Managing Well

Since June of this year, I have been supervising with my office cleaning company: during the summer I was working with a team that moved furniture, various detailed cleaning, and some stripping & waxing floors. In August I was given a position as Site Supervisor over JCB, a tractor-producing company whose headquarters for North America abides near Savannah's airport. Looking back to June, I've gone through many things that tested my ability to lead; I've continued to ask myself this question daily: Am I being trustworthy of the job and resources that my boss has granted me?

In Luke 16, in the presence of the Pharisees, scribes, and the disciples, Jesus gives the parable of the dishonest manager. This comes after chapter 15 (didn't take a seminary degree to figure that one), where the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling because Jesus was receiving and eating with sinners. Jesus, in turn, gave them three parables: a) lost sheep, b) lost coin, and the c) lost son. These were aimed directly at the Pharisees and scribes, explaining that beauty is in the eye of the beholders (shepherd, woman, father), and they gave value on what they possessed--so also, who the Father extends compassion to, is not based on any self-worth in an individual or by their own merits.

Ok, there's the context. In Luke 16, Jesus switches and gives the disciples a parable (with the Pharisees and scribes still there):

“There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. [2] 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.’ [3] 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. [4] I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ [5] So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ [6] He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ [7] 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.’ [8] 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. [9] 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. [10] One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. [11] If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

I will admit to you that, at face value, I struggled with this one--particularly verse 9. But after awhile, via reading it numerous times and looking at the context, things started to make sense. This parable shares similarities with the prodigal son (15:11-32). There is a wasting of possessions, realization of error & repentance, and a redemptive ending; albeit this one was a boss-employee relationship, which lacks the intimacy of a father-son. The dishonest manager repented like Zacchaeus did after using his positionally sinfully (19:1-10). And so, the manager redeems himself by handling the standing debts in lieu of what was coming: his dismissal from work and having no place to go. Even though he sinfully used what was given him, he turned it around for good, and in the end was commended for being wise.

This ticks off the Pharisees, who were lovers of money (16:14). They began to ridicule him. Jesus in turn says in 16:14b-16:

You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. [16] The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. [17] But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

After reading the rest of the chapter, I believe Luke is trying to tell us how to be wise managers in three areas, because the consequence of disobeying any of them is considered a breach in the moral law.

1) Managing your Money (15:11-16:14)
This can be seen from the prodigal son and dishonest manager, and with the Pharisees being themselves lovers of money. You cannot have money as your master and Jesus as Lord at the same time; choosing money over Jesus is both greed and coveting (10th commandment.)

2) Managing your Marriage (16:18)
Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery (v. 18). I honestly couldn't figure out why this statement would be put here, since no mention of marriage was made in chapters 15 or 16. But this ties in with men justifying themselves before men, rather than against a holy, just God who is Judge over all. Jesus granted divorce to be an option only in the case of sexual immorality (Matthew 5:32) and of desertion by an unbeliever (1 Corinthians 7:10-15). And so, if a man does not manage his marriage properly, and divorces for unjust reasons, this is committing adultery (7th commandment).

3) Managing your Meals (16:19-31)

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, [21] who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. [22] The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, [23] and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. [24] And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ [25] But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. [26] And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ [27] And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— [28] for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ [29] But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ [30] And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ [31] He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Jesus tells yet another story to rebuke the Pharisees, who like to see themselves as exalted above other men. This rich man would not give food to Lazarus, who longed to eat just table scraps. The rich man who wanted all the food for himself and did not love his neighbor, we then see in torment while Lazarus is in heaven. He was selfish with his food, and choose to care for himself rather than his neighbor (which Jesus says the 2nd greatest commandment after loving God is to love your neighbor as yourself--Matthew 22:37-40).

To wrap this up, how are managing with what God has given you? Ask yourself: how do I stand in light of Luke 16:10-13? Know that the Law and the prophets pointed to Christ, to show us that we need grace. And as believers, we obey God's commandments because we delight in Him and desire to please Him as our heavenly Father and Lord. God's people are marked by their walking in the light (1 John 1:5-2:6) and by loving their neighbors (1 John 2:7-11). Grace and peace.