Parable of the Unjust Steward

Parable of the Unjust Steward

 

Luke 16:1-9 『And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of your stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, One hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, One hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habits.』

The unjust manager squandered the owner's property by arbitrarily writing off the owner's property to the tenant. However, the owner looks at this unrighteous manager and says, “Well done.”

In order to understand this parable, you must understand the characteristics of the characters. Master means God. So God wants to forgive his debt. In Matthew 18:23-35, there is a story about a man who owed 10,000 talents. A certain official owed the king 10,000 talents. The king urged him to repay the debt, but when he said he was unable to repay, the king took pity on him and forgave the debt. This ruler withdrew from the king, and on his way home, he found a man who owed him 100 denarii (a very small amount of money) and demanded that he pay the debt.

When he said that the man could not repay, he took him away and put him in prison. However, when another official reported this to the king, the king became angry and locked the official who owed 10,000 talents in prison and did not allow him to come out until the debt was paid in full. In this parable, Jesus said, “A believer must forgive his brother’s sins.”

The second person is "an unrighteous manager, and the unrighteous manager was managing the rich man's property. There is a temple (old man: the first man, Adam) planted in the human heart by God. The person who manages this temple is the unrighteous man called 'I'. The unjust steward, the old man, thinks he is rich because he manages everything that comes from the flesh.

A similar parable appears in Luke 12:16-21. As the farmer's produce increased, he built more barns, filled them with food, and said, “Now I have enough food, so I will have no problem eating and living.” Jesus said through the parable, “God said to him, Thou fool.” , this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? This means that all the wealth in this world is not mine.

When compared to material wealth, the “unjust stewards living on this earth” try to increase their wealth by treating all wealth as if it were theirs, even though it is not theirs. Someone reported to the rich man that the unjust manager was using the rich man's wealth to unjustly accumulate his own wealth and steal other people's wealth. He accumulated wealth unrighteously "by charging excessive interest and taking a portion of the wealth of rich people who lent it to others." When the owner found out about this, he asked to settle the accounts of the transaction in order to end the transaction with the unjust manager. When an unjust steward is fired, he expected that there would be nothing left to do afterward, so he came up with a trick: to later look good on those who owed the master, he would write off the master's debt. However, when the rich man sees this situation, he praises the unrighteous manager.

However, the rich person hopes that the debts of those who owe him will disappear. Do you understand? God praises an unrighteous manager. The unrighteous steward has been managing the things of the old people and exploiting the master, but now he is eliminating all the debts that the old people had. This means the death of the old person. Likewise, it symbolizes the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus came to this world to redeem sinners. He came to forgive the debts of repentant sinners. What the unrighteous manager did and what Jesus did are consistent.

However, what is the meaning of God’s words, “Make friends through unrighteous wealth,” and what is the meaning of the words, “When unrighteous wealth disappears, they will welcome you into the eternal dwelling place?” 『Unrighteous wealth 』 is a fresh (old person) with hidden greed inherited from parents. However, God said, “Make your friends with unrighteous wealth.” Because he leads me to my eternal place (heaven). This means becoming friends with Jesus who died on the cross. The friend is Jesus, who came to this world as a sinner and died on the cross.

Can unrighteous wealth and Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, be friends? In John 15:13-14, 『Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.』So in Romans 6:3-4, 『Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.』"“He who dies with Jesus on the cross” becomes Jesus’ friend.

In John 15:14-15, Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Thereforeforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” To become a friend of Jesus, all you have to do is do what Jesus commands. The command is the content of John 15:12. 『This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.』

In John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.』 Nothing would please God more than if we “use our time, our means, and our power for those who do not know God and are indebted to Him, to bring them back to Him.” However, the people of the world will hate those who preach God.

In John 15:26-27, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear.” witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.』

When a believer preaches about the Word of God and Jesus Christ, he is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus Christ. The message that believers must convey is the death of the cross and the present resurrection.