A Confusing Parable in Troubling Times
A Confusing Parable in Troubling Times
Luke 16:1-13
September 21, 2025
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church, San Rafael, CA
1 Jesus said to his disciples, "There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. 2 So he called him in and said, 'What's this I hear about you? You're fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.' 3 "The manager said to himself, 'What am I going to do? I've lost my job as manager. I'm not strong enough for a laboring job, and I'm too proud to beg. . . . 4 Ah, I've got a plan. I know what to do. Then when I'm turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.'
5 "Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 "He replied, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' "The manager said, 'Here, take your bill, sit down here - quick now - write fifty.' 7 "To the next he said, 'And you, what do you owe?' "He answered, 'A hundred sacks of wheat.' "He said, 'Take your bill, write in eighty.'
8 "Now here's a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. 9 I want you to be smart in the same way - but for what is right - using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."
10 Jesus went on to make these comments: If you're honest in small things, you'll be honest in big things; 11 If you're a crook in small things, you'll be a crook in big things. 12 If you're not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store? 13 No worker can serve two bosses: He'll either hate the first and love the second Or adore the first and despise the second. You can't serve both God and the Bank. (God and Wealth) (God and Money) The Message
Well, that is confusing. As we make our way through Luke’s gospel and discover or rediscover stories that shine light on deeper truths that Jesus taught, I saw this parable coming and I was .. dismayed, perplexed, flummoxed.
This is one of Jesus’ most difficult parables, because it kind of sounds like the Son of God is saying God’s people should be more manipulative and unethical.
Commentators and preachers go to great lengths to pretty it up – they say he eliminated his commission or his own salary, so he was being generous and didn’t cut into his boss’s profits. They suggest he forgave illegal interest, or was a mistreated worker bringing justice to an unfair system. Anything to rescue Jesus from this perplexing. parable.
I am not quite sure what this parable means – what Jesus meant or how to frame it for today. I am convinced even Luke seems unsure what to do with this parable. After telling the story, it seems like he reaches into his desk drawer with little pieces of parchment with favorite Jesus’ sayings and starts using scotch tape on the parchment to attach various random sayings, hoping they will help the lesson make sense.
Liars gonna lie. When people show you who they are, believe them.
No one can play on two teams. You’ll be loyal and give one your best effort, and neglect and resent the other. You can’t serve God and wealth.
We could stop there and call it good enough. But I think there is more. An opportunity. It is connected to something I talked about in my sermons a two weeks ago.
The way of fear vs. The way of Divine Love.
There are two competing narratives all the time, everywhere, in life, in scripture, in media, in the structures we occupy, in the air we breathe.
We tend to live in the way of fear – we are in this alone, God cannot be trusted, scarcity is the rule, never slow down, avoid weakness, earn your place at the table and on the ladder, it is an us and them, friend or enemy world
In contrast the way of Divine Love is the real reality. The truth is life beings in abundance and gift and blessing and everything in it belongs to God. The Holy One made us for connection to Divine Mystery and each other and creation. We are beloved. All people are.
Rev. Jeanie Shaw reminded us last week of times and places she continues to see this reality of Christ’s love after disasters at work. Through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. After Katrina, in Paradise after the fires, in Africa. Care for one another. That’s the way of God peeking through.
Biblical - "The parable of the dishonest manager." That is the heading for this parable in many Bibles. First of all, it’s hilarious to me that this guy is called the "dishonest" manager. He seems brutally honest to me and self aware. “I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m too ashamed to beg.” That is some self-honesty there.
A landowner learns his manager has been dishonest. The manager fears he’s about to be fired, so he decides to do some quick dealing. He goes to a few of the owner’s clients and settles their debts at much lower rates. Collecting about half as much as they owe, the manager figures that the clients will be grateful and treat him well in the future. The owner finds out about this strategy, and this is where it gets strange.
The owner commends the manager for acting “shrewdly” as the NRSV puts it; in other translations, “cleverly.” One of the challenges of this parable is figuring out whose side we’re supposed to be on.
So why commend the manager? Some commentators suggest that by using his position to reduce other people’s debts, the manager understands that he needs to gain them as friends so he will have a place at their tables. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t commend the manager’s practices, but rather the insight into the connection between resources and relationships.
I think our manager, who knows his own limitations, who knows the jig is up, who is being ejected from his secure and comfortable seat in the way of fear, wonders about another way, about his connection to people. He doesn’t yet know how to get there, but he knows he wants it. He takes a few steps in that direction.
And there is also a thread about justice: You can do the right thing even while having less than honorable intentions toward others. In this parable, the manager tries to save his own neck but winds up acting justly toward the poor. Sure, he keeps his job. But those who receive the greatest benefit from his actions are the debtors. Ultimately, those struggling to repay the manager’s master have their debts reduced some 20 to 50 percent!
He did the right thing for the wrong reasons.. or the selfish reasons or limited reasons.
If you emphasize the debtors in the parable, the story shifts….When it becomes clear that he might spend the rest of his life among those whom he’d defrauded, he didn’t panic. Instead, he saw the situation differently. He will be in their debt. He’ll be beholden to them for friendship and food. He will live among them, not over them.
God often appears where we least expect God to be, coming to us from unexpected people to render help and aid. There are lots of “crises” in Luke that turn on receiving help from unexpected places – the Jewish traveler left for dead along the road who is saved by a Samaritan; the rich man (in next week’s text) who begs for help from Lazarus, the enslaved man he ignored; this manager now suddenly dependent on those who used to look to him for loans. From Mary’s Magnificat through the Beatitudes, God regularly shows up in those places where we least expect. We learn to look for the helpers and to be people of help, compassion.
But frankly we are left with so many questions about this parable. Jesus in Luke has plenty to say about the dangers of wealth, and yet this parable trades on wealth gained by squandering another’s property. Is dishonesty supposed to be a model for God’s reign? Are any of the characters to be understood as “good”?
Perhaps our questions are the point. Could it be that Jesus’ intention is to turn understanding on its head and leave people pondering, returning again and again, to story and story-teller?
Despite 2,000 years of interpretive history, the inability to make sense of the parable of the unjust manager allows us to experience confusion similar to those first students of Jesus.
A story by Audrey West, Prof. of NT at Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA. She writes: Before going into biblical studies, I started in vet school. I had a professor named Dr. George. His wisdom and teaching methods have stayed with me.
For the final exam, George told a story to the class and had a few details on the paper. The main character—a horse - was suddenly stricken with an undetermined illness. A long list of symptoms and the results of a couple of lab tests were followed by two questions: What is the cause of this animal’s distress? and What is your treatment plan?
That is, How do you interpret the data? and What does it mean? When papers were returned, most of the students received outstanding grades, although their answers differed. They demanded to know: What is the right answer?
Dr. George refused to be pinned down. “As long as you provided a diagnosis that made sense of the symptoms and a fitting rationale for your treatment plan, you received an A.” Most students were unhappy with that response. They were determined to prove to the teacher and to each other that their own response was the correct one. They’d meet during office hours and argue their rationales, with reference to diagrams, diagnostic manuals, and real-life experiences in field work. With each conversation, the students encountered multiple possibilities, new understandings, and a push to expand their diagnostic capabilities.
The final exam was doing its work. Maybe that is our invitation to this and other parables.
Luke says we can’t serve two masters, God and wealth. In other words, we can’t let our lives be for both the way of fear and the way of God.
What do we value? Who and what do we serve? Augustine asserted that God gave us people to love and things to use, and but our ego and fear manifests in our tendency to love things and use people.
Who and what are we serving? What does our calendar and our check book and our bank account and our investments say about what we value? Are we valuing relationships and people? How is the Holy One inviting us to see what could be different, to ask deeper questions, imagine another way and lean into generosity? May our questions continue ot rise up in us. Amen.
Resources
Rev. Kara Root, “The Rigged Game & Real Love,” https://kara-root.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-rigged-game-and-real-love.html
Rev. Joanne Whitt, The Unjust Steward,” https://solve-by-walking.com/2025/09/16/the-unjust-steward/
Diane Butler Bass, “Sunday Musings Corruption everywhere?” https://open.substack.com/pub/dianabutlerbass/