Luke 16, Confronting the Self-righteous

Jesus continues to confront the religious leaders on their confidence in their religious deeds.

Luke 16: 1-8, The shrewd manager

Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'

"The manager said to himself, `What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg-- I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'

"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' "`Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'

"Then he asked the second, `And how much do you owe?' "`A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, `Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'

"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

The phrase translated "800 gallons of olive oils" was literally "one hundred batous". The "1000 bushels of wheat" was literally "one hundred korous" (say the NIV footnotes.)

This is a strange story, for the devious man is being rewarded for finding a way to land on his feet. The master does not commend the man's morality but his cunning in finding a way to recover money, even at a loss.  

Luke 16: 9-13, Consistency in big and small

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.  

"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? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

hmm... use worldly wealth to gain friends? That doesn't seem Christian?!  Might the main idea revolve around doing eternal things with worldly wealth?

The theme of the rest of this teaching is consistency in character.  One who is dishonest in little things will not suddenly become honest when a lot is at stake!

The final sentence, regarding two masters, elaborates on the first statement, on gaining friends.  If one serves God, not money, then even money will be used for godly purposes.

Luke 16: 14-18, Self-illusions and the Pharisees

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law."

"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

Jesus confronts, again, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, in which they rationalize their actions with religious arguments.  Now there is a new kingdom coming, Jesus says.

One example of the self-justification of the religious leaders, elaborated on in other gospels, is the religious teaching on divorce, in which men justified leaving their wives with a variety of inventive rulings.  (Luke gives only a brief version of this teaching. An expanded version of the teaching on marriage appears in Matthew 19:1-12.)

Luke 16: 19-31, Rich man and a beggar

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, `Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

"But Abraham replied, `Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

"He answered, `Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

"Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

"`No, father Abraham,' he said, `but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

"He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

The word translated "hell" in verse 23 is the Greek word Hades.

What a strange story!  The rich man has repeatedly ignored the poor suffering beggar. Then suddenly in the afterlife, the tables are turned and the rich man asks that the beggar be sent to relieve his own suffering. One commentator (Leon Morris) points out that even in Hades the rich man seems to arrogantly assume that the poor man might be sent to serve him.

This story, with a lot of color, is intended to show the dramatic overturning, in the afterlife, of the oppressiveness and power of the rich.  The passage begins at verse 14, where Luke points out that the Pharisees loved money!

Are the words of Abraham correct?  Would a Jew, who has ignored Moses and the Prophets, change if he saw someone rise from the dead?  A resurrection would seem to be a much more dramatic and convincing event!  Many of the Jewish listeners will indeed see someone rise from the dead ... and we will see later how the Jewish nation responds to that miracle.

I find this story disquieting.  Indeed, the whole chapter makes me a bit uncomfortable.  We will go on to more uncomfortable teachings tomorrow.