Ministry on the gospel of Luke - Keith Sherwood

The unjust Steward

Luke 16

16 Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager has been reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2 And he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be the manager (Steward).


There are some things to be noticed, and the 1st is that the Steward is not being judged by his accounting, nor is he being given the chance to defend himself. His employment is being ended – and he has to bring the record of debts to the estate in to be managed by another

Chapter 16 uses 'the unjust manager', and Chapter 18 the unjust Judge - so contrast teaching was one way that the Lord taught, and, one assumes was a common way among Rabbinacle teachers
I think the two halves of the parable do hang together well. But we live in a wrong culture to understand it as easily as the disciples did, as they would with the prodigal, which proceeds this.

We can immediately see a different culture—the record of debt to trusted customers to whom credit was given was always in the customers' handwriting, 'Bills.' No other record was kept or would be legal, no invoices, no copies, no photo copies. No Bill could be denied, for it was in the debtor's own writing.

This parable is connected to the prodigal; in other words, the illustration is from a similar family estate and is full of instructions.

The trusted steward controls everything. The word used for accuse is usually used for 'false accusation' and has the sense of constant accusation. The same applies to 'wasted'; it is really 'wasting', a constant mismanagement. Nothing here indicates that the accusation is correct, except that the Lord calls him an unjust steward 'dishonest, untrustworthy at the end, but not at the beginning. This seems to be definitive - unless he refers to how he is seen as an 'unjust judge' 1 Cor 6, i.e. Pagan Judge - who actually might be just. Indeed, this is a malicious complaint with only one aim: to remove the steward.

Who could make such an accusation stick, seeing the business is under the trusted steward? Well, the only possible suspects, I think, would be the master's own family – I suspect his maturing sons, who are jealous of the servant's position, power and relationship with their father. I imagine this was a common scenario in Israel and does not need a detailed explanation from the Lord

We were raised in a Christian-influenced society underpinned by values of honesty and laws that deal with injustice, so we find it hard to imagine a false accusation having force. But in a family inheritance with the sons being equal to the father and legally the owners, they can not only accuse, but the father has to accept the accusation if it is from his sons, even if he knows it to be false, as the sons are equals.

A similar situation occurs with Potipher having to uphold his wife's accusation against Joseph


So he has to dismiss the steward (whom he might love and trusts) and asks him to bring all the accounts to him etc.

The steward is so he will be able to live despite maybe being too old to do manual work and will not beg. He brings the purchasers on credit terms together, gives each his bill, and gets them to write new ones for half the value so they might care for him in his remaining years. So it seems his stewardship is in order up to this time.

He then meets the master. The steward explains what he has done so that he might be looked after. How else would the master know while the steward is still employed? The master congratulates him, for he has outwitted all and will be cared for in this very local society—and the bills are indisputable; the estate can do nothing. Necessity has made the steward look to the future and do this so that he is looked after.

The wealthy owner praises the steward for halving all the bills to procure finance for his retirement and, I suspect, outwitting his sons – the only bills they can collect on are those now presented.

I have known a very similar situation in which an employee was being badly treated by a managing director but saw a way around it, much to the glee of the director and friend he was under.

The word for wise here is that he has done prudently.

It is not the steward character the Lord concentrates on, but what necessity forced him to do.

But the Lord now tells them (the disciples), but in front of the Pharisees (see v. 14), His instructions in faithfulness.

To make friends of the unrighteousness of Mammon - that is, the people of the world, to be a friend to them, generous, honest and just. It seems that if we are this, there is not only Joy in our salvation, but if while in the world we have a disaster, our kindness will be remembered and we will be helped. This world system, introduced by the line of Cain fails - in that day, or just before that day, we will be raptured - caught up to heaven to be with our Lord. The Lord places the spiritual reality before explaining the importance of the message. What a great day - will we have a good entrance 2 Pet 1 v 11

. So attendance to His instructions is paramount.

The Knox translation puts it like this:- 9 And my counsel to you is, use your base wealth to win yourselves friends, who, when you leave it behind, will welcome you into eternal habitations.- I am a little confused by this , but in context, the Jew has an inheritance that is seldom removed and usually goes back to him a Jubilee. A steward might not have property of his own

He who is faithful in the smallest of things is also faithful in an immense trust -He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

In the world, men regard small things as unimportant, and honesty in small things is unimportant!

The attitude, in this age, permeates the church all too quickly. The Lord expects faithfulness.

This parable is in a different world than ours, but the hearers would understand it, I suggest, as I have tried to outline.