16 Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’
3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’
7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’
8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
14 The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.
16 “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in.[d] 17 But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.
18 “For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
Luke 16:1-18
Dear God, I’ve always struggled with this story. If it hadn’t been the gospel reading for today I would never have picked it. But one of the nice things about a reading plan is that it will sometimes take me through a difficult passage whether I like it or not.
After I read it again this morning, I immediately went and grabbed my biblical commentary on it. In this case, It’s The Communicator’s Commentary: Luke by Bruce Larson. I’m just going to completely copy the two paragraphs he takes to explain this passage’s meaning:
Jesus tells two parables about money. The first one deals with the purpose of money. Some have said that this story of the unrighteous steward is the most difficult of all the parables. Incompetence and dishonesty seem to be rewarded. That’s not the message of this parable. In verse 9, Jesus talks about “unrighteous mammon.” Unrighteous mammon was interest money, profit from usury. The Jews were forbidden to lend money at interest, but they got around this by lending out commodities, oil, corn, or wheat, and charging interest. Since you could dilute the oil, the interest on that was 100 percent. On wheat, interest was perhaps 20 percent. This man, through his steward, was charging his neighbors interest, and this illegal interest was the unrighteous mammon to which Jesus refers.
When the steward finds that he is going to be fired, he tells all those who owe his master money to forget about the interest. They can return just exactly what they borrowed and no more. He bought friends and favor for the future when he would be unemployed. Not dumb! He was not punished for this because by doing it he bought favor for the master as well. The steward’s dishonesty made his master look pious. It’s an interesting story. George Buttrick has said, “This rogue acted with foresight.” He bought friends with money. Jesus is suggesting we act with the same kind of foresight and use our money for that which is lasting.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the perspective that the owner was the one who was unscrupulous because he was charging interest. That’s an interesting perspective. It’s still a hard story for me, but I guess I just like this idea of being shrewd and, as Larson puts it in the last sentence, act[ing] with the same kind of foresight and use our money for that which is lasting.
Father, I have a difficult path ahead of me. You know exactly what the path is. I’m figuring it out one step at a time, and sometimes I’m making missteps as I walk it. My prayer to you is that you will reveal it to me clearly at each step. I don’t need to know the whole path. I’m willing to wait on you and your timing. But I need to see that next step and I need the courage to take that step. I need to be shrewd, but not so that I can get the advantage. I want every person involved in this to get the advantage. I want every person involved in this difficult situation to emerge from it in better shape than they are now, and if that means it costs me something then so be it. Help me to find that path, and help them path bring every person involved closer to you.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 
Luke 19:41-42
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41-42
Dear God, I’ve taken these two verses out of context because I want to sit with this this morning, but they are part of the Triumphal Entry story:
28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”
45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. 46 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
47 After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. 48 But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
Jesus longed that the people understood the way to peace. So what is the way to peace? Reading The Communicator’s Commentary: Luke by Bruce Larson, I saw that “the donkey was a symbol of peace in those days. Horses were symbols of military might. Conquering generals came on horses. An ambassador coming on a peaceful mission rode on a donkey. Jesus was an ambassador of peace from the Ultimate Kingdom.”
I found myself wondering an impossible question to answer when I read this passage this morning: What if they had understood and gotten it right that day? What if the Pharisees embraced him and asked what they must do to repent? What if the people ignored Roman rule, the Israelites embraced Jesus as your son/the Messiah, and then took reconciliation with you to the Gentiles? What if everyone cheering and jeering Jesus that day embraced who he was and then started worshipping you with every thing they have and loved their neighbors as themselves? What if?
Of course, it didn’t happen that way. But is there a lesson for your faithful remnant now? As I see Christians striving for political power and influence, I can’t help but wonder if they aren’t making the same mistake the crowds made that day. In my opinion, they are. They do not “understand the way to peace.” Are they embracing reconciliation with you through Jesus? Sure. Are they taking that to the world and ungodly? They probably think so. But I think they see the more expedient path of doing it through power and control, and not the slow, deliberate path of loving one person at a time.
Father, I am reminded of the thing I heard once from John Dickson, that Jesus used (and gave to us to use) four tools, and four tools only, to impact the world around us: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering. I don’t pray enough for people. I could probably serve more. My persuasion abilities on the ungodly are weak. And, well, let’s face it, I don’t suffer much. Show me what that means. Show me what it means to worship you through the deliberate acts of worshipping you, but also through the acts of Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Posted by John D. Willome on November 20, 2025 in Luke
Tags: bible, Bruce Larson, christianity, Faith, Jesus, John Dickson, Luke, Palm Sunday, The Communicator's Commentary, Triumphal Entry, Weeping for Jerusalem