Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Warnings about wealth have been a recurring theme since setting out to Jerusalem. 11:39-41 Jesus denounced the greed of the Pharisees, 12:13-21 the parable of the rich fool, 12:42-48 the parable of the prudent slave, 14:33 Jesus’ disciples must give up all their possessions, 15:13 the prodigal son “squandered” (same word as 16:1) his property.
• The characters in the story seem to be an absentee landlord and a steward in charge of managing the property in the landlord’s stead. The land has apparently been rented out to various tenants to work it in exchange for a cut of the proceeds, which the steward was to collect and manage.
• Verse one signals a change in audience. Unlike the previous parables about the lost which were directed at the Pharisees, this parable is for the disciples. What is unique about this parable that Jesus only intended it to be heard by his followers?
• Like the parable of the rich fool and the parable of the prodigal son, interior monologue plays an role as a significant turning point in the story. Like the rich fool, the dishonest steward asks himself the question, “What will I do?” and finds his own solution internally.
• The size of the reductions don’t seem to have any reason, as arbitrary as the steward’s actions to begin with. But these are extensive amounts, commercial transactions rather than household ones. The first debtor owed 100 baths of oil, a bath being equivalent to 9 gallons. The second 100 kors of grain. The size of a kor is unclear, but it is somewhere between 6.5 to 10-12 bushels.
• The trouble with interpreting this parable is we don’t know what the steward was doing. Possibilities include 1) cheating the master by reducing the size of the debts. 2) Acting rightly by excluding the interest figured in the debt, which was prohibited by Deuteronomy 23:19-20. 3) Reducing the debt due by the amount of his own commission. Option 1 is illegal, option 3 is legal, option 2 is complicated.
• In option two, the steward could be seen as showing goodness on behalf of the master to the debtors, by complying with the scriptural prohibition, even though such commercial transactions were common. The debtors would praise the master, who could then not easily restore the debt. The problem is 100% interest on oil would be excessive, even for the ancient Near East, and the difference in interest rates doesn’t make sense either.
• Culpepper prefers option 1 as both the simplest and the one that gives the greatest punch, the steward is dishonest and thus continues to cheat the master by arbitrarily slashing the debts.
• Which option (or another option) makes sense to you?
• Culpepper thinks the original end of the parable was 8a, with the master commending the manager for his actions. The manager’s move, whether an illegal lessening of the debts or a just returning them to the proper amount, both lifts up the master in the image of his debtors and honor-bound the debtors to the master, while also providing for the manager’s future.
• “Children of the light” shows up in later writings about the followers of Jesus in Paul and John. The writer seems to be making a distinction between those who follow Jesus, “children of the light” and those who do not “children of the world.”
• “Dishonest wealth” is better translated as “mammon of wickedness.”
• On verse 10, a beautiful reflection by Fred Craddock: “Most of us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with a queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. Most likely the week will present no more than a chance to give a cup of water, write a note, visit a nursing home, vote for a county commissioner, teach a Sunday school class, share a meal, tell a child a story, go to choir practice, and feed the neighbor’s cat. ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.’”
Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
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