"Luke 16:1-8 contains probably the most difficult parable in Luke."367
16:1 The linguistic connection that ties this parable with its preceding context is the word "squander"(Gr. diaskorpizo, cf. 15:13). This is the clue to the thematic connection, namely the prudent use of money. The younger son in the parable of the lost son who represented the sinners whom Jesus received did not manage his inheritance well. He squandered, wasted, and dissipated it. The story that follows gives an example of a wise use of some money that a master entrusted to his servant.
As the story opens, the steward or agent (Gr. oikonomos) is in trouble for unwisely using his master's money. He was behaving as the younger son in the previous parable. In Jesus' day wealthy landowners often turned over the management of some of their money to an agent whose responsibility was to invest it to make more money for the master. Today a stock broker, a banker, or an investment counselor serves his or her clients in a similar way.
16:2 There is no indication in the parable whether the agent failed his master innocently or deliberately. That is unimportant. For whatever reason his boss fired him and asked him to turn in his account books that would show what he had done (cf. Matt. 12:36; Acts 19:40; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 4:5).
16:3-4 Before doing so the agent decided to do something that would enable him to get another job with one of the people who owed his master money. He realized that he had to use his head since he was not strong enough for manual labor, and he was too proud to resort to begging to earn a living. His plan of action would guarantee him a job and respectability, but immediate action was imperative.
16:5-7 The agent's plan involved discounting the debts of the people who owed his master money. The fact that he dealt in commodities rather than cash is inconsequential since many traders dealt on these terms in Jesus' day as they do in ours. The amounts these debtors owed were quite large. Therefore the discount each one received represented a significant amount of money and drew the goodwill of the debtors to the manager. The debtors were probably people who had received goods from the master's estate and had given the agent a promissory note rather than cash. This was and is a standard accepted way of doing business.
Did the manager dishonestly cheat his master out of what others owed him, or did he deduct the interest that would have come to him as the agent for each transaction? The first alternative is a real possibility.368However it seems unlikely that Jesus would have proceeded to commend the manager and hold him up to the disciples as an example to follow if he was that dishonest (v. 9). Furthermore if the agent had chosen to cheat his employer further he probably would have ended up in jail rather than in the good graces of his master's debtors. The second alternative is possible and probable.369The agent could well have received a commission for each of the transactions that he had negotiated for his employer and deducted these commissions from the debtors' costs. Even a 100% commission (v. 6) was not unknown in Jesus' culture.370Probably the commission was part of the original bill.371
16:8 Jesus commended the agent's shrewdness or prudence (Gr. phronimos, i.e., practical wisdom) in spending his wealth to secure his future (cf. 12:42). He did not, of course, approve of his squandering his master's money earlier through incompetence or dishonesty (v. 1), whichever may have characterized him. That simply marked him as an unrighteous man. The fact that he had not been shrewd at first sets off his later shrewdness as even more commendable.
The sons of this age are unrighteous unbelievers who live simply by the principles that govern most people in the present age. Sons of the light are people who live in the light of God's revelation and are therefore believers (cf. 11:33-36; Eph. 5:8). The implication is that they are believers who are in fellowship with God (cf. 1 John 1:7). Jesus' point was that prudent dealings characterize unbelievers more than believers. Disciples can do well by learning from them as we anticipate the future.
16:9 Jesus next explained the application of the parable for His disciples. They should spend their money to make friends who would welcome them into the kingdom and heaven when the disciples died. In other words, disciples should spend their money to bring others to faith in Jesus and so secure a warm reception into heaven. Jesus pictured the converts as dying before the disciples and welcoming them into heaven when the disciples arrived. Disciples should use our money to lead people to Jesus Christ. We should not consume it all on ourselves or pass it all on to our heirs or hoard it but invest it in "the Lord's work."
The word "mammon"is a transliteration of the Aramaic word mamonmeaning "what one trusts"and therefore "wealth.""Mammon of unrighteousness"means worldly or material wealth, wealth associated with unrighteous living contrasted with heavenly treasure (cf. 12:21). The phrase does not mean wealth acquired by dishonest means. "When money fails"is another way of saying "when you die."Money no longer supports a person after he or she dies. Even though money will fail us when we die, those whom we have led to salvation will not die. They will welcome us into eternal, in contrast to temporal, dwellings. Thus Jesus contrasted the temporary nature of money with the eternal value of saved lives.
"A foolish person lives only for the present and uses personal wealth only for the present. A wise person considers the future and uses personal wealth to reap benefits in the future . . ."372
The reason Jesus taught this lesson appears to have been the Pharisees' money-grabbing reputation (cf. v. 14; 20:47). This should not characterize His disciples.
