Ep. 74: The Shrewd Manager
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LUKE 16
The last group of parables spoken during this part of Jesus’ ministry are connected by a leading thought, righteousness. There are three parables of the unrighteous; the unrighteous steward, the unrighteous owner and the unrighteous judge. And these are followed by two other parables of the self-righteous.
The parable of the unjust steward was primarily spoken to his disciples, but also those ‘publicans and sinners’ whom Jesus had received, to the great displeasure of the Pharisees. Them he would teach concerning the mammon of unrighteousness. And, when the Pharisees sneered at this teaching. He would turn it against them and show that, beneath the self-justification, there lay as deep sin and as great alienation from God as that of the sinners whom they despised.
In this parable, we are told what the sinner when converted should learn from his previous life of sin, though we must not expect to find spiritual equivalents for each of the persons or incidents introduced. The parable itself forms only an illustration of the lessons, spoken or implied, which Jesus would convey to his audience.
Its object is simply to show, in the most striking manner, the prudence of a worldly man, who is only interested in looking after himself. At the same time, the illustration is so chosen as that its matter, ‘the mammon of unrighteousness,’ may serve to teach those new converts who had formerly sacrificed all for the sake of that mammon. The suitability both of the parable and of its application to the audience appears from its similarity to what occurs in Jewish writings.
Thus, the reasoning that the Law could not have been given to the nations of the world, since they have not observed the seven commandments given to Noah (which Rabbinism supposes to have been given to the Gentiles), is illustrated by a Jewish parable in which a king is represented as having employed two administrators; one over the gold and silver and the other over the straw. The latter rendered himself suspected and when he complained that he had not been set over the gold and silver, they said to him: you fool, if you have proved yourself unreliable in regard to the straw, shall they commit to you the treasure of gold and silver? And we almost seem to hear the very words of Jesus: ‘He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much’.
And the ultimate application of all this was that division was impossible in the service of God. It is impossible for the disciple to make a separation between spiritual matters and worldly and to attempt serving God in the one and mammon in the other. There is absolutely no such distinction to the disciple and our common usage of the words secular and spiritual is derived from a terrible misunderstanding and mistake. To the secular, nothing is spiritual; and to the spiritual, nothing is secular. No servant can serve two masters; you cannot serve God and mammon.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus was spoken primarily for the disciples. Its first object was to show the great difference between the concepts of ‘before men’ and ‘before God’; between the rich man as he appears to men in this world, and as he is before God and will be in the next world. The second main goal of the parable was to illustrate that Pharisaic standing was an abomination before God. The third object of the Parable was in the selfish use which they made of their possessions, their mammon.
The parable itself is strictly of the Pharisees and their relation to the ‘publicans and sinners’ whom they despised. With infinite wisdom and depth, it speaks of their selfish use of the literal riches - their covetousness - and about their selfish use of the figurative riches, their Pharisaic righteousness, which left poor Lazarus at their door to the dogs and to famine, not bestowing on him anything from their supposed rich festive banquets.
On the other hand, it will be necessary in the interpretation of this parable to keep in mind that its details must not be exploited, nor doctrines of any kind derived from them, either as to the character of the other world, the question of the duration of future punishments, or the possible moral improvement of those in Gehinnom. All such things are foreign to the parable, which is only intended as a type, or illustration of what is intended to be taught. If proof were required, it would surely be enough to remind ourselves that this parable is addressed to the Pharisees, to whom Jesus would scarcely have communicated details about the other world, something on which he was so reticent in his teaching to the disciples.
Without going into detail overall, there are some interesting observations to make. The carrying up of the soul of the righteous by Angels is certainly in accordance with Jewish teaching. Again, regarding the expression ‘Abraham’s bosom,’ it occurs, although not frequently, in Jewish writings. Also, the appeal to Abraham as our father is so frequent, his presence and merits are so constantly invoked; notably. He is so expressly designated as he who receives the penitent into Paradise, Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden.
The rich man has died and the next scene is in Hades or Sheol, the place of the disembodied spirits before the final Judgment. It consists of two sections; the one of consolation, with all the faithful gathered to Abraham as their father; the other of fiery torment. Thus far, in accordance with the general teaching of the New Testament. As regards the details, they evidently represent the views current at the time among the Jews. According to them, the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life were the abode of the blessed. We read that the righteous in Gan Eden see the wicked in Gehinnom and rejoice. Similarly, that the wicked in Gehinnom see the righteous sitting beautified in Gan Eden, and their souls are troubled. Marking the vast difference between Jewish ideas and Jesus’ teaching, we notice that there is no analogy in Rabbinic writings to the statement in the parable, that there is a wide and impassable gulf between Paradise and Gehenna.
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)