A Study in the Gospel of Luke

vv 1-13 The Parable of the Unjust Steward. Many have regarded this passage a difficult one to interpret because Jesus appears to be commending immoral behaviour. Yet this cannot be so because of the totally moral uprightness of His character and teaching recorded in the Gospels and this is clearly upheld by the context. It is a parable addressed primarily to His disciples. It is a story about rogues. Firstly, there is the steward (oikonomas) who is more than a slave because he has considerable authority. He was sacked not because of dishonesty but slackness, perhaps laziness, wasting his employer's goods and not making the kind of profit that was expected of him. Secondly, there is the Master or owner of the establishment who may have been a landlord absent in a foreign country. He left his estate in the care of others who were expected to care for it and make it profitable. He might have been lazy in not using his money for the benefit of the poor or nor caring whether his steward made a profit honestly. The Law did not allow a Jew to extract interest from fellow Jews. Thirdly, the debtors were rogues because they were willing to have their debts dishonestly reduced so that they had less to pay the 'Master'. They all suffered from the modern weakness of believing it is all right to break the law providing no one notices it. One schoolmaster told his students to learn the 11^th commandment ‑ 'You shall not be found out'. But that is not the spirit of the law as taught by Moses, the prophets or Jesus.

The steward was not brought before the magistrate but allowed to depart quietly. He interviewed each of his master's debtors to discovers their debt and promptly reduced it. There is considerable difference in the amount of reduction ‑ one by 50% and the other by 20%. He was dealing in very large quantities ‑ about 4,000 litres of oil and nearly 40,000 litres of grain. When the Master heard about the false dealing he commended the steward rather than turning him over to the law. Perhaps they all had something to hide. But why did Jesus tell the story.

"The sons of this world (aion - age) are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light." Jesus' followers live in the world and handle the blessings of this world as gifts from God whether its wealth or the many things which money can buy. But they handle them as wise stewards for building up the Church or spreading the Gospel and in so doing they are laying up treasure in heaven. There are many needs within the Church and in this world to which Christians can make a wonderful contribution. It is very important to identify fellow members of God's family and the places where God wants us to serve Him. It is also vital that children of God clearly understand that all they have and all they are must be used totally under the direction of their Father and only thus can they make the spiritual capital that leads into His presence room.

The point Jesus is making is that many people in this world show a commitment to their particular interest, whether it's a sport, or a university discipline or a political party which sadly puts Christians to shame in their service of the King of Kings.

vv 9,13 mammon is derived from the Aramaic and generally refers to wealth. The servant of v.13 is a household slave douleuein unlike 'steward' oikonomia (manager) in the earlier parable

vv 14-18 Ethics of the Law. The Pharisees' attitude (literally held their noses in the air) to Jesus about money sprang from their belief that God had rewarded their 'righteousness' with riches. They therefore derided Jesus in both teaching and practice because He and His disciples were poor. Jesus was aware that their giving to charity was a cloak for their extortion from the poor. Like His Father He knew their motives. They held in honour those who gave much to charity as many do today. Jesus clearly showed that through the changing scenes of human history, moral values cannot change. So He brought to their attention two fundamental principles of human behaviour; attitudes to wealth and chastity. Abuse of God's gifts has appalling results affecting the fabric of human society especially during periods of change. Was this change in the 1^st Century from a legal strait jacket to freedom of conscience or are were they disobeying God's rules?

v.17 'tittle' kerea literally 'little horn' ‑ a little stroke or serif to distinguish the meaning of certain Hebrew letters and Jesus used the word to show that tiny details of the law are important. Some commentators regard them as 'scribal ornaments' therefore of no importance.

v.18 Men interpreted the marriage laws totally to the disadvantage of women. Jesus may have been defending the woman's position. Normally Jesus' teaching was nearer to the broad minded Rabbi Hillel but here He aligned with the strict teaching of Rabbi Shammai so it has been in the Christian church for most of the last two thousand years.

v.19-31 The Parable of Dives (Latin for rich) and Lazarus. Like the earlier parable, this is not the easiest story to interpret. Dives lived in luxury. He had all he wanted in comfort and food. He never hurt or wronged anyone. His sin was that he failed to notice or do anything to help a fellow human being in trouble. His was a sin of omission rather than commission. People matter more than things in God's sight. "It is the plain fact that if men possess the truth of God's word, and if, wherever they look there is sorrow to be comforted, need to be supplied, pain to be relieved, and if it moves them to no feeling and to no action, nothing will change them" not even someone returning from the dead ‑ Barclay. There is a practical lesson to be learned from Jesus' story and if we want to spend eternity with a caring God we must become like Him; but if we take the parable entirely literally we could interpret it that poverty brings eternal bliss and wealth brings eternal misery. Campbell Morgan takes the view that the unsaved will have an opportunity to make good in the Kingdom to come. He emphasizes the principles of the parable. He notes that this was probably a true story and is the only parable in which a character is named. He says the description of the rich man's life shows him to be flamboyant. But the principle is that our way of life now, affects our life in the hereafter.

There is a rather different interpretation of this parable to be found in the Bible Study Monthly page 92 of 1992. There it is pointed out that there is a Babylonian Talmud story of similar character upon which Jesus may have based this parable. The article demonstrates how the parable does not deal to "the future life or with the respective destinies of the righteous and wicked after death." The interpretation given is that Dives represents the cast off Jewish nation headed up by its religious leaders who have not fulfilled their commission as ambassadors of God's kingdom and that Lazarus represents the Gentiles who are drawn into the Kingdom after centuries of spiritual poverty. The fixed gulf is shown to the "the immutable purpose of God" but Dives is called 'son' by Father Abraham. Hades will one day pass away.

In handling all parables, principles count more than detailed interpretation. The value of all great teaching is not academic but its power in turning lives to God. All that Jesus had to say, including His parables, is the greatest teaching ever.