1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.” 3 Then the steward said within himself, “What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.” 5 So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, “How much do you owe my master?” 6 And he said, “A hundred measures of oil.” So he said to him, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.” 7 Then he said to another, “And how much do you owe?” So he said, “A hundred measures of wheat.” And he said to him, “Take your bill and write eighty.” 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. 9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify themselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 16:1-15

In this parable, it is talking about the values we hold in our life. Values are very important. It is also very powerful. Our values drive us. They dictate our thoughts and our actions. They also determine our behaviour. Our values mould our decisions at all time.

There was a Christian teacher who posted a question to her class one day. She offered $5 to any student who could tell her who was the greatest leader that ever lived. One student raised her hand and said it was John Kennedy. The teacher said ‘wrong answer’. Another raised his hand and said it was Martin Luther. Again, it was the wrong answer. And another said it was Mother Teresa. Once again, it was the wrong answer. Then this Jewish boy stood up and said it was Jesus Christ. The teacher said it was the right answer and he was awarded the $5. The teacher was curious as to why this Jewish boy chose Jesus as the greatest leader that ever lived. So, after class, she took him aside and asked him. The Jewish boy said, “Well, in my heart, I believe Moses is the greatest leader but business is business, you can’t mix them.” Pragmatism rules.

In every parable Jesus told, there is at least one truth. Luke 16:1-15 is a parable about our values in life. Our values affect us in every aspect of our life and govern the way we are. When our sense of values is mixed up, our responses are mixed up, too. Now, there was this woman who seen watching a football match. She was seated on the best row overlooking the field. But next to her, the remaining row of seats was empty. One of the ushers went up to her and asked whether the seats were available. She told him the seats were booked. When asked whether it was booked by her, she told him that she had booked them for all her family and relatives. Upon further enquiring on the whereabouts of her family and relatives as the match was due to start in 5 minutes. She said to the usher, “I don’t know why they are giving up this fantastic match to be at my husband’s funeral.” When our values are mixed up, our life is mixed up too.

Now, there were two groups of people that Jesus was seen hanging around with. These were the groups of people considered as “sinners” and tax collectors of whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the law rejected – Luke 15:1-2. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law attacked Jesus for eating with the “sinners” and the tax collectors. Jesus corrected the Pharisees and the teachers of the law about their values in life through the parable of the dishonest steward. Jesus was trying to tell them that their values were totally wrong. As a result, Jesus also unfold three other parables about values in Luke 15. They are:

• The parable of the Lost Sheep
• The parable of the Lost Coin
• The parable of the Lost Son

There are three common threads that run through all these three parables:

1. Something of value to the owner is lost.
2. This lost called for an all-out search.
3. There was a great celebration when that which was lost is found.

From the three parables and these three common threads, we can safely deduce that:

1. Lost people matters to God.
2. It warrants an all-out search to bring back the lost.
3. There is a great celebration in heaven when a sinner returns home. This shows how precious we are to God that the whole heaven rejoices when a sinner is saved.

After these three parables, Jesus told the parable of the dishonest steward. He contrasted the values of the kingdom of God to the values of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law which represent the world’s values. In this, Jesus was dealing with the values of the world against the values of the kingdom of God.