Luke 16:1-9

[Jesus said], 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.

Turn in the account of your management. Those are the words a certain man says in our text when firing his manager. Jesus is discussing the potential of this world’s things to replace God and His kingdom. He says it in the presence of Pharisees, who St. Luke tells us, were lovers of money. It’s a warning to us, that we not trade eternal treasure for what passes away with this world. We are entrusted with God’s things like a manager is entrusted with his employer’s things. The master’s command: Turn in the account of your management can remind us of the day in which we will stand before God in His kingdom. And the Bible talks about people giving an accounting to God in this way. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God, St. Paul writes (Romans 14:12).

It’s interesting that the theme you see in the bulletin, The Shrewd Manager, ignores everything we know about the man’s employment except for the one preparation he makes as he is about to gather up his things. That’s what makes him the shrewd manager; not anything else that has come before—none of the foolish wastefulness, none of the squandering of the master’s generosity that has made him a “situation” that needed to be dealt with.

Now, we noted that we are entrusted with God’s things like a manager is entrusted with his employer’s things. In Baptism (or through the hearing of God’s Word) God entrusted us with faith in Jesus that saves from sin’s punishment—eternal death. Since He’s the One Who has given us the possession of the faith we have, we are stewards of our Master’s possession. And He has supplied us with everything that might be needed to manage that possession successfully. His Word is a living, active thing for us, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, Who works in it (Heb. 4:12). It nourishes this possession of faith over which we are our Master’s stewards. And, as if that weren’t enough with which to manage this possession of our Master’s, He has provided His Supper through which, mysteriously, He gives us the very thing that saves us—His true body and blood. He even said that He gives it to us for the remission of sins. What more could we possibly need to manage our Master’s possession—this faith that He powerfully tends unto eternal life? But, as we said, this world’s things have the potential to replace God and His kingdom to us.

The manager in Jesus’ parable certainly doesn’t have God’s eternal kingdom in mind as he make arrangements for his next landing place. This scoundrel makes himself a friend to the master’s debtors at the master’s expense. He will have a place to go when this is all over; he’s made sure of it. Nothing has gotten in the way of it being the case.

It’s that particular detail that Jesus seizes upon when He calls the manager shrewd, and encourages his listeners to be that way when it comes to God’s kingdom (not the dishonest part, of course, but the shrewd part—the part about doing whatever it takes to end up in the good place). In the same way that the manager has carefully considered his situation (‘What shall I do…I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg…I have decided what to do”—and so forth), Jesus is saying that a person must consider his eternal situation.

We talked a little about faith that has come to us through Baptism and through the Word. We might say that through faith God has given us the ability to rightly consider our eternal situation. He has given us all of the info. that is necessary. The parable’s manager says, “What shall I do?” He knows the facts: because of his own fault, he faces what to him are unacceptable consequences. That can’t be my end, he thinks to himself. It mustn’t be!

Isn’t it the same for us when we consider our eternal situation? We know our own set of facts: because of our own fault, we face unacceptable consequences (…the wages of sin is death, the Bible says—eternal death and punishment [Rom. 6:23]). And by God’s grace through faith, we are able to think to ourselves, That can’t be our end…it mustn’t be! We will make whatever preparation is necessary, so that we won’t suffer sin’s consequences. We will make use of God’s Word and Supper provided as that preparation.

And yet, Jesus is warning us in this parable. It follows the prodigal son account, in which a young man demanded his inheritance so he could go out and immerse himself in the pleasures of this world. It’s immediately followed by a section in which Jesus says, “No servant can serve two masters….You cannot serve God and money (16:13).” On Jesus’ mind is the danger that faces his listeners in this world. Their sinful nature is deceptive. It shows them things that look so appealing. It makes promises to them, of joy, and satisfaction, and fulfillment in what is really replacing God and His eternal kingdom in their lives. It’s a deception that leads to destruction.

We briefly mentioned that we will stand before God in His kingdom to give an accounting (we went by it pretty fast; but it might have caught your attention). In the parable, a charge has been brought against the manager. Someone has information on him that makes him dead to rights, as they say. He’s guilty. There isn’t any question that he’s done what he’s being accused of, and faces the consequences of his actions.

In the Revelation, Satan is called the accuser of our brothers (12:10). He’s the one bringing the charges against people who are standing before God. In a way (like in the parable) he’s the one saying, this person has been wasteful of the master’s possessions (wasteful in this sense means, sinful). He has no right to be with God now; he must be me. Even though God has provided the means through which sin is resisted, faith is nourished, etc, this person has repeatedly broken God’s Commandments. You have repeatedly broken God’s Commandments. You have tried to serve two masters—both God and money. You have been enamored with the view as the sinful nature showed you things that looked so appealing. You have been taken in by its promises of joy, and satisfaction, and fulfillment in what is really replacing God and His eternal kingdom in your life.

We said that the bulletin’s theme, The Shrewd Manager, ignores everything we know about the man’s employment except for the one preparation he makes as he is about to gather up his things.

What a comfort that can be for us when applied (as we have in all these other things) to our eternal situation. Jesus is saying that being a shrewd manager of that particular preparation—that eternal preparation—erases everything that came before it. And it isn’t us and our preparing that does the erasing. The greater portion of that Revelation passage says this: “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God (Rev. 12:10).” The preparing we’re doing is simply not losing hold of what has been entrusted to us by God’s grace. It’s allowing the Spirit to tighten our grip on it through the Word and Supper given for that purpose.

While there is no shortage of charges that could be brought against all of us, they come to nothing in the presence of Christ. He is the One Who is unfailing in His faithfulness. Nothing about His service could be questioned. And His service is what stands in the place of yours before God. In Him, your accounting before God is a perfect accounting. It is the accounting that considers your sins entirely and freely forgiven. They don’t exist anymore in the accounting; they are entirely removed with no further accusation able to be leveled. In Christ, you are the truly shrewd manager of God’s eternal things. There is no question that in Him you are assured of having the best place to go. To Him be glory, then, both now and forever. Amen.