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Bible Study by
Abouna Arsanios
The Parable of the
Unjust Steward

Luke 16:1-13

Jesus said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

“So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

“Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. ‘I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

“So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So 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?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

“So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Summary

The master has an oil press and a steward.

The master had many debtors and accused the steward of poor performance.

The steward, thinking about his future, decided to get in good with all the master’s debtors. He reduced all the debts and got the debtors to make full payments of the reduced amounts.

Despite the questionable ethics of discounting the master’s debts, the master commends the steward, calling his action “shrewd.”


Interpretation 1

The master is an owner. The steward is a servant. He does not own the master’s assets. He should do his master’s will.

Interpretation 2

The master is the Master of us all, God. The steward represents any servant of God, a layperson or a church servant or an ordained clergyman. The debtors are sinners, for notice that the debtors are debtors of the master, and all sinners sin only against God. As stewards, we don’t even have the right to be indignant when someone sins against us, because he is really sinning against God. The debt in the story is sin, again, for all sin is against God. The forgiveness of debt is the forgiveness of sin, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Notice that in the opposite case, when man did not forgive sins, as is the Master’s way, the Master became angry, as in “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. (Matthew 18:23) The steward did not forgive in this parable, and the Master become angry.

For the apostles and their descendants the ordained priests, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18)

The mammon or weath is all that we have (which is not ours, for we are stewards), for “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? (Luke 16:10-11)

Thus, you have heard that it was said, make friends for yourself with money (Mishna [need reference]), but I say to you make heavenly friends for yourself by forgiving not only money but spiritually forgiving.

Review 1

Are you an owner or a steward?

Are you faithful in your stewardship?

You have to know that all of us will leave this world and give an account of our stewardship. You have to be faithful with the little you have (which is not yours anyway) in order to be entrusted with the much in heaven.

“So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. (Luke 16:8)

This person did a worldly behavior but he prepared himself for the future. Do you prepare yourself with the same diligence that they do with the few years that are left in their lives? The lord says, they do much better than you. They take care diligently for a few years to come. How about you, for eternity?

“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Who are these friends in heaven?

I was hungry and you gave me food.
I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you cared for me.
I was in prison and you visited me.
Whatever we do to the least of them....

How do I spend my mammon, my talents (everything in my life) wisely so that, at the end of my time on this earth, I will be able to give a good account?

One thing clear in this parable: the Lord compares the shrewdness or wisdom in preparing for the future; the strong implication being that the faithful do not prepare as diligently as the unfaithful.

Note well that this worldly behavior that the steward did is to forgive debts. We need to extend this to a heavenly or divine or spiritual behavior to forgive sins or trespasses or spiritual debts as well.

Review 2

I am a steward not an owner.

All I have is not mine (unrighteous mammon).

One day I will leave. I will give an account for it. I need to behave shrewdly.

We have to think about our eternity. If we live in this world only, we will be the most miserable people in this world. We live for eternity. We see Him now in a mirror, but we will see him over there face to face. He came to earth to take us with Him into Heaven. To raise our understanding to see what is afterlife.

A word about worldly mammon or wealth. Once a man gave his wife many lovely gifts that she adored, and then the man went out to work. The wife loved the gifts so much that she forgot about the husband who gave them to her. This is how we are with the gifts God has given us. We need to worship the Creator, not worship His Creations and forget about Him.