1 Jesus said to his disciples, a “There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager b was wasting his master’s money, 2 so he called him in and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 The servant said to himself, ‘My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? c I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 Now I know what I will do! d Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.’ 5 So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 ‘One hundred barrels of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘sit down and write fifty.’ e 7 Then he asked another one, ‘And you – how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels f of wheat,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘write eight hundred.’ 8 As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light.” g
9 And Jesus went on to say, “And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, h so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home. i 10 Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones. 11 If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, j how can you be trusted with true wealth? k 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?
13 “No servant can be the slave of two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” l
a There could have been more than just the Twelve (see 6:17; 10:1).
b In the Roman context, this was either a slave or a freedman who had access to his master’s wealth and handled all the business affairs of his master. Such managers or stewards enjoyed a certain social status.
c For him, loss of position as manager would mean loss of his social status, with the result that the only options he could think of at first were manual labour and begging.
d The manager had no scruples or misgivings about using his position for his own benefit, even if it meant cheating his master. Knowing that he would lose his job, the manager planned for his future by lowering the debts owed to his master in order to make the debtors obligated to him.
e Interpreters disagree as to whether what he did in itself was dishonest. They are not sure whether he was giving away what really belonged to his master or just cancelling the interest payments that his master did not have the right to charge. One interpretation is that the manager reduced the amount of what was owed and thus the master would be losing part of what he lent out. Another interpretation is that originally the manager might have overcharged the debtors to get around the Law that prohibited taking interest from fellow Jews. So to reduce the debts, the manager might have returned the figures to the original amounts and therefore did not cost his master any loss. This would satisfy his master and at the same time gain favour from the debtors. But in any event, the point is the same in that the manager was shrewd enough to use the means at his disposal to plan for his future well-being.
f The amount represented is uncertain (about the yield of 100 acres) but it was definitely a large amount of wheat that was involved. Since the debts involved were large, it would be assumed that the debtors were themselves quite wealthy. By reducing their debts so generously, the manager had done them a significant favour. Thus within the unwritten social rules of that time, the debtors now had to reciprocate the favour he had done for them and welcome him into their homes.
g This refers to God’s people.
h, j This comes from an Aramaic expression ‘mammon’ which means money or wealth in general.
i God’s people should be wise to make use of what God has given them to help those in need. These friends would in the future show their gratitude when they welcome those who have helped them into heaven. In this way, worldly wealth may be used wisely to gain eternal benefits.
k True riches refer to all that is eternal which God will entrust to us.
l This is translated from the same word ‘mammon’ (see above note) in vv. 9 and 11, which can be taken to mean worldly riches as well.
2. Why did the master praise him for his action (v. 8)?
3. What was the point of Jesus’ parable (vv. 9-12)?
4. Why did Jesus say that we cannot serve both God and money (v. 13)?
6. Jesus ended by saying that no servant can be the slave of two masters. He would hate one and love the other and he would be loyal to one and despise the other. They cannot serve both God and money.
14 When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money. 15 Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who make yourselves look right in other people’s sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered of great value by man are worth nothing in God’s sight.
16 “The Law of Moses m and the writings of the prophets n were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; o since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces his way in. p 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail q of the Law to de done away with.
18 “Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery; r and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
m These refer strictly to the five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy.
n The combined expression of ‘the Law and the prophets’ stands for the whole Old Testament.
o The ministry of John the Baptist which prepared the way for the coming of Jesus the Messiah, was the dividing line between God’s old covenant and the new. Jesus’ ministry was the beginning of the new covenant era or period whereas the OT defined the era of the old covenant.
p There are different interpretations of this but it probably refers to the fierce zealousness with which people were responding to the gospel. Multitudes of people were flocking to hear Jesus and to receive his message.
q The reference is to the ‘dot’ that is a small mark on some of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of Jesus’ statement is that the Law will be fulfilled right down to the minutest detail. Jesus was assuring his hearers that he did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfil it to the tiniest detail. It was the way the Pharisees and teachers of the Law interpreted the Law that drew his criticism.
r Jesus was affirming the continuing authority of the Law in that adultery was still adultery and still unlawful and sinful..
2. How did Jesus respond to them (v. 15)?
3. What did Jesus say about the Law and the writings of the prophets (vv. 16-17)?
4. What one aspect of the Law did Jesus use to emphasise his point about the Law (v. 18)?
19 “There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes s and lived in great luxury every day. t 20 There was also a poor man named Lazarus, u covered with sores, who used to be brought to the rich man’s door, 21 hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham v at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, w where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side. 24 So he called out, ‘Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire!’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain. 26 Besides all that, there is a deep pit x lying between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross over to us from where you are.’ 27 The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 where I have five brothers. Let him go and warn them so that they, at least, will not come to this place of pain.’ 29 Abraham said, ‘Your brothers have Moses and the prophets y to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say.’ 30 The rich man answered, ‘That is not enough, father Abraham! But if someone were to rise from death and go to them, then they would turn from their sins.’ 31 But Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.’ ”
s Other translations have ‘purple and fine linen’. Clothing coloured purple were a great luxury. White garments (indicates wearer as one of the socially elite) underneath a purple robe was the sign of extreme wealth.
t Some translations have ‘feasted sumptuously’, implying that the man had huge banquet-style feasts every day. He was thus portrayed as one who was extremely wealthy.
u This is the only parable in which Jesus gives a name to one of the characters.
v Some translations have ‘Abraham’s bosom’. The Talmud, the commentary on the Mishnah (refer to ‘Traditions of the Elders’, p.
ix), mentions Abraham’s side or bosom as the home of the righteous. It is a place of blessedness to which the righteous dead go as they wait for the Day of Judgment. The idea is probably that Lazarus was having a blessed time, enjoying the close fellowship of Abraham, the great patriarch, at the heavenly feast.
w Two words are translated as ‘hell’ in the NT. One is ‘Hades’, the word used to translate ‘Sheol’ in the OT. Sheol is where the dead go to await the final judgment, and sometimes it is understood as the place of the wicked, those who died under God’s wrath. Another word that is translated ‘hell’ is the Greek word Gehenna, which symbolises the place of divine punishment. In the NT, Hades or Gehenna is never used of the destiny of the believer. In this parable, Hades stands in contrast to the place and state of Lazarus’ blessing (see also chap 12, note f).
x This was probably a picture to show that in the afterlife there is no passing from one state to the other.
y ‘Moses’ means the writings of Moses, and the combination with ‘the prophets’ points to the whole OT. There is the implication that the rich man’s suffering was not due to his riches but to his neglect of Scripture and its teachings. If a person’s mind is closed to the Scriptures, then no evidence, not even a resurrection of someone from the dead, would change him.
2. What did the rich man want Abraham to do (vv. 24-28)?
3. What was Abraham’s reply (vv. 29-31)?
4. What do you think Jesus was trying to point out in this parable?
Jesus continued with a parable about a rich man and Lazarus:
a. There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day.
b. There was also a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores and was brought to the rich man’s door, hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man’s table. Even dogs would come and lick Lazarus’ sores.
c. Lazarus died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and went to Hades where he was in great pain.
d. He looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus at his side. He called out to Abraham to take pity on him and to send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool his tongue.
e. But Abraham told him that in his lifetime he had all the good things while Lazarus had the bad. The situation was now reversed and moreover, there was a deep pit lying between them which no one could cross over.
f. The rich man then begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his family to warn his five brothers so that they would not go to Hades like him.
g. Abraham answered that they had the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, to warn them and it was their responsibility to be obedient to what the Scriptures say.
h. The rich man told Abraham that it was not enough but if someone were to rise from death and go to them, they would turn from their sins.
Copyright © 2020, Pristine World Sdn Bhd.
All rights reserved.