Go to home page - diocesan shield

The Anglican Church in Tasmania                                                             Search

a healthy church...transformingLIFE

Tasmanian Anglican

September 2004

 

A Quick Word
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager: Luke 16.1-12

by Paul Grayston

 

 

How could this sordid tale of a bunch of scoundrels and their selfish and shady transactions possibly have anything edifying to say to Jesus' disciples, or to us?

Jesus tells a quirky parable of a manager who, having wasted his master's wealth, faces the sack. But before leaving, the manager prepares his way by offering favourable terms to his master's various debtors. When he leaves the master's service he can expect a payback from the scoundrels who have gone along with his dishonest scheme.

Surprisingly, the master commends the shrewd manager for his shady dealings. It seems that the master ruefully admires his outgoing manager's cunning even though it has cost him. The master, himself quite a wheeler and dealer, judging by the scope of his business dealings, recognises that he has met his match. But how are we supposed to draw a good example from such bad characters?

Worldly matters

It may be that it is to do with operating as Christians and as a church as competently and skilfully as we do in worldly matters. That we should approach our church life with the skill and flair we devote to running a household, farm or business. That our parish facilities should be looked after and updated with the care we give to our own homes.

Jesus' own application of the parable, while obscure, points to something else. The most direct and prominent application is this: "Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that you may be welcomed into eternal dwellings" (v.9). What does that mean?

Metaphor for leaving

'Gain friends that you may be welcomed' is clearly what the manager has set out to do. He has prepared for life outside his master's household by gaining friends. Similarly, we are to prepare to be welcomed into 'eternal dwellings'. It is a story about preparing for eternity, for heaven. The manager leaving his position and going into the outside world is therefore a metaphor for leaving this world, for death.

Seen in this light, the story of the shrewd manager is a reminder of the priority of preparing to leave this world. It is a reminder to follow eternal priorities of serving God, loving others, saving souls and using our gifts for his glory, and to set aside the concern for money, possessions, security and advancement we are all so easily drawn into.

'No,' Jesus says, 'let go of all that; you know you can take none of it with you.'

The shrewd manager squarely faced the prospect of moving on. His story is about preparing for the reality of life hereafter. It's a story about committing ourselves wholeheartedly to things of eternal value. It is a story about getting ready for heaven.