This parable can be confusing at first, but when you step back, it’s really about stewardship and the heart. The “dishonest” manager isn’t praised for being shady — he’s praised for being shrewd, for using what he had while he could. Jesus isn’t telling us to be manipulative; He’s reminding us to be wise with what’s been entrusted to us. Everything we have — our money, gifts, time, opportunities — ultimately belongs to God. The question isn’t how much we have, but how we’re using it. Are we serving God or serving wealth? Because we can’t do both. Our job isn’t ownership — it’s stewardship. So today, let’s use what God’s given us well, not for our own gain, but for His glory and the good of others.

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Well, good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning as we continue together in Luke’s Gospel.

Yesterday we finished that great parable of the two lost brothers — both in need of redemption — and today we move into one of the more challenging parables Jesus ever told. This one only really makes sense if you read it in context with what comes before and after, because at first glance it’s a head-scratcher. You’ll see what I mean as we unpack it.

Let’s read it together — Luke 16:1-13, from the NRSVUE:

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.
So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’
Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’
Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’
And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.
If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Now that last line right there — you cannot serve God and wealth — that’s the key to the whole thing.

This is a parable about money, but it’s really a parable about the heart. About stewardship. About understanding that what we have doesn’t really belong to us anyway — it belongs to God.

John Wesley wrote a sermon called The Use of Money where he said something that fits this perfectly. He said money itself isn’t evil. It’s just a tool. It’s what we do with it that matters. He said we should “gain all we can, save all we can, and give all we can.”

The manager in this story is called “dishonest,” but another way to think about it is “shrewd.” He knows he’s about to be fired, so he uses the little authority he has left to make friends, to set himself up for what’s next. He’s using resources — that ultimately belong to someone else — to do some good for others and maybe for himself.

Now, Jesus isn’t saying, “Hey, go out there and start cooking the books.” That’s not the point. The point is that even this guy, who didn’t have the purest motives, understood how to use what was in front of him wisely. He wasn’t hoarding it. He wasn’t trying to serve money. He was using money as a tool.

That’s why Wesley would say the real dishonesty isn’t in cutting someone’s bill — it’s in hoarding what belongs to God. If we keep all our resources to ourselves while people around us are in need, that’s when we’re being “dishonest.”

So Jesus is flipping the script a little. He’s saying, “Be wise with what you’ve got. Don’t worship it. Use it.” Because at the end of the day, it all belongs to God anyway.

That’s what Paul meant when he said, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Money itself isn’t evil. It’s just neutral. It’s a tool. But if we start to love it, that’s when it takes the place of God.

That’s why Jesus ends the parable by saying, “You can’t serve both God and wealth.”

And that’s the question this parable leaves us with — are we serving God, or are we serving wealth? Do we see our resources — our money, our time, our talents — as ours or as God’s?

At the end of the day, our job isn’t ownership — it’s stewardship. Everything we have — our income, our gifts, our opportunities — belongs to God.

I’ll never forget something a seminary professor once said when we were all broke students putting a few dollars in the offering plate. He dropped in what seemed like way too much money and said, “My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” That’s Psalm 50 — and it stuck with me. It all belongs to God.

So the challenge today is simple: are we being good stewards with what God’s entrusted to us? Not just with our money, but with everything — our prayers, our service, our witness, our talents. Are we using what we’ve got wisely for God’s glory and the good of others?

Because in the end, that’s what the parable of the dishonest manager is really about — not dishonesty, but stewardship. Not greed, but trust.

So today, whatever God’s placed in your hands, use it well. Use it for good. Use it for God.

Have a great day, friends. See you tomorrow.