Jesus tells us a parable about an unfit, dishonest money manager. And when the manager’s boss gets wind of what’s happening, the thievery and incompetence, he tells the manager to give a no-kidding account of his financial dealings.
Now the manager’s in a bind. Earlier, he didn’t care that he was stealing from his boss and his boss’s customers. But now what can he do? He’s too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. So he devises a plan and acts astutely, doing everything he can for a better future.
The manager first contacts those who owe his boss the most money and starts refinancing their loans. But he has to work fast while he still has time. The manager has but a narrow window of opportunity. So, he negotiates new, discounted loans and cashes in on the owner’s reputation. He wins friends for his new life to come, the life that he hopes will await him.
The manager reduces what they owe: 100 measures of oil down to 50, 100 measures of wheat down to 80. So pleased would these people possibly be that when the manager loses his livelihood, they’ll receive him into their homes.
But what about the rich owner, this manager’s boss? Once he discovers that his manager has cooked the books he could have him arrested, tried, and jailed for fraud. And, of course, the rich owner could do that–and that’s precisely the point. The rich owner doesn’t! It’s just the opposite. Instead, the owner praises the manager because he acted shrewdly.
This parable of Jesus makes no sense if we understand it through our earthly eyes. It only makes sense if we understand the parable through the eyes of faith. That’s because the parable is about the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world!
If we understand the parable with worldly ways of thinking, we’ll get it wrong. We’ll think the point of the parable is that Jesus is praising deception and thievery, for that’s what Jesus looks like He’s doing. But that’s not the point. No, the parable is to bring us into a new reality. Jesus is painting a picture of the Christian life, of what it’s like to be in the Kingdom of God.
Before this manager was turned from his old way of life into the new, everything he did would only get him fired. It was just a matter of time and of getting caught! He was disastrous when it came to managing the boss’s money. He was unfit. He was dishonest. No matter what he did, it would never make the owner smile. That pictures the life of someone before he is brought to faith. That’s someone before he dies to the ways of the world.
But once the manager realized that he was already dead, what did he have to lose? The owner had already fired him. As far as his job went, he was dead, no more managing the master’s money. So why not go for broke? And now, for the first time, he conducts business in a way that would finally delight the owner. The manager now deals with others like never before.
When the manager finally lived as if he was already dead, then he shows us a picture of the Christian life. How so? It’s as the Apostle Paul tells us in the book of Romans. “We have died to sin. How then can we still live in it? Don’t you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:1-2).
In baptism, you died to sin. In baptism, you became the manager who finally realized that he was already dead. For in baptism, the Holy Spirit joined you into Jesus’ death on the cross. And because of baptism, you don’t just have some relationship with Jesus–you are joined to Him. You are one with Christ. So, like the dishonest manager, you now have nothing to lose. That’s the point Jesus makes!
The dead have nothing to lose, but everything to gain! Yet, there’s more to being dead than just being dead. As the Apostle Paul also writes, “So consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). And that’s who you are: Dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus!
That frees you to be a wheeling-and-dealing manager. You are a now a manager of what Christ has given you, for you’ve been baptized into His death. Like the manager, you now have nothing to lose. Believe that! Live like that! Give like that!
Like the manager, you can now risk doing business, for, like him, you are a living-dead man. But also like him, you have only a short time-window in which to act. This short time-window is your life now on this earth before you physically die.
You are now to use what God has given you like never before. Like the manager, you are to use what you have, not for your life here, but for the life that is to come. For it is as Jesus says, “You are not of the world” (John 15:19).
That’s why Jesus says in the parable, “Make friends for yourselves using unrighteous money. That way, when it’s gone [and it will be, because you can’t take it with you], you will be welcomed into an eternal home.” Do you now get it?
“Unrighteous money” is the wealth of this world. Being dead to sin in your baptism, you are now to use the wealth of this world for what is eternal. That’s your life to come. You use the wealth of this world, so “you will be welcomed into an eternal home.”
So don’t waste what God has given you. Don’t waste it building a kingdom here, for that is your past before you died to sin. Invest in the future, where you have an eternal home. Indeed, it’s as Jesus tells you, “First, seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness,” and the rest will fall into place (Matthew 6:33).
Everything you have is a gift from God. It’s all a trust given to you by the Giver Himself. You are a manager of that trust, just like the manager when he finally realized that he was a dead man walking, who finally was freed to use the owner’s wealth. Use it like God wants you to use it, for you can’t lose. After all, you’ve already died in Christ Jesus. Like the manager, you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
The only way you can lose is if you live your life like the manager did before he realized he was as good as dead. Then, he managed the money he had for his life now, not for the life that awaited him. When that happens to you, you are again living like someone who is not baptized into Christ, as someone who has everything to lose! Invest–not in this world–but in eternity.
God calls you to use the money and materials of this world–not to gain temporary friends–but to gain eternal friends. You’re to use what you have in this world from an eternal perspective, for that’s where your true home is.
After all, everything you have comes from God anyway. And so you take what isn’t yours to begin with, because it’s the Lord’s, and use such earthly goods for God’s purposes. You take what God gives, and you use it for the kingdom of God. That includes giving enough to this congregation, so it can continue to be an outpost of eternity, where Jesus comes to you in Word and Sacrament.
And so the battle over money takes place. Who is your real god, God or money? Life here tempts you to use the money you have as the manager had done before he died and changed. Don’t you get it? You’ve already died. You’ve already died to sin. Even more, it’s not your money anyway. You’re the manager, not the owner. Invest your money in eternity like you’re already dead and have nothing to lose!
Don’t let money control your life. Repent for living your life in the past, instead of for the life that awaits you! Repent for using the money you have to build up your treasures here, instead of in eternity. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
Return to your baptism. Drown the old, sinful self within you. Call out to God for forgiveness. For God is your master, not money. You are the manager, not the owner. Live as if you’re already dead. Live as if you have nothing to lose. Learn from the shrewd and astute money manager and invest in the life to come.
For in the end, when God closes the books and parcels out the property, you will have an eternal home. You will have a permanent home. It became yours when you died to sin in baptism. Jesus, the Son of God, fully paid your mortgage when He died to give you His life.
That’s the outrageous owner you have. Jesus, in His suffering, death, and resurrection, has canceled your debts. In baptism, He has sealed you in this Love. He feeds you in this Love with His risen Body and Blood. He encourages and teaches you in this Love by His holy Word.
These are the treasures that moth and vermin cannot destroy and where thieves cannot break in to steal (Matthew 6:20). These are the treasures of heaven–even Christ Himself! And He is the One who guards and protects them for you, and who continues to give them to you. He is the lavish owner who cancels your debt.
Dear saints of God, that’s freedom. That’s eternal freedom! Live like that with all that God has given you, even your money. Invest in the eternity that Christ has won for you. Amen.
