Continuing the Lost and Found sermon series, Dr. Leigh Bond discusses the Parable of the Shrewd Manager found in Luke 16:1-13. Obviously, this is a puzzling parable. A landowner learns his manager has been wasting his money—the word for “waste” is the same one used to describe the prodigal son in Luke 15. As the manager, he is responsible for doing things like buying and selling grain, oil and crops, and collecting rent.
But he is also doing his own wheelin’ and dealin’ in this story!
But perhaps a good parable is supposed to make us ask more questions? Where is the good news in this story of a blatant cheater? Was he doing a good thing by lowering the merchants’ debts? Can anything good ever come out of a dishonest action? And if a parable is an important lesson about the realm of God, what can we learn from this one?