Sermon for September 21, 2025
Pentecost 15 C
Luke 16:1-13
Rev. Karl-John Stone
In a book that is full of weird stories—namely the Bible—this parable that Jesus tells in Luke 16 is one of the weirdest. And it’s one of the most confusing when it comes to guidance for living a Christian life. This weirdness and confusion goes to show that God doesn’t save us because of our knowledge of what the scriptures mean; we’re saved by God’s grace alone given in Jesus Christ. And because of God’s grace, we are free to wrestle with strange stories such as this one until they give us a blessing.
So, rather than trying to make sense of the central character in this parable—the “dishonest manager” who partakes in some “creative accounting practices”—I’d like to look at a few of the broad themes I noticed that Jesus brings up.
The first theme I noticed comes in verse 8 where Jesus says “his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly”. Notice—the manager is not praised for being dishonest; he’s praised for being shrewd—for using good judgement. You see, after being fired by the rich man and asked to give an account of his management, he knew life was going to get difficult. And he knew he’d brought it upon himself for his previous lack of good judgment when he “squandered” the rich man’s property, which he was responsible for safeguarding. And as the manager looks ahead at the difficulties coming his way, he has the self-understanding to recognize his own limitations. He realized that “I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg”—in other words, he’s weak and vain. But by recognizing his limitations, God had actually given him a great gift—because (1) this motivated him to start being responsible for himself; and (2) he realized that he didn’t have the ability to make it in the world on his own. He knew he’d need help going forward, and he’d need to be helped by people who didn’t have much money of their own. In fact, they were all in debt to the rich man, themselves.
So, how does the “dishonest manager” use the good judgement that he his praised for? By doing what he can to help the community members who owe the rich man money. While the manager still has a small window of time, he goes around and reduces the debts these folks owe—and reduces them by a lot. “You, there. Go ahead and take 50% off. And you, over there. Take 20% off yourself.” He knows that now he’s made some friends. They won’t be able to offer much in the way of material gain, but at least they can offer friendship and even “welcome him into their homes”.
A second theme I noticed is that the parable offers guidance for the proper use of money and wealth; it points us towards a few things “not to do” and a few things “to do” instead. The first point is “don’t squander wealth”. The dishonest manager was fired because he was doing exactly that, using the rich man’s property that he was responsible for in foolish and wasteful ways. Instead, do use what wealth you have prudently, wisely, and strategically.
The second point is “don’t use wealth to trample on the poor”. The manager could have succumbed to temptation and used his power over these folks with the vulnerable position they were in (due to their debt), and tried to squeeze a little bit more out of them, put that money in his back pocket, and then ride off into the sunset never to be seen again. But he didn’t do that; instead, he used whatever remaining influence he had to be generous and help people. Modern studies even show what the Bible teaches, that when you help other people, it not only helps them, it also helps you—it ends up improving your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
The third point is “don’t turn money into the defining goal of your life”. The dishonest manager started out by turning the acquisition and spending of money into his defining goal in life; and not in prudent, wise, or strategic ways. And he probably enjoyed the lifestyle that squandering his master’s money enabled him to live. That became his goal and his god, and eventually he paid the price. Now, the Bible does not condemn having wealth or making money in themselves. What the Bible does condemn is “the love of money”. Remember that verse from 1 Timothy 6:10? “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”
Jesus makes the point himself in the conclusion to today’s parable when he says, “No servant can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Jesus is teaching us that we’ve got to choose which one we’re going to love. Choose to love God. Or choose to love wealth. Whichever one you choose to love will form your character, your faith, and your spirituality. But good news—also remember: like the dishonest manager, we can change the focus of our love; God loves to welcome us back if our love has become attached to harmful things.
So, instead of turning money into the defining goal of our lives, you can use whatever money or wealth you acquire as a tool to build up what is most valuable of all—good relationships and a caring community. When your friendships and community are in good shape, chances are you will be too. When they’re not in good shape, then all the money in the world won’t give you peace of mind, let along forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation.
All of that brings me to what may be the overarching theme of this whole weird parable: the importance of building a healthy, caring community—through friendship, through faithfulness, through forgiveness, through exercising good judgment, and through love of God. And that overarching theme is where this weird parable intersects with the special event that’s going to happen here in a few minutes, when Payton in confirmed in Christ.
Payton—and all of us—when you were baptized Jesus chose and adopted you into the family of God; the Holy Spirit called you into the community that we call the Church. When you were baptized, Jesus promised that God will love your forever, no matter what, and that promise never ends. You will always have a home in the community of Christ. This is a gift of God’s grace that begins now on this side of heaven, and continues in age to come, when we’ll meet Jesus face to face.
Payton, because Jesus has already said “Yes” to you in baptism, now you’ll get the opportunity when you’re confirmed to say “Yes” to Jesus yourself. “Yes”, I’m happy to be part of God’s family. “Yes”, I want the help and presence and friendship of Jesus in my life as I support others and as others support me. “Yes”, I pray for the Holy Spirit to work through us and in us to build a beautiful community of faith. Amen.