Pericope 20 (Luke 16:1-18)

Context & Background

• not only to criticise Pharisees, also addressed to disciples (Austin, Manson)

• links to critique of Pharisees’ attitude towards tax collectors and sinners

• links to parable of the rich man, who didn’t use his money wisely

Literary Forms and Techniques

• parable

• extended application of wisdom sayings (Fitzmyer, Bultmann, Berger)

Themes

stewardship: how one uses money

Message

be generous, be faithful in small things, serve God first

V1

• shift in audience

• Jesus now tells another parable about the rich man and his steward who is responsible for the administration of the estate (Michel)

• steward may have been a slave who grew up in the house and trained for this role (Fitzmyer), higher role than that of the slave in 12:42 (Luce)

• “charges”

  • to bring charges with hostile intent

• “squandering his property”

  • “to disperse resources”

V2

• way question is asked shows the charge is believed, manager asks for an inventory to verify the charges

• problem was likely monetary management rather than immorality

• failure to reply may indicate that he is guilty

• “cannot be my manager any longer”

  • once he left, he was on the streets

V3

• “i am not strong enough”

  • idiomatic of people who do not like their prospects

• “digging”

  • labour of the uneducated, he does not feel capable to return to menial labour, as in Judaism it was less honorable (Plummer, Schweizer)

• begging is even more shameful for the one who was used to doing the begging of a wealthy person

• manager must clean up his situation or else his future will be full of pain (Marshall)

V4

• “dismissed”

  • has the force of “being deposed”

  • means to be fired

• “they will receive”

  • steward looks ahead to the debtors in V5

V5

• as each debtor is asked to declare his debt, they appreciate the lessening of it

• more psychological value, as steward would’ve had a record of debts anyway

• 3 explanations for steward’s altercation of the debt

  1. steward wielded his authority and lowered the price, either making it right or undercutting his boss (makes him look like a “bad guy”

  2. removed interest charge in accordance with the Mosaic Law (Derrett), brings his master in line with the law, however differing rate of reduction is a problem for this view unless different commodities had different interest rates (Derrett)

  3. removed his own commission, sacrificing his own money instead of his masters’

  • Bock says 2 or 3, Derrett collects much evidence for 2

  • Plummer’s variation of 1, steward takes commission plus excess cut, is quite possible (Bock)

  • either one, point of steward’s action is to create goodwill toward him in future

V6

• debated: debtors are either farmers or business people outside of the master’s land

  • probably outsiders, amounts show debtors are wealthier than farmers would be and they would have to be wealthy enough to hire the steward after his dismissal

  • makes no difference to the parable’s point

• “hundred jugs of olive oil”

  • yield of 150 olive trees (Plummer, Klostermann), one thousand denarii

  • over three years’ worth of salary

V7

• “hundred containers of wheat”

  • yield of 100 acres of grain (Jeremias, Manson), 2500-3000 denarii

  • 8-10 years salary

  • reduces by 20 percent, reflecting 25 percent interest rate (Fitzmyer)

  • difference in rate of reduction reflects that oil is more precious than grain, oil received a higher commission

V8

• first part of verse closes the parable, second part shows the point

• master commends his recently shrewd but formerly unrighteous steward

• Jesus says that the master’s remark is “correct” because of the principle in 18b

• normally unrighteous man acts to his benefit, those of the world give more foresight to their future than God’s children

• God’s children should be shrewd with their possessions by being generous (Bock), Christians should apply themselves to honor and serve God in their actions as much as secular people apply themselves to obtain protection and prosperity from money

• describing God’s children as children of light is common in Judaism (Klostermann, Marshall)

V9

• prudence is not the only lesson; disciples are to be generous

• wealth is not to be hoarded and used selfishly but to make friends: that is, to be generous

• one should use money in a way that one is received into eternal dwellings

• “dishonest wealth”

  • why “dishonest”

    • pursuit of it can make people selfish, cause them to take advantage of others, and cause them to be unfaithful to God

• “they may receive you”

  1. friends who receive the benefit and welcome the generous one into heaven

  2. angels who represent God

  3. a circumlocution for God himself

• money ultimately fails, a point made in OT wisdom literature and NT elsewhere (Danker)

• concern to be received by God in to one’s eternal habitation will influence how one looks at and uses money

V10

• character is character whether in little or large things

• association of stewardship and faithfulness is natural (Marshall)

• one’s activities reveal one’s character, shows how big areas will be handled

V11

• example of faithfulness is the handling of unrighteous money

• if one cannot handle things greater than money, who is willing to let that one handle greater riches?

• “true things”

  • reference pictures future reward for faithful servants (Plummer, Marshall)

• better way to read verse than to see a reference to wealth gained dishonestly, because Jesus would not be praising dishonest wealth

V12

if one cannot care for what God has given in this life, how can one expect anything from God in the life to come? (Plummer, Marshall)

V13

• wealth here is personified and treated as an idol (Johnson)

• impossible to serve both God and money because there are times when pursuit of money will mean that God is slighted (Fitzmyer)

• to be generous with money is to choose God over money

V14

• “lovers of money”

  • a reference to greed, do not like Jesus’ teaching (Plummer)

  • rebuke more appropriate for Sadducees (Manson), however Pharisees had this reputation (Marshall)

• “ridiculed”

  • indicates strong contempt

• Pharisees reject Jesus’ teaching and wish to challenge it, rejection might reflect conflict based on geographical and social issues as well

V15

• “sight of others” in contrastive parallelism to “your hearts”

• Pharisees give alms, but to impress others (Creed)

• God sees the heart and exaltation of oneself does not please him (Plummer, Danker, Stauffer, Tiede, Behm)

• “abomination”

  • lit. “detestable”, a strong term of rejection

  • God rejects self-adoration

• “exalted one” may tie into the rich man in the next pericope

V16

• contains Lukan framework for diving God’s plan into periods

  • Luke sees two periods in God’s plan:

  1. promise

     • John the Baptist portrayed as the forerunner to the era of fulfilment

     • law and prophets proclaim the promise and program of Christ

  2. fulfilment

     • new era with the coming of Jesus

     • preaching of kingdom’s message is no longer a matter of declaring distant promise, but rather in terms of nearness and arrival

• “enter it by force”

  • disputed: “enter forcibly themselves” or “forced to enter”?

  • 4 interpretations of the “to apply force”:

  1. “all act violently against it:”

     1. the kingdom is subject to universal opposition (Ellis mentions demonic forces)

     2. pessimistic view not likely for Luke

     3. entry is not necessarily violent but not pursued on God’s terms (Arndt), however lack of contrastive particle shows rejection is not the dominant image

  2. “everyone forces his way into it”

     1. people try and violently bring kingdom to earth

     2. seen as a criticism against the Zealot movements (Luce)

     3. against this view is juxtaposition of kingdom preaching and political criticism without contrastive conjunction

  3. “everyone tries to force his way into it [the kingdom]” (Hendriksen, Marshall, Schrenk, Klostermann, Marshall)

     • problem is it is too positive

     • Jesus has faced severe opposition in every period of his ministry, in Jesus’ view the Pharisees are hardly pressing to enter the kingdom

  4. “all are urged insistently to come in” (Schweizer, Fitzmyer)

     • Bock says view fits remarkably well in current context

     • Jesus is warning his opponents so consistently because he is attempting to persuade them to respond morally

     • there is need to urge insistently because people think they can take or leave the message

     • kingdom comes whether or not one responds, but one must respond to Jesus rather than scoff at him

V17

• law does not fail even in its smallest point

• how the law can exist only until John and yet not fail disputed:

  1. for Luke, law is “eternally valid” (Jervell)

     • does not mean passing away of period or epoch of law

     • view has problems: precise description of epochs are present in previous verse

  2. Luke uses it as bitter irony (Manson)

     • scribes view the law as it is easier for creation to pass away than for the law to fail at any point

     • however, isolating the verse by itself is unwise

  3. law in this age is distinguished from Mosaic law (Blomberg)

     • Mosaic Law is superfluous and not valid

     • law that is still valid accomplishes everything it intends

     • however, emphasis is placed in the wrong category, that of moral law

       • sense is broader

  4. law points to kingdom and does not fail (Banks, Luce)

     • does not fail because its goal is Jesus and authority is expressed through him

     • Wilson objects to this view, law been set aside, however objection does not hold

  5. law’s demands are valid and intensified in Jesus’ teaching (Wilson)

     1. ambiguity in Luke’s position, since full extension of the law is not being followed

     2. Bock questions this view, questioning precision of view and asking if all the demands of the law are valid, as Jesus appears to challenge some laws

  • Bock says 4 or 5 have merit

    • however Wilson’s view fails to distinguish how Luke sees the law

    • therefore, Banks’ view (4) is most satisfactory

  • in Lukan context, point is powerful to the Pharisees: if they are to keep the law, they must embrace Jesus’ kingdom message, as law points to it

  • underlines Jesus’ authority

V18

• 2 points are implied:

  1. example from everyday life shows how how the desire for righteousness produces a high standard of ethics, especially in the commitments that one makes before God

  2. such righteousness does not need law

• marriage is permanent, breaking it violates three-way covenant between husband, wife and God and is considered adultery