Reading… and Thinking

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”

— Luke 16:10-11 (NIV)

It is a principle every employer in the world uses: Give a small assignment, and if that’s done well, then the employee can be trusted with more responsibility. As an employee, it’s good to keep this in mind. Don’t think that any job is “beneath” you. Instead, take the assignment and do it so well that the boss realizes you’re too valuable to waste on unimportant things. (Hint: it may take some time for some bosses to get it.)

Jesus says that the same principle holds true in our spiritual lives. But here, the stakes are far higher. The test assignment: how will you handle money? The payoff if you do well: to be entrusted with eternal riches.

Jesus introduces this teaching with the puzzling parable of the dishonest steward. It has always bothered people that the “hero” of this parable is a scheming thief. I believe we should look at it the same way we do the parable of the unjust judge, which doesn’t seem to give people so much trouble. In that case, Jesus says, “If even an unjust judge will eventually vindicate you because you keep asking, how much more will God respond to your prayers?” Here, I think the point is similar: “If even a dishonest person can earn praise for managing money to his own advantage, how much more will you be praised by the Master if you manage money in a way that pleases him?”

The bridge between the parable and the verses quoted above has also caused people to wonder. Jesus says, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” This just doesn’t seem to fit at all with Christian teaching! The key here is to ask, who is it that can welcome us into eternal dwellings? Certainly no mortal man or woman. Only the Father and the Lord Jesus. So, they must be the “friends” we need to make, right? And how do we make them our friends using worldly wealth? Not by a payoff or kickback, the way the dishonest steward did.

What use of money will build friendship with our heavenly Father and with our Lord? Sharing with others. Spending it to spread the gospel message. Using the resources we have to promote giving glory to God. Giving up an opportunity to earn more money, so that we can volunteer more. It’s not so hard to figure out!

As always, we can look to the Lord Jesus for our example. Although he had “nowhere to lay his head”, and was in fact poor by any standard, he and his disciples kept a money box, from which they gave to those who had even less.

A final point to be derived from the parable. The main character is a steward, that is, a servant who was entrusted with his master’s goods. That’s what we are. Everything we have is not really our own. It’s all God’s – we are simply stewards. We have been entrusted with a little. Will we be faithful in how we handle this trust, or will we divert our Master’s goods to our own temporary advantage? The answer will determine whether we are ever given true riches.