The Parable of the Shrewd Manager #25

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager, also called the dishonest steward or unjust steward, is one of the most debated stories Jesus told. A manager about to be fired quickly reduces what his master’s debtors owe, and the master praises him for his shrewdness. It appears only in the Gospel of Luke (16:1-13) and closes with the well-known saying that no one can serve both God and money.

The Parable

A rich man learned that his manager was wasting his possessions and summoned him to give an account of his work, since he was to be dismissed (Luke 16:1-2). The manager reasoned that he was not strong enough to dig and was ashamed to beg, so he decided to make friends who would take him in after he lost his job (Luke 16:3-4). He called in his master’s debtors one by one. A man who owed a hundred measures of oil was told to write fifty, and a man who owed a hundred measures of wheat was told to write eighty (Luke 16:5-7).

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly (Luke 16:8). Jesus adds that the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of light, and he tells his disciples to make friends for themselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that they will be welcomed into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:8-9).

Context

Luke says Jesus told this to his disciples, while the Pharisees, whom he calls lovers of money, listened in and ridiculed him (Luke 16:1, 14). It follows the three parables of the lost in Luke 15 and precedes the story of the rich man and Lazarus, so wealth and its use is the surrounding theme.

The difficulties are real. It is unclear whether the manager was reducing his own commission or interest hidden in the bills, or cutting into the master’s profit, and it is uncertain whether the “master” who praises him is the rich man or Jesus. Interpreters are divided, but few think Jesus approves of dishonesty as such.

Meaning

The usual reading is that Jesus commends the manager’s foresight, not his fraud. He saw a crisis coming and acted decisively for his future, and disciples should be equally decisive in using earthly resources for lasting purposes, such as generosity toward others. Jesus then presses the point: whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful in much, and whoever is dishonest in little is dishonest in much (Luke 16:10). Wealth is a trust that tests character, and it cannot be a master: “You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13; compare Matthew 6:24).

Some scholars propose that the manager gave up his own illegitimate profit and so behaved rightly, while others see the parable as ironic. Across Christian traditions, the common thread is stewardship: possessions belong to God, and their use should be judged by eternity.