Luke 16:1-13

This parable represents one of the most difficult passages in all of scriptures. Our Lord seems to be commending the dishonesty of this steward, and to encourage his disciples to follow in that steward’s example. Why is our Lord Jesus Christ sharing this parable with his disciples? Clearly, they will become the stewards of the Gospel—but how does that truth relate to the parable that He shares with them? This is a question that requires us to look at the true message of this parable in order to see beyond the seemingly dishonest actions of the steward and instead see the overwhelming mercy of his master—and to see here the true meaning of this text. The question that is posed and answered by this text is not merely "how shall we make use of unrighteous mammon, or money?" as it might be summarily judged from the last lines of verse 13. Rather, our Lord is posing a broader question to His disciples, and to us. He is asking,

"Where shall we put our trust, in God, our Lord and Master, or in ourselves?"

That is the question that the steward is forced to answer when he is faced with his imminent dismissal.

"[The rich man] called [his steward] and said to him, ‘what is this I hear about you? Give and account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ And the steward said to himself, ‘what shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me?’"

The steward had not been faithful in his stewardship. He was being cast out of his position. The disciples understood that the rich man represented the LORD God. God had entrusted his promise—his riches—to Israel, and through Christ’s calling, to them. And yet, history shows how those riches, the promise of God to his people, the promise of salvation, had been neglected. Instead of living faithful lives, God’s stewards had chosen to live lives of self-fulfillment and sin. We, like those who have gone before us in the Church, have failed in the same way. We forget that we are stewards of God’s gifts and resort to serving ourselves and caring for our own desires and needs. We prefer the ease of sinful living for ourselves to the call to faithful stewardship. We are born in sin, we live in sin, and we cultivate our sinful lives by selfish endeavors for money, for material satisfaction, for pleasure.

From time to time, we are reminded that we are not our own, but that we are God’s creation, and should be serving Him and His kingdom. And so we try to reform ourselves, working harder towards becoming holy. The disciples did this as well. They tried to follow in the footsteps of our Lord, but would fall away, only to apply themselves again, only to fall away, yet again. Think of St. Peter, who confessed Christ as the Son of God, only to be rebuked by Christ moments later, "Get behind me Satan." And so he promised to sanctify himself, promised to remain faithful, only to deny Christ on the very night in which He was betrayed. St. Paul summarizes this continuing struggle to be faithful, in his epistle to the Romans, "For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but am doing the very thing I hate."

The steward of Jesus’ parable looks at himself and realizes the futility of his situation, "I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg." His situation is bleak. He looks honestly at his own position, at his own abilities and sees there that he is without hope of making a living. He cannot live without the generosity and mercy of his master. He is a steward of another man’s riches. We too are only stewards. What could we do to pull ourselves out of sin. What could we do to ingratiate ourselves to our Lord? Could we dig, could we beg? Would our Lord, the God of justice, look past our sinful lives—the lives which he abhors, if only we worked hard enough. Do we have the strength or the endurance to achieve such a work? Hardly. The prophet Isaiah proclaims that not all of Lebanon, or all the beasts therein could pay the price of our sin—we cannot work our way out of it. And begging? To whom could we beg for forgiveness, when our sins are against God—the God of Justice.

But the steward, while he was unfaithful in his duties, knew his master, "I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship, they will receive me into their homes…." Too weak to dig, and too proud to beg, the steward saw that his plight was hopeless if he was left to his own devices. And so he used his master’s riches to save himself.

The rich man was obviously a just man—he discharged his steward for his poor stewardship, but the steward knew that while his master was just, he was also merciful. And the steward trusted in that mercy. He relied on that mercy—not just for himself, but for all of the master’s debtors. The rich man’s mercy was two fold—first he gave the the steward the means he needed, and second he forgave the steward for his seeming abuse of those means—in fact he commended the steward for his wisdom. Our God’s mercy is boundless. He gives us his great riches—in baptism he gives us the key to His kingdom. He gives us the faith to remain faithful, but His mercy and grace do not abandon us there. For He knows that we will continue to sin, and fail in our stewardship, but He provides us with the forgiveness that we need. Our Lord’s mercy does not fail, even when we do. He gives us the key to His kingdom, and then continues to give us that kingdom.

The rich man praised his steward for his wisdom. God gives us that wisdom—fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the perfection of that wisdom is faith in Christ crucified—a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…but to us, his stewards it is the power and wisdom of God. This is the chief of all treasures—our God, in flesh, and hanging upon a cross. God has given us Himself.

We may work day in and day out, striving for success. But, as the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us, all of our work, all of our money and material wealth is nothing but vanity. Our riches will be spent or they will all pass away. Those who put their trust in their riches, in their work, in their own strength will also pass away, without ever put themselves into the merciful hands of a loving God.

But our trust, our faith, is in God, who is gracious and merciful. He has made us His stewards, the stewards of His mysteries. He has given us the wonderful gift of baptism which brings us into His Church, so that we might become His stewards. He has given us His body and blood—crucified upon a cross and offered to us through the sacrament of communion. And He continues to forgive us time and time again as we place our trust in His mercy and forgiveness. The promise of the steward, spoken to the apostles, is God’s promise to us: as we are stewards of these mysteries and use them to place ourselves in the mercy of God, as we offer these mysteries to a sinful world, we will be received also into His eternal dwelling. His promises do not pass away. His riches are imperishable, and His forgiveness is given to us that we also will live forever with Him in His kingdom. Amen.