Thomas J Parlette
”The Cunning Manager”
Luke 16: 1-13
9/21/25
This morning we have before us one of those passages that make us wonder – “How did this story ever make it into the Bible?” Are you sure this is something that Jesus really said? One the earliest theologians of the Christian Church, Augustine of Hippo, is said to have remarked, “I can’t believe this story came from the lips of our Lord.” (1) He’s not alone. I’m sure all over the country this morning, this troublesome parable is being set aside for something a little more palatable.
The New Testament scholar Charles Cousar once said that “Luke 16: 1-13 is one of the great exegetical mountains of scripture.” (2) Even Luke seems a bit uncomfortable with this story as he tacks on a number of sayings about wealth to the end of the story – “Whoever is faithful with a little will be faithful with much…” No one can serve two masters, you can’t serve both God and wealth.” Those sayings might be true – but is that really what this parable is about? It’s seems like an interpretative stretch to make this story reinforce that point.
There is this manager who oversees his master’s estate. Rumors get back to the master that his manager is mis-managing the estate’s resources. The NRSV says that charges were brought to the owner, but the owner never investigates or asks for his manager’s side of the story. He simply takes the rumors at face value and fires his manager.
The manager knows that he is ill-suited to do much else, so he comes up with a plan. In order to ingratiate himself to the people he has been taking advantage of - he calls in people who money to the estate and tells them to change the amount they owe – he cooks the books, in modern parlance., so that they might take him in when he gets fired. The owner arrives, takes a look at the books, and he is impressed with his manager’s resourcefulness and cunning, saying “he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of the light. 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.”
That’s where most scholars think this parable ended. The next three verses were either later additions to try and make sense of this weird story, or perhaps it’s Luke, leafing through his notebook of Jesus sayings and trying to find something to tie this parable up in a cleaner way.
One of the earliest methods of interpreting Jesus’ parables was to approach them as allegories – kind of like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress. Every character represents something. So, the first thing early commentators did was go through the parable and figure out – “Okay, which character represents God and who represents us.”
These days, we now that parables are not allegories. Some modern scholars like to say there are two kinds of parables. Those that say:
1. “Go and do likewise…” And those that say:
2. “How much more…”
This parable, misnamed “The Dishonest Manager”, is an example of a “How much more…” parable. I say misnamed because the manager is never proven to be dishonest, he is fired because of rumors and hearsay.
As for the actions he takes reducing his master’s debtors, scholars have come up with two main ways to explain this.
1. The manager subtracted the unfairly high interest rate the people working the land were subject to. Technically, this was against the law because in Deuteronomy there were laws against usury – charging interest on moneylending.
2. Or, some scholars have theorized that the manager reduced the debt by subtracting his own cut of the profit.
Either way, the manager, dishonest or not, doesn’t exactly come out smelling like a rose. Something seems fishy here. And when Jesus tells us to “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth…” what are we supposed to do with that. No matter how much scholars try to explain the intricacies at work here, this is a difficult parable to wrap out heads around.
Recently, Marianne Borg posted on her father’s website, marcusjborg.org, these thoughts on parables:
“Parables are not journalistic reports. They didn’t really happen… But that doesn’t mean they aren’t telling a truth. They tell a truth but they tell it slant.
As Emily Dickinson wrote: “Tell the truth but tell it slant, the truth in circuit lies… The truth must dazzle gradually or every one be blind.”
Jesus’ parables are stories told at a slant. And we may not know what to make of them right away.
And parables are not tidy little moral tales for us to figure out. Although we tend to work hard saying that they are.
And there isn’t just one way to interpret a parable or even a right way. Although they may lead us to question what we have always assumed is the right way. They don’t tell us what to do. They don’t give us an answer. Or explain themselves. So why the parable? What good can come out of a parable?
Well, they invite us to come and see… See another point of view. From another angle of vision. They just might blow the dust from our eyes, as we continue to travel along the way.
Parables are not about God. I know, I thought they were about God too. How often do we hear or read a parable and ask, now who is God in this story? But Jesus parables are not about God – they ae about the KINGDOM of God.
And remember that Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God as a sharp contrast to the kingdom of Caesar, the kingdom of Empire. The kingdom of Empire was the oppositional context of Jesus’ day. And Jesus’ parables, in their own way, illustrate the contrast.” (3)
So what is the truth that Jesus is trying to get at with this “slanted” story.
When we consider the context of the rest of Luke, chapter 16 and beyond, we see that one of the themes emerging here is wealth, money and how to use it before it uses us. So Jesus is trying to say something about money here.
The biblical scholar Robert Tannehill notes that this cunning manager has effectively backed his master into a corner. “The master would have two problems with honor…
1. A master who cannot control his subordinates is dishonored. It would not be good for this master’s reputation to let it be known that his manager had swindled him.
2. Trying to take back a gift is a dishonorable thing. The alternative is to ratify the reduction of the debts and take credit for it.” (4)
You can see why the master recognizes the shrewdness of his manager’s actions. He’s saying – “Ah, you’ve outwitted me. You’ve learned the game well. Good job!”
A similar thing once happened to Henry Ford when he had become a rich man. It is said that on a visit to Ireland, his ancestral home, in 1912, Ford was staying in Cork. While he was there, a couple of Trustees of the local hospital paid him a call.
“Mr. Ford, we’re building a hospital here in Cork, and we think it would be a marvelous memorial to your dear departed father – who left his native land for the fair shores of America – if you would make a gift to support this worthy endeavor.”
So, Henry Ford, took out his checkbook and wrote out a check for 5,000 pounds.
The next morning, he opened the local paper and saw the banner headline: “American millionaire gives 50,000 to local hospital.”
Ford wasted no time in summoning the two hospital trustees. He waved the newspaper in their faces. “What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded.
“Mr. Ford, we apologize. Such a regrettable error! But not to worry, we can fix it. We ‘ll get the editor to print a retraction in the next issue, declaring that Henry Ford had given not 50,000, but 5,000 pounds.”
Ford again pulled out his checkbook. He wrote a check for 45,000 pounds and handed it to the apologetic trustees. But he didn’t let it go. “I am making this further gift under one condition,” You must erect a marble arch at the new hospital entrance, and place upon it a plaque that contains this verse from the Bible: “I was a stranger and you took me in.” (5)
A bit shady? – yes. Dishonest? Absolutely. But in the end, Ford’s money went to a good cause. The trustees of the hospital, along with the manager in this parable, were shrewd and cunning in their dealings – but the money was used to do good.
So, the first point we could take away from this parable could be to use money and wealth to do good, not just to amass more and more wealth.
Along those same lines, the second point we can take from this parable is that it appears it’s more important in Jesus’ eyes to build relationships instead of building resources. Resources, possessions, wealth – they will all disappear one day. But true wealth lies in building relationships with others. That’s what the manager does, that’s his golden parachute. Invest in those people who work the estate in the hope that they will take him in when he is fired. A little cynical? – yes, maybe. But also pretty practical and cunning.
I like the way Eugene Peterson puts it in his biblical paraphrase “The Message.” It is not an exact translation, and he takes a bit of poetic license – but I think he captures the spirit of Jesus words well. At the end of this parable, Peterson paraphrases Jesus’ words as:
I want you to be cunning like this manager, I want you to be “on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by your wits. I want you to be smart in the same as the manager – 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.”
This is a difficult story to come to grips with. But the truth told at a slant here is:
1. Use your wealth to accomplish good things for God’s children.
2. Concentrate on building relationships instead of wealth.
That is how to live in God’s kingdom.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. J. William Hawkins, Feasting on the Gospels: Luke Vol.2, Chapters 12-24, Westminster John Knox Press, 2014, p 92.
2. Charles B. Cousar, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 4, Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p 97.
3. Marianne Borg, “Parable of the Mustard Seed,” marcusjborg.org.
4. Homileticsonline, retrieved 9?15/25.
5. Ibid…
