Parable of the Pounds

THE PARABLE (LUKE 19:11-27)

Jesus wa going to Jerusalem for his crucifixion
People thought Jesus was going to be crowned king and/or that God's kingdom was soon to arrive
Jesus shared this parable:

- A nobleman went to a far country to receive authority to rule his kingdom
- A delegation went as well to contest his rule
- Before he went, the nobleman gave money to his servants
- When he came back, he asked the servants for his money and its return
- The first made 10 times as much in financial trading
- The second made 5 times as much
- The third returned the same amount, and with a bad attitude, in effect, he told his master, "I knew that if I made anything more and above this amount, you would take it away from me, so why should I try?  Here is what you gave me."
- The ruler took that man's portion and gave it to the one who made 10 times as much
- The ruler killed those who contested his authority

THE CONTEXT OF THE PARABLE

Jesus was winding up his ministry and it was time for him to prepare for his death.  Everybody was expecting the next week to be glorious and they are hoping that the coming week would be the beginning of a new and wonderful kingdom.  And if not that week, they were sure it was soon to come.  Anticipation was foremost on the minds of many, especially Jesus' followers.
- Before the parable: Zaccheaus found salvation by giving away a large portion of what he had
- After the parable: Jesus received a king's welcome into Jerusalem

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE PARABLE

Before becoming a king, the appointed ruler had to go to Rome in order to receive his authority.  When Herod's son Archelaus went to Rome to receive his authority, many Jews went as well to contest his rulership.  Receiving authority to rule over Judah from Rome, Archelaus had those Jews and other enemies killed.

INTERPRETATION

Luke placed this parable that Jesus spoke in this spot for a reason.  Jesus was finishing his ministry, so I expect that Jesus would bring conclusions to his teachings.  At the same time, because it was his last week, I would expect that  Jesus wanted to prepare his disciples for his leaving them - which is something they did not expect.

This parable did both.  It concluded his teachings and it began to prepare his disciples for his departure.

-Jesus was the nobleman who was to go away to receive a kingdom. 
-The enemies were his enemies.
-The servants were his followers.

Jesus expected his followers to bear fruit with what they were given.  That is, they were to use their gifts, talents and money to build a wealth of treasures for his return.  We know that in the rest of Luke, Jesus was not telling his disciples to become wealthy, but rather to use what they had for the treasures that would last for all of eternity.

This parable suggests that Jesus would reward his disciples in the afterlife according to how well they put his gifts to use during this life.  Jesus gave his disciples gifts and teachings to share.  These gifts and teachings were given as a test to see what the disciples would do with them.  If they tucked them away and did nothing, his disciples would lose whatever they had.  But if they put those gifts to good use by giving to others, they would get a great reward.

God gave us money, jobs, possessions, opportunities and a lot of other things.  We are to put them to use by giving and sharing.  When we give and share, we get back - some in this life, some in the next.  It is that which we get back through giving that will be placed on our account for eternity. 

I would venture to guess, that what we get back in this life is intended soley to reinvest for eternal rewards.  In other words, if I start to get a lot of money back from giving away money to help the poor, the amount that I keep for myself is only good for this world.  Its only good for helping me to live, survive and enjoy this life.  But that return will be of no value for eternity.  However, what I give to others in their need will always be treasure stored for the future kingdom.  So if I get back a lot, I have more opportunity to give more.

Zaccheus

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount (Luke 19:8)."

Luke ended Jesus' ministry (before his final week) in his Gospel writing with the story of a rich man who was able to buy his way into the kingdom.  The concept of buying his way in comes from Luke 16:9:  Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they (those friends)will welcome you to an eternal home.

Throughout the book of Luke, Jesus told us that the kingdom belonged to the poor and that the rich were have no part in it (Luke 6:20-26).  The parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16) illustrated this teaching.

Throughout the book of Luke, Jesus warned his followers about money, its deceitfulness, and its ability to rob us of the Word of God and His kingdom. 

In the book of Luke a rich young ruler could not enter the kingdom because he could not give away all that he had.  I have already stated that he could not give everything because his money was earned fairly and was acceptable in the good society.  The rich young ruler had a lot of money and that made him honorable in his society. 

On the other hand Zacchaeus had dirty money, taken brutily and dishonestly.  His money brought him dishonor among his people.  It was easier to let go of dirty money, because as it went, there was a feeling of dignity and honor that returned as that dirty money left.

I suppose it is very possible that being a little person in his society, Zaccheaus may have suffered a lot of criticism and bullying as he grew up; so he didn't have much social standing.  So when he grew up, he chose to make money by capitalizing on being cruel to others with a Roman big brother at his side. 

Zaccheaus was Luke's example that countered the rich man.  Zaccheaus was a rich man who gave extremely generously (more than half) and therefore bought his way into the kingdom of God, buying for himself friends who would welcome him into the kingdom.

The Blind Man and Money

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.  When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.  They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”  Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

(Luke 18:35-43)

There are several reasons why I believe this story is a metaphor for those whose eyes were opened at the end of Jesus' ministry.  For Mark the same healing was a metaphor for the disciples who began to see that Jesus was not only the glorious Christ, but the suffering servant as well.  For Luke, the metaphor is about people like the disciples and Zacchaeus who began to see that there is a huge price to enter the kingdom of God.

Seeing is a metaphore of those who are no longer blind spiritually.  As Jesus entered Jerusalem to wrap up his ministry, the full weight of his teachings had been given by Jesus and understood by many.  The story the blind man is surrounded by stories of people who gave up everything or a huge portion of what they had to help those who were in need.  Immediately before, there was the story of the rich man who could not give and in contrast, the disciples who gave up everything.  Immediately after the man received his sight, Zaccaeus gave away a huge portion of what he had.

I call this the sandwich effect.  In the sandwich effect, something in the middle which appears to be unrelated is central to the sides.  Another sandwich effect, found in Mark 11, is the cursing of the fig tree, cleansing the temple, and then back to the fig tree which is dried up one day later.  Here is what that sandwich effect looks like:
Jesus cursed the fig tree
Jesus cleansed the temple
The fig tree dies up

The fig tree was one of Judah's symbols, much like the eagle is for the modern U.S.   Speaking and acting prophetically, Jesus illustrated that Judah's time had come because, like that fig tree, Judah was bearing no fruit.  The greed and misuse in the temple, in the middle of Jesus' prophetic demonstration with the fig tree, were the core reasons for Judah's destruction.

The cursing of the fig tree and the turning of the tables in the temple, which seem to be unrelated, are very much intwined.

LUKE'S BLIND MAN

As Jesus walked into Jerusalem for his final week, his ministry was coming to it's conclusion.  The blind man symbolized the people whose spiritual eyes had been opened during Jesus' ministry.  They heard how only the poor could enter the kingdom of God and they heard that the rich could enter if they gave everything they had - or in the case of Zaccaeus, the greater portion of everything.

The disciples saw, and they gave up family and possessions.  Zaccaeus saw, and he gave up a huge amount of money.  These disciples' eyes were opened.

The Rich Can Go to Heaven

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God  will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life (Luke 18:25-30).”

Here we have the difficulty of the rich getting into the kingdom (the rich young ruler) contrasted with those who do make it.

The disciples gave up family and possessions and bought for themselves a place in eternity.

The story after this passage had to do with Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man.  As my last blog stated, this is a metaphore of what was going on around Jesus.  As the spiritual eyes of people were opened, they gave everything or a good portion of what they had to help the poor.

After the blind man received his sight, Luke turns us to Zaccaeus who gave a good portion of what he had, because he too could see.

Metaphors

There are several metaphors in Luke 16-18, that pass off as simple, but out of context stories in Jesus career.  I don't have the energy to explain all the reasons why I think these stories that come from Jesus' ministry serve as metaphors, but I will give a few.

In the book of John, when Jesus healed the blind man, he stated that he was the light of the world and gave a message on opening people's eyes metaphorically.  Likewise, when he raised Lazarus, he stated that he was the resurrection and the life and gave a message on that.  When he fed the 5,000 he said he was the bread of life, and so on.

In Mark, when the disciples realized that Jesus was the glorious messiah predicted by scripture, their faith could not handle a suffering messiah.  In their belief / unbelief, Jesus healed a man who saw men as trees walking (in other words, he could only partially see) - he needed a second healing to see clearly.  In that same literary context, a man who came to Jesus for healing his son, cried out, "I believe, help my unbelief."  Both of these stories were living metaphores for what the disciples were facing at that time.  It was the disciples who could only partially see.  It was the disciples who believed that Jesus was the Christ, but had a difficult time believing that he woud suffer.  Their faith was mixed up.

Luke also carefully placed his stories and parables for his theological purposes.  After Jesus spoke a parable of the beggar Lazarus, Luke followed it up with Jesus' warning, "Do not offend the least of these...."  The least of these refered to people like Lazarus. 

And in Luke 18, after Jesus recounted the parable of the tax collector who went to the temple to confess, and right after the parable, someone came to Jesus with an infant, who was turned away by the disciples.  Jesus corrected the disciples and said, "Let the children come to me, for of such is the kingdom of God."  That child was a metaphor of the tax collector, who was rejected by the people and the pharisee.

Toward the end of chapter 18, Luke recounted the story of a rich man who would not give away his money to become one of Jesus' disciples. After the rich man rejected the kingdom and before Zachaeus bought himself into it, Luke shared the story of a man whose eyes were opened.  Once again, that story of a man whose eyes were opened was a metaphor of one who could let go of his riches for a better kingdom.

Lest you doubt that the blind receiving their sight was a metaphor, read the verse that preceeded the episode:  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about (Luke 18:34).  Like the blind man, the disciples could not see at that point of Jesus' ministry.  In fact, they could not see clearly until after Jesus' resurrection.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

(Luke 18:9-14)

Tax Collectors were not allowed to tithe or give testimony in a court of law.  They dishonored their families and people were not allowed to make promises with them

These were Jewish men who bought a contract from Rome that gave the tax-collectors the right to take money from their own people in order to pay for Rome's prosperity.  The Gospels suggest that while they took money from their own people, they took more than was needed in order to further their own self interests.  They were, therefore, probably the most despised people among the Jews.

On the other hand the Pharisee was the ideal religious man.  He kept himself pure, following the Law of Moses (both written and passed down by word of mouth) which fed a world of taboos protecting one's relationship with a holy God who demanded purity.  The Pharisee followed the behavior and the attitude of the Psalmists who warned against keeping company with sinners. 

The Pharisee lived the life he was suppose to live, the tax collector was a corrupt man.

The Pharisee thanked God because he was not a bad person and because he did right things for God and for the poor.  The tax collector had nothing to be proud about and confessed that he was a sinner.

CONCLUSION

This parable prepares us for what is coming.  Jesus had been talking about the poor receiving the kingdom of God and telling his audience that the rich could enter in if they generously gave to those who were entering the kingdom - if they bought friends with the mammon of unrighteousness.

In the coming stories, Jesus will ask a rich man to give everything for the kingdom of God, but he will not be able to.  And in the coming stories, another - a short tax collector will give generously without being compelled.

These two stories coming up will be examples to illustrate everything that Jesus had said about money in the book of Luke.

Who Are the Most Imortant People?

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.  It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.  So watch yourselves.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.  If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

(Luke 17:1-4)

In chapter 17, Luke seemingly broke away from the subject of povery and wealth, when he told his disciples that it was imperative to keep from offending the least important people.  But when Jesus said this, he qualified the least important to "these least important," which refers back to Lazarus.  The context here is important, because in the least important people would be people like Lazarus who were no more than simple beggars. They were the ones for whom the kingdom of God was prepared.  They were the ones (like Lazarus) who would be sitting in the highest places in eternity.

So how do we hurt the least imortant?  The rich man ignored Lazarus.  Could this be offensive?  Or could the rich man's arrogance in life's standing be offensive? 

Again, looking at the context, a big part of the solution in keeping from offending the least was to forgive over and over.  Why would anyone need to forgive the least important?  In particular, why would the rich man need to forgive Lazarus during his lifetime?  Was it because Lazarus was poor?  Was it because Lazarus legally sat in front of the rich man's house and that bothered Lazarus because his property value was going down?

Our societies have heaped blame on the poor for their poverty, laziness, crime, violence, and taking advantage of the system (something that every level of society does).  Forgiving the poor for their poverty and for their offenses is an interesting concept.

Forgiveness is letting go, and those feelings that we have about people lower than us need to be let go.  When we forgive, we do not excuse bad behavior by the poor or by the rich, we simply do not let their bad behavior lead us into offending the lower levels of society, by arrogance or neglect.

Finally, Jesus never differenciated between deserving and undeserving poor.  In other words, there were poor who were taking advantage of the system who deserved to be poor (I believe the lame man in John 5 was one), and there were those who were poor because of life situations that went wrong.  Jesus ministered to and gave to both types of poor people.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

A SUMMARY OF JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLE

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) seems to summarize Jesus' entire message in the book of Luke, beginning with the Sermon on the Plain when Jesus said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

(Luke 6:20-26)

MODERN SUMMARY OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

There was this rich man who lived in a nice house with a nice yard, but at the same time, there was this beggar, named Lazarus, who sat in front of his house on the road, begging for money as cars went by.  The rich man never gave to Lazarus and tried to ignore him.  One day there as a tsunami that killed them both.  The rich man ended up in hell, but Lazarus went to heaven, even to the very highest place in heaven, next to Jesus.

The rich man who lived in eternal torment, saw how the beggar got the best of eternity while he got the worst.  All of his llife he expected things to be much different, and was sure that he would fare well in the afterllife.  He believed that his wealth was a gift from God, because he was smart and was a good person.

He asked Jesus to send the beggar back to earth to relieve his pain, even a little bit.  In life the man was very good with management and knew how to ask people for things and how to get what he needed to get.  But Jesus told him that he could not help him.

So the rich man asked Jesus to send the beggar back to earth to warn his family - to the people he loved - so that they might better prepare for eternity.  But Jesus told him, "They have the Bible to warn them and to tell them to help the poor." 

But the rich man answered, "They won't listen to that part of the Bible, if you send the beggar back, they will listen."  But Jesus refused to send Lazarus, saying, "If they don't hear what the Bible says over and over, they won't listen to someone who rises from the dead."


In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus painted a picture of the future blessedness for the poor and the final destination for those who have it all.  Note several things:

1.  The name Lazarus means "God is my helper."

2.  No other charactor in any other parable of Jesus' had a name.

3.  Lazarus was given the highest honor in the afterlife.

4.  Lazarus' eternal reward was based soley on his poverty in this life, which reflects the message of Luke 6.  He had no works or righteousness to speak of.  He had nothing in life, so his life was meaningless and empty of any gift toward God or humanity.

Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. (Luke 16:9).

Lazarus did not say a word throughout the entire parable.  Because the rich man did not give Lazarus the time of day during this life, Lazarus did not and could not help the rich man in the next.  He did not help the rich man and he did not plead with Abraham (Jesus in my version) on the rich man's behalf. 

THE LAW AND MONEY

This parable is surrounded by verses that direct the reader to the Law of Moses.  Before the parable Jesus told his audience:

“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Luke 16:16-18).

Note that marriage and the Law were frequently mentioned together in the Bible, because in the minds of Jesus and Paul (later on) the Jews were bound to both by a covenant until death.  In other words, marriage was used symbolically to illustrate the binding nature of the Law upon its followers.

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

(Luke 16:27-31)

Luke definately wanted us to know that Jesus' message about money was very clear in the scripture.  But people in Jesus' day didn't see it.  Why not?  To a degree, as it was then, even so now, people saw what they wanted to see in the scripture.  Actually, a more accurate statement is that people didn't see what they didn't want to see in the Bible.  Giving money as generously as Jesus called us to give was something that most people did not want to see, nor do they now.

Our world views and our theological world views are created in a large part from the community that we live in.  So if my community says that God wants us to be prosperous and that the poor deserve their lot because they are lazy or ungodly, then that's what I will see in the Bible.  Anything else in the Bible is foreign and mysteriously invisible, because it does not fit into the way I perceive the world - a world view that my group has created through the years and continues to recreate. 

Neglecting the poor as the rich man did, was a personal sin; but his personal sin was given birth by and nurtured on a system and a culture that justified wealth and made his lack of action a virtue.

Justifying a Way of Life

He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight (Luke 16:15).

One of the most powerful of all blinders is justification.  Not God's justification of the sinner, but our justifications we use to excuse behavior, giving, not giving, receiving, not receiving, doing and not doing, and so forth.

Some justifications are easy to pull apart.  The one who steps into an adulterous affair may use the justification that, "I married the wrong person," or "My husband/wife deserves it,"  or "God wants me happy." Or my favorite, "I can't help it."  Whatever excuse is used, adultery is wrong - plain and simple.  But there a crud load of excuses used by adulterers.

Other justifications are not as easy to pull apart.  When Jesus asked people to leave everything and follow him, tax-collectors gave, but rich young rulers would not.  Why not?  Inheriting money or earning it legitimately and honestly is harder to give up than money gained from socially unacceptable means.  We can justify one more than the other.

There were two dynamics that promoted the justifications that the Pharisees used in this passage.  The first had to do with entitlement which is justifying one's ownership of property and money because it is deserved, and it is honest, and it is acceptable in soeciety's eyes.  The Pharisees believed that they deserved what they got.  Not only did they get their money honestly, but they also believed God financially rewarded His own.

The second dynamic promoting justification of their possessions and money had to do with their group.  If one is all alone in being rich and profitting from the tithes of the people and living better than those who give, one would have a harder time excusing how they got the money and keeping on to it.  But excuses love company, and there was a lot of that.  Other religious leaders lived very well because of the peoples' tithes, and those religious leaders were good people who loved God.  Justifications love company. 

God's Values vs. Human Values

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at (ridiculed) Jesus.  He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight (Luke 16:14-15).

SNEERING

When the Pharisees heard Jesus tell them that they should make friends by giving their money away, they responded by making fun of Jesus.  Mockery is a typical reaction of people who take short cuts in debate.  Rather than debate Jesus about what is right or wrong about saving money; rather than talk to him about what the Law says about saving money, they made fun of him, mocking him. 

Sarcasm, put downs, mocking, and making light of an opponent are commonly used short cuts that political and religious debators use against their opponents.  Often mockery is best used when there aren't enough solid reasons and/or arguements to combat the opponent.  I think in this case, the Pharisees were so caught off guard with Jesus' attack on them (Jesus accused them of loving money), and with Jesus' teaching that the rich have to make friends with poor people (who are generally considered sinners), the only response that they could come up with was making light of Jesus and what he said.

By laughing at what Jesus said, the Pharisees and their audience could feel better about rejecting what he said.  There was no valid argument refuting what he said; there was only a general consensus among many that what Jesus said was stupid.  It works like this:  "I don't agree with you, deep inside I feel that you are wrong, so what you say is messed up and not worth thinking about too much."

In mocking Jesus, the Pharisees lost the ability to hear something very important about money and how the use of our money can determine eternity. 

What is it about our possessions and money that we don't want to hear? 

The Rich Can Enter the Kingdom of God - The Parable of the Dishonest Steward

In Chapter 16, Luke finally disclosed to his readers how the rich could enter the Kingdom of God. 

He told a parable about a steward who was going to lose his job because of dishonesty, and in that parable Jesus told his audience that the rich could enter the kingdom of God, and he told them how they could.

What is a Steward?

The steward was like the CFO of a small company who was in charge of the finances, only businesses in the ancient Jerusalem may have been more like a family business than a corporation of today.  So this steward was very much like a leader in a good sized family business.

A steward may also be the head servant in a wealthy family, whose job it was to make sure his owner's finances were always in order.

The Steward in the Parable

Taking advantage of the opportunities he had, the steward in Jesus' parable took money from his owner for his own benefit. When the steward's boss found out what was going on with the books, the steward was told to get his books in order because he was going to be fired.  So the steward took quick action to secure for himself another job once he was let go.  He called those who owed money to his company/house owner, and made deals with them, cutting down on the amount they owed.  He hoped that by doing this, he would be able to win a wealthy friend or two who in turn would hire him when he was jobless.

Three Lessons from the Parable

Through this one story Jesus gave uss 3 lessons:

1.  Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.   So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?  And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?  (Luke 16:10-12)?

The first lesson tells us that, like the steward, anyone who attempts to secure a job in the way he did, will probably discover that the plan will backfire. 

If you cheat your boss to give me a break, I appreciate what you have done (assuming I am also dishonest), but I will not hire you to work with my money.  Why not?  By giving me a financial break, you showed me that you didn't care about your boss's money.  I saw that you used his money for your own benefit, so why would I want you to be over my money?  A proverb says "the leapord cannot change his spots."  I don't expect that you will change your self centered ways if I hire you, so although your attempt was creative, it won't work out for the best for you.  But that being said, I like what you did for me.

Through this lesson, Jesus told his audience that how one uses money matters for eternity.  If one is faithful with the mammon of this world, he/she can be trusted with true treasures.  But if one is not faithful, one cannot be trusted with the true riches.

2.  No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Luke 16:13).

This verse follows and adds to what was just stated about money and honesty.  It is rather straightforward - you cannot serve both mammon (the god of money) and God.  It can only be one or the other.  "Hoard or give" is pretty much the choice anyone is given.  Although as Christians, we have become experts in trying to walk the fine line of doing both, Jesus would not have it.  For Jesus, it was either / or, all or nothing.  If you want to serve God, you have to let go of your attempt to hoard money.

The very next passage tells us that the Pharisees derided Jesus because they, like most of us, loved money.  If someone told you today that the way to heaven was through selling everything you have and giving the money to the poor, how would you react?  What would you say about that person?  Would you laugh at what they say?  Would you make fun of that person, thinking how ridiculous they sound?  Would you tell yourself that you are already pretty generous? 

Maybe we aren't so different than the Pharisees after all.

3.  ...the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light (Luke 16:8).

The most interesting lesson from this story is one that seemingly contradicts all the lessons Jesus gave so far.  Although the steward was dishonest and ruined his chances to get a new position, Jesus used this dishonest steward's story to tell us to be like him by accepting the reality of  and preparing for a coming crisis. 

He may have been dishonest, selfish and unable to get himself out of his dilemma, but the steward did see the oncoming crisis and he did something about it.

The steward acted quickly and shrewdly in order to prepare for the crisis.  Jesus saw that his generation was clueless about their oncoming crisis, and because they were clueless, no one was preparing for it.  And this is the crisis they were facint:  God was acting in history, bringing the kingdom of God into the human realm.  This kingdom brought judgment - a judgment that was ignored and unseen by people everywhere.  God's kingdom was open to and welcomed by the poor (remember Luke 6, where Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, because the kingdom of God belongs to you?") but closed to and rejected by the rich (once again Luke 6 said, "Woe to you who are rich, for you have your reward").

Through his kingdom, God was turning the world upside down.  He was giving his kingdom to the outcasts and poor of this world refusing to allow the rich and powerful to enter, thus creating a crisis for them - a crisis for which they were not ready, for which they were not preparing.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9).

This sentance holds the key to unlock the impossible door.  In this, Jesus explains how the camel can go through the eye of a needle, how God can do the impossible.  In this verse, Jesus explains how the rich can enter into the kingdom of heaven and be ready for the coming crisis.

If the poor are the ones who are going to receive the new world, then use your money to make friends with them.  That way as they enter into the kingdom that God is giving them, they will do all they can to bring you in with them.

Jesus told the rich to sell what they had and build treasures for the kingdom by giving to those who need and making friends with them. 

How Not to Spend Your Money

The most giving person I ever knew was someone I would never want as a role model in any way shape or form.  She never worked (even to the neglecting her kids), but generously gave money away for everything that served her interests.  She bought friends and eventually, with the help of her husband's money, caught the attention of another man, who became her next husband.

This lady was self-serving.  Everything she did with her money served her own self-interests; and yet she was very generous with what she had.  In fact, she was so generous, that some people mistook her generosity for Christian benevolence.  It wasn't.

The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 was like the lady I am referring to.  His story is set in the context of a book that tells us to let go of money, to give generously to those who do not have, and to buy a position for the coming kingdom.  The Prodigal Son generously shared the money he inherited, but his generosity was self-serving. 

The Prodigal Son wanted friends and he wanted them fast.  He had just left home and needed to cover his lonlieness with fun and with friends.  He didn't have time to make real friends, which would take months if not years, so with the money he got from his father he was able to get friends to join him in his newfound freedom.  He felt comradity with these new strangers.  They drank, partied and had fun together.  His money was able to get that; but when his money ran out, his friends did too, leaving him alone.

After living in poverty, the Prodigal Son came to his senses and returned to his home, like a dog with his tail between his legs; where his father welcomed him back with celebration.

Because of jealousy and the injustice of it all, the older brother, who was always faithful, endangered his own position in the family by rejecting his father's invitation to celebrate.  What was his problem? 

1.  The older brother felt entitled to his father's inheritance and to most of his father's love and attention.  He deserved it because he was faithful to his father.
2.  The older brother saw injustice.  His father seemed to love his brother more than him.  And his brother dishonored his father.  His brother did not deserve the attention he got, he deserved a strong lashing.

This is a parable that focuses on the injustice of God - injustice from a human point of view.  God unfairly rewards people.  The same lesson is found in the parable of the laborers in Matthew 20.  In Matthew 20, people who worked only one hour were paid the same as those who worked the whole day.  Furthermore, the ones who worked only one hour were paid first.  If you don't see the injustice of this, put yourself in their feet and think it through. You work 12 hours for a day's wage and someone else comes in and works 1 hour for the same job you do and gets paid 12 times as much per hour as you.  Is that fair?

The point of these parables is to drive home that God's generosity is unfair from a human point of view.  And this is the main point of Luke 15.

Back to Luke 15.  The Prodigal Son was as generous as Jesus taught us to be, but his generosity was self-serving and self-destructive.  In the next chapter of Luke, Jesus will teach us to buy friends with the mammon of unrighteousness (money), but while Luke 16 tells us that the friends we buy with money can welcome us into a better world when money runs out, Luke 15 shows us that there are people who will receive our generosity, but in return will give us nothing good when money runs out. 

Giving Up Family

...any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33).

When Jesus said that people had to give up everything to become his disciple, he was mainly refering to family.  The context of Luke 14:33 is family.  So far, this whole blog has been about money, and I have learned that Luke's Jesus wanted his followers to be freed from the ties of money and possessions. At the end of chapter 14, however, Jesus called his disciples not only to be freed from ties to money, he wanted them to be freed from family ties as well.  This is radical and hard for us to grasp, because family is so important to us.  Among U.S. Evangelicals and Mormons, family and the importance of family has become central to their teachings.

JESUS' DISCIPLES

Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us (Matthew 19:27)?"

In Matthew 19, Jesus told his disciples that it was incredibly difficult for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven.  The disciples told Jesus that they had given up everything for him and they wondered what kind of reward they would receive.  After Jesus defined their reward, he told them that everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother* or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29).  Note that where the asterix is located, some ancient manuscripts included wife.  If some ancient manuscripts had wife included in this list and some didn't, then we see that the early church was not in agreement with including wife in the list.

That being said, the disciples did leave everything, including their families, while they followed Jesus. This separation was not like the 1970s cults that ask people to renounce family.  Early in Jesus' ministry, he visited Peter's mother-in-law and healed her.  That episode in Jesus' ministry shows us that Peter was married and that family was still important enough to visit.  So when Jesus taught separation from family, he did not mean a complete separation. 

THE EARLY CHURCH

Possessions
Jesus' teaching that his disciples should abandon everything was radical, so radical that the early church could only follow his teaching for a short time, when they had all things (possessions and finances) in common.  I believe that when the first major persecution hit the early church, when people had to leave Jerusalem to avoid persectution, the "all things in common" experiment was over. 

I believe at this point the church had learned from experience to redefine how to follow Jesus' teachings on money and possessions.

Later, after the experiment was over, the early church followed Jesus' teaching in a less radical way.  When the Jerusalem Church was facing a drought, the church in Antioch sent a generous donation in order to relieve some of the burden Jerusalem was facing. 

And later still, Paul seemed more influenced by Ecclesiastes (5:18-20) than by Jesus when he told his Timothy that God gave us all things to enjoy, but that the rich should be "willing to share (1 Timothy 6:18)." 

Family

The Apostles left their families during Jesus' ministry.  How much they abandoned their families is not known.  Peter brought Jesus to visit his wife and his mother-in-law early on in his ministry, but that's all we know about Peter and his wife until years later when Peter and his wife were a team.  And Jesus' own family came to his meetings because they thought he was going crazy.

We know that Martha and Mary stayed with their brother Lazarus (whom Jesus loved) in a home near Jerusalem.  They neither abandoned family, nor their possessions.

After Jesus' resurrection, we are told that Mark left his mother's house in order to follow his uncle Barnabas (who had previously sold his land and given it to the Apostles for distribution) and Paul (who had already abandoned his own identity to follow Christ) to minister at Antioch.  We don't know how long Mark left his family and we know nothing about whether or not he had a wife.

Later still, by the time the apostles' ministries were fully mature, the apostles were taking their wives with them on their journeys, as 1 Corinthians 9:5 states: Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas (Cephas is another name for Peter)?.

PAUL

Before he converted, Paul was a part of the persecution that brought an end to the "All things in common" experiment.  It could be that one of the reasons Paul hated the Christians so much was because they separated themselves from their possessions.  It set them apart from the majority of Israelites and made them look more like one of the many cults of that day.

After he became a Christian, Paul spent several weeks with Peter and other apostles learning what they knew about Jesus.  During this time, it could be that Paul learned more about Jesus' teaching on the subject of separation from possessions, money and family.  We can't be sure, but we do know that Paul would leave everything, even his own identity at the cross.

WHAT LUKE LEARNED FROM PAUL

Luke was a sometimes travelling companion of Paul.  Because he traveled with Paul, we can assume that he learned a lot from Paul.  In fact, the main reason Luke was included in the New Testament was because he did travel with Paul.  And because he spent so much time with Paul, we would expect that he would reflect some of Paul's teachings.

In fact, Luke's teaching about separation from family and money may have reflected Paul's belief that these tie us down to this world, as 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 states:

But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.

I am not suggesting that the idea of separation from money and family came from only from Paul and not from Jesus himself, I am saying that Luke emphasized what Jesus said about money and family, in part, because Paul nurtured and kept it alive.  While the majority of the early church abandoned the "all things in common," Paul reimaged it to fit his ministry. 

Even though there is similarity between Luke's Jesus and Paul's writings about separating from this world's ties, Paul saw separation as his thing rather than everybody's.  Paul broke ties with family and anything that would tie him down to this world, but he did not insist that others follow the same rule.

 

Committments that Tie Us Down

Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests (Luke 14:16).

FEASTS OM JESUS' DAY

Most of Luke 14 deals with the subject of giving and going to a feast - the biggest and best time of partying known to the 1st Century.  This is especially true for a time where only wealthy people (less than 5%) could afford meat on a regular basis. 

I think Jesus' hearers were amazed that anyone would turn down the opportunity of getting good food.  But Jesus told a parable of a bunch of people who did just that.  Today it would be like people turning down a free-no strings attached-vacation to anywhere in the world.  Jesus said there is this fantastic once in a lifetime opportunity to go to a feast that everybody in real life would not think twice in going to, and those who were invited all made up excuses to get out of it.

THE LESSON

Jesus used this as an illustration of God's invitation for us to enter into and serve in the kingdom of God.   But like those who gave excuses to skip out of the feast, people today (as in Jesus' day) allow life's responsibilities to keep them from entering into God's invitation.

Jesus saw that when we buy things, we become responsible for their upkeep and for using those things. Jesus also knew that when we get married, we bring in new responsibilities that also distract us from God's call.  These distractions keep people out of following Him and out of eternity. 

They are not evil in and of themselves, but the distraction can be. 

Jesus' followers were poor and landless people, who were either single or were willing to step away from their families long enough to walk with him.  His followers had few if any committments that kept them from following him.  Those who had commitments to land or family could not or would not follow him.

Brown Nosing

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11).


Jesus told his audience how to handle feasts.  The lesson was both for those who were guests at special events and for those who host them.

WHAT IS A BROWN NOSE?

During WWII, certain people overtly tried to please everyone higher in rank, in order to gain influence and raise in rank.  Others began calling these people "brown nosers," because on the metaphoric ladder going upward, their noses were in the bottoms of those above them.


WHAT IS A FEAST?

In the ancient world, feast were big deals. Meat was not eaten every day, so to have a feast with meat was special.

Today, we have parties and celebrations.  We invite friends and people with whom we want to build relationships.  Almost all of our parties and celebrations have food involved.  Wedding receptions, Graduation parties, funerals, rites of passage, or just parties for the sake of parties, all have food served.

During the First Century, people had feasts for different reasons.  Some were religious, such as Passover, some were rites of passage, such as marriage ceremonies, and some were for celebration (EX: the Prodigal Son).  The focus on food was just as much, if not more, than it is today.

WHEN YOU ARE A GUEST
 In Jesus' day, seating order during feasts was important.  Even today, wedding receptions traditionally place people who are most important to the wedding couple closest to them in proximity. According to the book of John, the author of the book was the one who had the seat of honor at the last supper - the place right next to Jesus.


Jesus told his followers that when they are invited to any feast, they should take the lowest position. That means that people could choose where they wanted to sit, and if they could choose where they would sit, I suppose most people competed for the best seat. It may be that the host chose certain people for the top places and let everybody else compete for the rest.
 So Jesus had an angle on this.  Pick out the lowest postition and the host will see you, and invite you to the top, because you don't belong on the bottom.
 Jesus intended this lesson to be for all types of situations.  In life's situations, don't jump for the highest honor. 


Typically people look to get ahead and choose positions and opportunities that will take them higher or serve their own interests.  Those opportunities oftentimes are wealthy or influential people that we seem naturally attracted to.


WHEN YOU HOST A SPECIAL EVENT


The guests were not the only ones being political about the feast.  While the guest struggled for the best seating, the host had already carefully chosen the most influential people as guests for his feast.  


This whole story is about status - people using each other to get ahead in the social world.  The guests compete for for status with their seat position, while the host competes for status by inviting the people who will best serve his interests.


Jesus directed both sides to seek the lowest to become the highest.  In the case of invitees, they were to receive the best place by sitting at the lowest.  And in the case of the host, by inviting the lowest and poorest in society, his reward would come later - at the day of Judgment.


THE TYPES OF PEOPLE TO INVITE


But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind (Luke 14:13).


The poor, crippled, lame and blind were representing an entire class of Israelites who were rejected from society.  Their lives were defined.  When people saw them, they were judged as sinners and cursed by God (see John 9).  As such, they had nothing to offer the social climber, in fact, they may even hinder the social climber's attempt to gain status.

But these rejects were the ones who were invited into Jesus' kingdom.  In Luke 6, Jesus had said, "Blessed are the poor, for your's is the kingdom of heaven."  Jesus said, "Woe to you who are rich...."  The kingdom of God was given to the lowly of this earth, so if you want what's good for you, win friends from that group.  Luke 16 will tell us that winning friends from among the outcasts is our only hope for entering into the kingdom of heaven.

THE LESSON

If you are going to be a brown nose, don't be brown nosing the people who are influencial in this world.  Brown nose the people who are the recipients of the kingdom to come - the poor and the rejected of this world.

Inheritance and Family Problems

INJUSTICE
From Luke 12:13ff

Nothing will ruin a family more than an inheritance problem.   Mom and dad die and the inheritance is unfairly divied out to one or two and denied to other/s.   Good families that use to get along very well have fallen apart because of this.

One day a man came to Jesus and told him that his brother was getting all of the inheritance and should share some with him.  He was filled with rage because his brother was being unfair.  This man was faced with an injusticc that he hated, and no doubt, he and his brother were torn apart from this already.  He believed very strongly that there was no reason they couldn't resolve their issue very quickly.

The brother who got the inheritance was probably a follower of Jesus and would have listened to whatever Jesus said.  If not so, then the offended brother would probably not have asked Jesus to talk to him.  The offended brother expected Jesus to see the injusctice and tell the other brother to pay out.  In the mind of the offended brother, Jesus could tell the one who got the inheritance to give his brother half, and he would listen to Jesus, and share the inheritance, resulting in fairness and a family living in harmony.

The man had it all planned, knowing that he was in the right, believing that Jesus would be on the side of a victim of injustice.  He went to Jesus with his request, "Tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."

We expect Jesus to be helping the poor guy out by rebuking the brother (who kept the money) because he was greedy and was unfair; but instead Jesus rebuked the guy who was offended, telling him to watch out for his own greed.  For Jesus, the issue was not about fairness and injustice, but the issue was about greed.  The offended brother was offended because he wanted things he was cheated out of. 

That means when we are offended because of financial injustices at work and around us, the core of the offence is not injustice, but our own greed.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN LIFE?

Jesus used the offended man for a teaching example not only for the perils of greed but for what is most important in life (values).  As humans we place high value in making a lot of money.  Money buys a certain amount of security, comfort, and status in this life.  Jesus, however, did not place a lot of value in these.  For Jesus, the most important values of life are those that build the kingdom of God and prepare us for eternity. 

Death was the ultimate judge and jury of wealth and possessions.  No matter how much one has accumulated in life, when death comes, one's wealth goes to someone else.  Jesus spoke a parable about a man who became very wealthy and had enough to retire.  But before he retired, he died, leaving all of his wealth to others.  The rich man who wanted to retire had nothing while others took his holdings.  He had nothing for his eternal destination. 

Because money and possessions gave nothing to this man at his death, Jesus concluded that our desire to amass wealth is not a good value.  In Jesus' mind, wanting money and things only hindered us from serving the Kingdom of God and from preparing anybody for eternity, as Luke 8:14 states:  "The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature."   For this reason, Jesus told the offended brother to watch out for greed, and not to be consumed with his inheritance or lack thereof.

Building the kingdom and preparing for life after death was by far the greatest value for Jesus, for those held eternal treasures.

HOW DO WE BUILD THE KINGDOM AND PREPARE FOR ETERNITY?

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys (Luke 12:33).

The offended brother was concerned about getting his fair share, but Jesus saw this as greed.  The offended brother wanted money coming in, which was in contrast to Jesus' belief that we should give money away, trusting God to take care of us for necessities (luke 12:22-34).  In giving money away, we help build the kingdom of God and build treasures in heaven.

What Does the New Testament Say About Tithing?

"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone (Luke 11:42).


Jesus did not rebuke the Pharisees because they tithed; he rebuked them for focusing on all the wrong things.  The religious leaders of Jesus day focused a lot on holiness, the Sabbath and tithing, ignoring more important laws about justice (defending the rights of and helping the poor and powerless) and the love of God.


Jesus said we should not leave tithing "undone."  That means we should tithe, but we should not make it a big deal.

Jesus' Ministry Summarized

So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor (Luke 7:22).


When John the Baptist sat in jail, he began to have his doubts about Jesus; so he sent disciples to ask him if he was "the one."  Jesus answered with a summary of his ministry within which he described the people to whom he ministered.

Jesus' ministry focused on the sick and the poor.  Period.