10).
There is a connection in the two parables in Luke chapter 16, because we see that in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) the question of the use of material goods is also addressed, and there is an accentuated warning for the Pharisees , greed, not to help the needy. You must help your neighbor, but first the believers (Galatians 6:10). We must remember that Christians must help those in need, but not with the same goals as non-Christian organizations that also focus on alleviating world hunger. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes (John 6: 1-71), the majority only sought Christ for the perishable bread (John 6:26), they did not want the imperishable. Jesus Christ is the true bread from heaven (John 6: 33,51). We must share the good news of salvation and help those in need.