“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Chapters and verses in the Bible are not part of the original text, but in the case of Luke 16, it is all about wealth and what we might call the faithfulness test with reference to that. “Follow the money” is a major way to understand faithfulness to God and idolatry throughout the text of Scripture.
Luke 16 begins with “the Parable of the Dishonest Manager” (NRSVue headings; verses 1-13), “the Law and the Kingdom of God” (verses 14-18) and ends with “the Rich Man and Lazarus” (verses 19-31). It is a powerful chapter, worth some serious time, study and meditation. The entire book of Luke is powerful in a similar way, undermining the systems in which we live and challenging us to the core of our being.
The CEB Study Bible summarizes the sayings interspersed between the stories by Jesus, verses 10-13 quoted above. “Jesus’ followers are to consider themselves God’s slaves (Luke 12:35-48) who are asked to manage God’s property according to God’s wishes.”
How we spend and manage our money tells a lot about us. If you want to know your value system or the value system of any entity, be it church, state or nation, start there. It’s not like one can’t enjoy good things with money, not at all. In fact, we should. But we need to see ourselves essentially as stewards of God’s gifts to us, sacrificially loving our neighbor as ourselves.
But we also need to avoid the pitfall of simply throwing money at a problem, thinking that’s enough and actually being more or less disengaged from it all.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Unfortunately, like some of the religious, wealthy of Jesus’s day, we can throw even large amounts of money into the coffer and be entirely disengaged, in fact live lives that give the lie to our profession unlike the poor widow who gave all she had to live on (Luke 21:1-4).
Are we faithful or not? Are we growing in our understanding and practice of this? That’s the point. Not perfection, but a passion to come to live in this fully as churches and individuals in our following of Christ.
Jesus community 