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But he [Jesus] also stated to the disciples, “A certain man was rich, who had a house-manager, and this one was accused to him of wasting his belongings. And, calling him out, he said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give over the word of your house-management, because you no longer have power to house-manage.’” (Luke’s AD 60 research report re Jesus: Chapter 16: 1-13) |
At this stage Jesus had another “parallel” for his disciples to think about. There are many family offices in Jersey’s finance industry where all the wealth of a “rich man” or family is looked after by, as it were, “a house-manager.” In a way, each of us is a “house-manager” of ourselves and all that we have been entrusted with. Religious leaders also are “house-managers.”
“But the house-manager said to himself, ‘What may I do, in that my lord takes away the house-management from me? I am not strong to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do, so that when I may be stood-down from the house-management, they may receive me into their own houses.’"
The “house-manager” knew he was fraudulent. But he still had authority to (appear to) adjust what was owed by others to the “rich man.” Note that the “house-manager” identified the “rich man” to be “my lord.” But he was thinking about his own future, knowing that he had lost everything.
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“And, calling near every one of the loan-debtors of the lord of himself, he stated to the first, ‘How much do you owe my lord?’ But he said, ‘A hundred baths of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your writing, and, seated down, quickly write fifty.’ Afterwards, he said to another, ‘But how much do you owe?’ But he said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He stated to him, ‘Take your writing, and, seated down, write eighty.’”
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The “house-manager” could not adjust, let alone repay, what he owed. But he could enable the “loan-debtors of the lord” to (appear to) reduce what they “owed” to the “lord.” What would he gain by doing that? He thought that these “friends” “may receive me into their own houses.”
Although Jesus was speaking to “the disciples”, we know (see Info CB) that “the Pharisees” – the Jerusalem religious leaders – were listening. Immediately after, “they ridiculed him.” “The Pharisees” firmly believed that they were righteous before the Lord God but, at the same time, were minimising the requirement that others (and themselves) live accordingly.
“And the lord commended the house-manager of unrighteousness in that he did thoughtfully - in that the sons of this aeon are more thoughtful beyond the sons of light - in their generation.”
We often say, ‘It’s the thought that counts.’ That seems to be the case here. He thought very deeply about his earthly future. In fact, he thought more about that than “the sons of light” do about their heavenly future.
“And I myself state to you, make friends to yourselves from the trusted-wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it may fail, they may receive you into the aeonian dwellings.”
What do you think about this recommendation? With my “trusted-wealth of unrighteousness” (what I am and have down here) am I only making “friends” down here? if so, will those “friends” I have made through that “trusted-wealth” have any eternal “dwellings” for me to live in? |
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“The faithful in very little is also faithful in great, and the unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in great. If then you do not come to be faithful in the unrighteous trusted-wealth, who will entrust to you the real? And if you do not come to be faithful in what’s another’s, who will give to you what’s your own?"
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What on earth am I doing with all that’s been provided to me down here? Am, I faithful to the lender since I am a “loan-debtor”? Do you think that the small stuff down here is unconnected to the big stuff above?
“No house-servant has power to be slave to two lords, because either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You do not have power to be slave to God and to trusted-wealth.”
“Two lords”? Do I “love” only me? Do I “cling” only to me and mine?
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