The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

The Problem

In the verses which follow this parable, Jesus lays out his application clearly and concisely in four stages:

1. In verse 8, he lays out the problem that he is addressing through this parable.

2. In verse 9, he gives the solutionto that problem.

3. Then, in a series of contrasts in verses 10-12, He gives us the incentive for putting His solution into practice.

4. And finally, in verse 13, He shows us the real issue behind His teaching.

We will work through these four stages, beginning with the problem. Concluding the parable, Jesus says, “for the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” (Luke 16:8) 

The phrase ‘the people of this world’ is literally ‘the people of this age’ - ‘this age’ being the time from when Jesus came to live on this earth to the day He returns to usher in the new age - the age to come. ‘The people of this world’, then, are all those who have lived, are living and will live during this present age. If you are alive today (which I assume you are if you are reading this) you originally qualify as one of ‘the people of this world’.

I say ‘originally’, because there is another, entirely different group which it is possible for us to be part of. Jesus does not call them ‘the people of the age to come’, probably because it might confuse us into thinking this group has no part in the present age, so instead He calls them ‘the people of the light’. These are His followers, those who are no longer merely ‘the people of this age’, but those who will live with Him in the glorious age to come.

These then are the two groups of people Jesus is talking about: those who are not Jesus’ followers and those who are.

‘Their own generation’ simply means the people with whom we interact as we go through our lives.

Jesus asserts that those who are not His followers tend to be more shrewd than those who are. So what does He mean by this? And what exactly does it mean to be ‘shrewd’?

The manager in the parable is said to be shrewd because he provided for his future through his dealings with his own generation. So when Jesus uses the word ‘shrewd’ He is focussing on being wise when it comes to providing for the future.

Most people tend to be fairly keen, even proactive, when it comes to providing for their future in this world - a future which might stretch away for as much as seventy years or so. We go to school, we go to college, we go to university, we get a job, we raise children, we get a mortgage, we take out a savings account and a pension plan and so on, all to provide for that temporary future.

The problem though is that, while ‘the people of the light’ know there is another, permanent future that stretches far, far beyond this one, we tend to be more focussed on providing for our worldly future which runs out, than for the one which never ends.

It may well be pointed out that, as followers of Jesus, we have already provided for our eternal future. We have been saved and our future in the age to come is all provided for. But the truth is, if that is all we have done, then we have not provided for it at all. We might, at the very most, have a future in the age to come, but we have not made provision for it. Every day we have the opportunity to provide for that future, a full one-thousand four-hundred and forty minutes to store up treasure in heaven. And yet ‘the people of this world’ shame ‘the people of the light’ by the way they provide for their temporary future, because we constantly fail to take at least the same time and effort to provide for our eternal future.

This then is the problem Jesus wants to bring to our attention: As His disciples we are not wise when it comes to providing for our eternal future in the age to come.