3\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThe manager said to himself, \u2018What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I\u2019m not strong enough to dig, and I\u2019m ashamed to beg\u2014<\/span><\/span> 4\u00a0<\/sup>I know what I\u2019ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 5\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cSo he called in each one of his master\u2019s debtors. He asked the first, \u2018How much do you owe my master?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 6\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,\u2019 he replied.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe manager told him, \u2018Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 7\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThen he asked the second, \u2018And how much do you owe?\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u2018A thousand bushels of wheat,\u2019 he replied.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe told him, \u2018Take your bill and make it eight hundred.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 8\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThe master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.<\/span><\/span> 9\u00a0<\/sup>I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 10\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWhoever 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.<\/span><\/span> 11\u00a0<\/sup>So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?<\/span><\/span> 12\u00a0<\/sup>And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else\u2019s property, who will give you property of your own?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 13\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cNo one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.<\/span>15\u00a0<\/sup>He said to them, \u201cYou are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God\u2019s sight.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The way in which Matthew incorporates this teaching is by using it as a lesson against building up treasures on earth. Luke appears to be using this teaching as a warning against the pharisees, who are being accused of loving money.<\/p>\n However, there are more lessons in Luke’s parable than just a warning against money. The parable is about being responsible with what we are given; both monetarily and spiritually. So many of us are blessed with abundance and we are called by the Lord to use that abundance to help others. God’s kingdom does not place value on who can make the most money but on how we take care of one-another.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parable of the shrewd manager Luke 16:1-15 Jesus told his disciples: \u201cThere was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2\u00a0So he called him in and asked him, \u2018What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.\u2019 3\u00a0\u201cThe manager said … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12227,"featured_media":14703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2280],"tags":[1900,7265,2344,7268,7266,7509,7508,7267],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nObservations & Reflections<\/h3>\n
\n![\"Justin-Holmes1.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Justin-Holmes1-150x150.jpg\")
Once again, material from Matthew’s sermon on the mount appears in the large teaching block before Jesus enters Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
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