He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
Luke 16:1-8
I was having lunch today with one of my co-workers and a boss. While we were enjoying our delicious hotdogs from Skins Hot Dogs, my boss asked us what our thoughts were on the parable of the dishonest manager from Luke 16. He was perplexed by some of the aspects of the parable. Firstly, it appears that the dishonest manager is continuting to be dishonest in what the parable is calling shrewdness. Secondly, the rich man doesn’t get angry with the manager for settling his accounts for less then they were worth, but he instead commends the manager.
What’s going on here?
