THE PASSAGE OF THE
UNFAITHFUL STEWARD
What is the meaning of the
passage of the unfaithful steward?
In order to figure out
this excerpt, we need to catch the meaning of the passages of Luke 15 and 16.
·
Luk 15:1,2 -> “Now all the publicans and sinners were
drawing near unto him to hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”.
It is in answer to this
accusation that Jesus talk about all that is written in the chapters 15 and 16.
And the Pharisees took it in:
·
Luk 16:14 -> “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money,
heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.”.
So, once that Jesus
directed His utterance to them, therefore, we need to see how all the passages
fits to the Pharisees and the Israelites.
Of the five passages
quoted, only the first is a parable. The other ones are veridical facts.
The first passage is the
parable of the one hundred sheep (Luke 15:4-7). Here:
·
Jesus is the good pastor;
·
the 99 sheep are those of
Israel which stayed faithful to the Judaism;
·
the lost sheep is those
who were reject by the religious people: the prostitutes, tax collectors,
physically handicapped and criminals.
Jesus was showing to the
Pharisees the stance that they should keep in regard to the lost sheep of
Israel (see Mat 9:36; Mark 6:34): going after them and rescuing them from the
sin, instead of dallying ministering cult for those who had no commitment with the
Creator and His kingdom, those who didn’t care about the presence of the Good
Pastor.
Or better yet:
·
Pro 27:23-27 -> “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your
herds, for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all
generations? When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the
vegetation of the mountains is gathered, the lambs will provide your
clothing, and the goats the price of a field. There will be enough goats' milk
for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.”.
In other words, the
Pharisees should consider the Israelites their spiritual bread, water and
clothes and, thus, instruct the 99 sheep to go until the valley of the shadow
of death (Ps 23:4; Isa 9:1,2; Mat 4:15,16) in order to rescue those who, for
flimsiness, can’t went out of this horrid valley which passed to be their
dwelling place.
The second passage is
about the woman with her ten coins (Luke 15:8-10). Here:
· the woman are the leaders of Israel;
· the 9 coins are those of Israel which stayed
faithful to the Judaism;
· the lost coin are
those who were reject by the religious people: the prostitutes, tax collectors,
physically handicapped and criminals.
Jesus was showing to the
Pharisees that, instead of considering the treasures of this world as their
wealth, they should see that the true silver and gold to the eyes of the
Creator is His people:
· Zec 13:9 -> “And I will put this third
into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is
tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They
are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’” “.
So, instead of conforming in
seeing many Israelites lost in the transitory delights of the sin and the
remainder “rusting” within the “drawer” of a lethargic and hypocrite cult
(without being “engaged in the business” of gaining more “mines” (people to worship
the Creator – Luke 19:13), the Pharisees should summon the “9 coins” to help
them to clean the house (the nation of Israel), starting with Jerusalem’s
temple and its rituals and, then, with their testimony of life, to clean all
Israel out of false idols and corrupt leaders, so that the presence of the
Creator could come back and the lost coins would come to be found.
The third passage is about
the father with his two sons (Luke 15:11-32). Here:
·
the father is the Creator;
·
the older son are those of Israel which stayed
faithful to the legalism religious;
·
the newer son are those who were reject by the
religious people: the prostitutes, tax collectors, physically handicapped and
criminals.
Jesus was teaching the
Pharisees to see the house of Israel like Deborah:
·
Jdg 5:6-7 -> “ “In the days of
Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and
travelers kept to the byways. The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased
to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.”.
That is to say, the
Pharisees should adopt the Israelites as their children, to the point of
teaching the “older sons” to love and welcome their “newer brothers”, even
though they squander the blessings of the Creator in salacious and heinous
deportment, bringing shame to His name, His Holy city and His people.
These three passages are
the passages of the lost ones:
· 100 lost sheep: one lost far away from the
Pastor; 99, although close to the Pastor, were lost in their religiosity,
without perceiving the importance of staying close to the Pastor while going
through the desert of this world;
· 10 lost coins: one lost in the house of
Israel amid all the injustices committed there; 9 lost in the apostasies committed
“in the drawer” of the religious system carried out in the temple of Jerusalem
(as we can see in Ezekiel 8);
· 2 lost sons: one lost distant from the
father wasting his blessings with bad delights of the flesh along with strangers;
one lost close to the father, following his commandment without transgressing
anyone, but in the hope that he could get a blessing to squander with
strangers, apart from his father. Therefore, we have two prodigal sons: one who
frittered the goods of the father and other that yearned for it.
The third passage (the
prodigal sons) and the two following passages are the passages related to rich
ones and prodigality.
The third passage show a
rich father of family with their two prodigal sons. The father was someone bounteous,
who care for his servants (Luke 15:17). He administered his goods in order to
help people, while his two sons only cared about use the wealth for the
pleasures of their flesh.
Jesus was showing to the
Pharisees (who were skinflint) and his religious followers that, if they served
the Creator only seeking to satisfy their appetites, one of two things:
·
Either they would finish poor:
o Pro 21:17 ->
Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man;
he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.”.
·
Or they would finish their
days without finding the real joy, peace and sense of the life, even
circumvented by the blessings of the Creator:
o Ecc 6:2 ->
“a man to whom God gives wealth,
possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet
God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is
vanity; it is a grievous evil.”.
If the Pharisees would be
loved by their children, they should be a reference of love, showing love toward
the house of Israel which was entrusted to them for the glory of the Creator
(note that what stirred up the prodigal son to come back to his home was the
love of his father for his servants – Luke 16:25).
The fifth passage tell
about a rich man living a over-extravagant life
without caring for any poor (see Amos 6:6), not even the one who was laid at
his gate (Luke 16:19-31). This was a happened fact, from which we can learn the
following lesson:
·
The rich man represents the
religious people, in particular, the Pharisees who were niggard and desired to
use the blessings of the Creator in their life so that they may be seen by others (Mat 6:5; 23:5) and live sumptuously.
·
Lazarus: those who were
reject by the religious people: the prostitutes, tax collectors, physically handicapped
and criminals.
Note that the rich man
called Abraham of father (Luke 16:24), exactly how the Pharisees and Sadducees did
(Mat 3:9; John 8:39,53). With this, Jesus was showing the Pharisees that all
their justice, although great before their eyes (Mat 5:20; Luke 18:11),
couldn’t save them from the hell. They needed to care for the poor and the lost
sheep of Israel (Luke 16:25).
Finally, let’s figure out
the passage of unfaithful steward.
In this passage, the
steward was using the goods of his lord for his own benefit (for delight of his
flesh) and, for this, the goods of his lord was
vanishing (diminished).
The lord trusted so much
in his steward (for some reason he was very dignified before his eyes) that he
didn’t care about his goods (he left all in the hands of his steward, as It
took place with Joseph – Gen 39:5,6; 21-23; 42:39,40). The proof of this is
that the lord only found out the he was losing money because somebody ratted
the steward out. Otherwise, the lord would not perceive this.
This lord was somebody
rich, which desires to accrue goods and regale (like the crazy rich man of Luke
12:13-21 and the rich man of the next passage – Luke 16:19-31). The proof of
this is that:
1. he was called “generation of this world” (Luke
16:8);
2. he was exploring the people around them with
high interests (this was condemned – Ez 18:8,13,17);
3. the wealth of this lord was unrighteous
(Luke 16:9).
This lord was stingy (Like
the Pharisees - Luke 16:14).
When this lord found out
that his fortune was diminishing, he ousted the steward.
Nonetheless, before
leaving, the steward should apprise his lord (note that the lord didn’t know
anything about his good because he trusted blindly in his steward). Taking
advantage of this, the steward was eating more than he needed or, perhaps he
was throwing parties. It’s good to observe that the debt was food.
So, the steward thought:
once I am losing the stewardship, what should I do?
1.
I can’t dig. See that he
didn’t say that he didn’t desire, but he couldn’t.
2.
I am ashamed of begging;
So, he took the following
decision: knowing that he would be banned and, thereby, he would lose his commission,
he called all the debtors, of his lord and allowed them to rewrite the value of
their debts discounting his commission. And this should be done very fast
because there were many debtors to cope with and he had to give account on his
administration at that moment. He thought that, if he did this, he would be
ingratiated himself with them. Of course, this isn’t truth:
· Son 8:7 -> “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can
floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he
would be utterly despised.”.
But, in his ignorance, he
thought this and his lord praised him in virtue of this perception. Instead of
leaving the things as they were (without caring for the debtors) or try to
defraud the book for vengeance and, with this to be caught, arrested or
despised in virtue of his hostility (rebelliousness) and dishonesty, he helped the debtors without harm his
lord and without suffer any loss.
Jesus, then, made the
observation that, before the generation of this world, those who use their
methods to sort out the problems are wiser than the sons of the light who try
to solve the problems praying and biding until Jesus shows what to do. For the worldly people, this waiting is craziness
(1Cor 2:14-16).
Interpreting this passage.
The lord was the Levites,
which had the right to receive the tithes and offers of Israel’s people (Num
18:24,26,28).
The debtors were the
religious of Israel who were in debt because of the heavy burden imposed by the
religious leaders (Mat 23:4). Note that they were doing things related to the
Jewish rituals.
The steward was the Pharisees
who were sit in Moses’ chair (Mat 23:1). By the way, once Jesus said this, it’s
doable that the Pharisees, Sadducees and doctors of the law weren’t Levites
and, therefore, they couldn’t exert the priesthood. However, they usurped this ministry.
As in the time of Malachi
(Mal 3:8-10), the priests (which now were Pharisees, Sadducees, doctors of the
law) weren’t content with their part in the tithes (probably they ate more than
necessary, made revelries or even sold part of the tithes in order to make
money).
It is not in vain that Jesus,
when came into the temple and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and
sellers. Although they, probably, sold charging high prices, certainly many of
those products were part of the tithes and offers of the Israelites (Mat
21:12,13).
Anyway, the Pharisees were
misusing the tithes and offers of the Israelites and, in virtue of this, they
were about to lose the stewardship (Luke 20:9-19):
· Mat 21:43-46 -> “Therefore I tell you,
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing
its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;
and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the chief priests
and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about
them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the
crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.”.
After all, the Pharisee were
deporting as the sons of this world.
So, Jesus taught them: with
the richness of this world, which are result of exploitation of the neighbor
(hence they are unjust), make friends.
But, what is friend?
Jesus answered:
· Joh 15:14-15 -> “You are my friends if you do what I
command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I
have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”.
So, instead of focusing on
getting money, they should use their money in the direction of the Creator so
that people could know Jesus, repent and convert to Him and, thus, become one
with them in Christ (Luke 19:11-18).
· 1Jn 1:3 -> “that which we have seen and heard we
proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed
our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”.
While the Pharisees were having access to the
tithes and offers, they should use this to seek the Truth and manifest It to the
greatest number of people.
When Jesus shall die, their
ministry in the temple would finish because the Old Alliance would be of no
value. Nonetheless, if they insisted in the Truth, they would be ousted of the
temple and their maintenance would finish.
Nonetheless, they would be
welcomed in the heart of Jesus’ Church, wherein each member is a eternal tabernacle.
So, although the generation
of the sons of this world praise “buying friends” with goods, favors or
cajoles, the Pharisees should learn how to use money so that people around them
could see the importance of obey Jesus’ word, become friends with Him and,
thereby, with them.
After all, the goods of this
world don’t belong to us.
· Col 3:3 -> “For you have died, and your life is hidden
with Christ in God.”.
·
Isa 49:4 -> “But I said, “I have
labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my
right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.”
So, if the Pharisees wished
what Jesus conquered to them, they should be faithful in the stewardship of the
richness of this world which belong to the Creator (Ps 24:1; Luke 16:12).
After all, if we are
unrighteous and unfaithful in this world whose wealth are petty and delusive
(compared with what Jesus prepared for us – Rom 8:16), how can we be worthy of
administering the true and great wealth (Luke 16:10,11)?
We need to be:
· Faithful: making the best with what Jesus give us so
that people can know Him, even when this seems picayune before our eyes (Exodus
4:2; Ezekiel 4:10; Haggai 2:3);
· Righteous: using His blessings for His glory and
purport, and not for your benefit.
In short, in the three last
passages we have:
· Luke 15:11-32:
o A rich father of family who use well his goods,
but had two prodigal sons: one who had courage to live his prodigality; the
other who repressed himself, but who, after, considered himself worth of blaming
his father for not rewarding him for his self-denial.
· Luke 16:1-13:
o A prodigal steward who were lavishing the goods
of his rich lord, who was stingy.
· Luke 16:19-31:
o A prodigal rich man who didn’t spare efforts to
enjoy himself splendidly
every day and, for this, never grew in character,
kindness and richness before the Creator (as the crazy rich man in Luke 12:21).
In the end, we have:
·
A steward lavishing wealth
which didn’t belonged to him;
·
Sons misspending wealth
which would belong to him;
·
A rich man squandering his
own wealth.
So, have a good day serving
only to Jesus.
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