Day 62, Luke 16:1-17:10
Following yesterday’s three stories underlining God’s heart to seek and find every one of His lost sons and daughters, Luke now compiles several of Jesus’ teachings on priorities.
The first appears confusing at face value: the master (representing God) commends the dishonest manager for being dishonest! That would have been deeply offensive to the religious leaders (who loved money as Luke records). It was probably wryly humorous to the crowd too: they would know the challenge of hiding their meagre resources from the Roman tax-collectors!
So how do we understand what Jesus is saying? Remember that the key to interpreting parables is to look for the main point, and learn from the way it confounds our habitual thinking. What if Jesus is emphasizing the value of relationships over money? He has repeatedly warned that you can’t serve God and money. He has taught that God cares and will provide for our every need. He has shown us that our human relationship can model and reflect our relationship with God. These thoughts can help us to draw valuable lessons from this parable. And Jesus cautions us not to be foolish with the resources of this world, but to guard against the lure of money to draw us away from God.
The religious leaders are offended (again) and Jesus rebukes them directly for their double-standard: they value the external signs of righteousness (legalistic conformity) but excuse or disregard the internal sins of pride, selfishness and judgment.
Jesus goes on to warn more directly about the danger of focusing on our own security by keeping our resources to ourselves. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is well-known, and sometimes over-interpreted. The plain meaning of this parable is that if you ignore the plight of others by guarding your own security and comfort in this life, you will find yourself separated from God after death. In other words, if I ignore God’s priorities in this life, I will regret it in the next. And Jesus adds a significant detail to the end of the story, showing this is directed at the rich elites who will soon murder Him: if you won’t believe Moses and the Prophets (who all foretell the coming of Jesus) you won’t believe if someone rises from the dead!
Moving on to the first portion of Chapter 17, the focus is still priorities. We have learned to focus on relationships more than temporal security, and that ignoring God’s prime concern for the lost and helpless will result in us being consigned to that state after death. Now Jesus adds two significant lessons on our responsibilities to one another and to God. First, it is expected that we care enough about one another to pursue and restore relationship through lavish forgiveness. And second, we recognize the generosity of God our master, and don’t seek rest or provision as our right, aside from His grace.
Priorities matter. Jesus is acutely aware of this as He directs the focus of His final weeks of ministry toward the perfect completion of His purpose: death and resurrection in Jerusalem. Likewise, He will help us to adjust and refocus our priorities if we listen to Him.
Have a great day!
Mark.