Let us talk about the ‘Steward Parable’

[KerimF]

Hi All,

I am new here.

To me in the least, one of the crucial parables by which Jesus Christ presented, in simple words, the ‘spiritual realm’ in our ‘life reality’ is what is known as the parable of the Unjust Steward {Luke 16:1}.

The following is what I learnt from it. So please don’t hesitate to correct anything I say that doesn’t look logical to you.

[1] The rich man refers to God (the One Will/Power of the Father in Heaven and Jesus; unified by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit)
[2] The steward refers to my being (or any other human being).
[3] The stewardship refers to the temporary life that was given to me by my Creator, God.
(4) The ending of the stewardship refers to the death of my mortal living flesh.
(5) The goods that the steward is responsible of refer to whatever I may have in my life.
(6) The lord’s debtors refer to the other human beings whom I may meet.
(7) The mammon of unrighteousness refers to any of the things I may have in life because it is not mine in the first place. I mean if I have something in this world really, I would be able keeping it forever. But, as it happened to the steward in this parable, I will lose, sooner or later at the death of my mortal flesh, all things that were supposed to be mine.

I guess, you may know now why Jesus says:
“… And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely”.

Jesus even explained it by adding:
“Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations “.

Naturally, I try always my best, till my actual stewardship ends, to be like this ‘unjust steward’ and be generous (as possible) towards all others, friends and enemies, with what I got from God since my birth.

Kerim

 

[Bradley D]

Interesting parable. The Nelson Study Bible compares the money matters to spiritual matters. Not being able to handle mammon/spiritual matters is not good.

 

[KerimF]

Interesting parable. The Nelson Study Bible compares the money matters to spiritual matters. Not being able to handle mammon/spiritual matters is not good.

In this case, I wonder what, in this study, mammon/spiritual matters could mean (or refer to) in our daily life. Thank you.

 

[Bradley D]

In this case, I wonder what, in this study, mammon/spiritual matters could mean (or refer to) in our daily life. Thank you.

It seems like Jesus was using worldly mammon which means so much to the world. In the place of spirtuality which should mean much more to the world than mammon.

 

[KerimF]

It seems like Jesus was using worldly mammon which means so much to the world. In the place of spirtuality which should mean much more to the world than mammon.

Jesus, the divine all-knowledge being (my only teacher about Life Reality) knows that the common people (anywhere in the world) listen, by design (instincts), to powerful rich persons only or their privileged representatives (with the hope perhaps to be like them when possible). Jesus also knows {Matthew 19:24} that a privileged rich person cannot (is not interested or not allowed to), also by design, be sincere every time he addresses the multitudes (if not the world, via satellites in these days); unless he decides to lose his given position and join the ordinary people; if not much worse.
.
Therefore, there was one way for Jesus to let people, in his time, listen to Him while He lives, unlike all previous prophets (excluding John the Baptist) did, as an ordinary person among them. Once a while, He just did a worldly miracle (though He didn't came to heal the mortal bodies but souls). But, His various miracles were more than enough to attract the attention of many people; starting from His Apostles and first Disciples. Obviously, His most important miracle was His Resurrection (His body then His message) after which many laid down their lives for preaching His message.

Naturally, these miracles are no more important in these days because anyone in the world can, if he wants, hear what Jesus says directly from the Gospel. I said 'directly from reading the Gospel' because no one in the world dares, is interested in or is allowed to repeating before the world some crucial sayings of Jesus, as clear as Jesus did. In fact, His teachings about 'Life Reality' cannot be welcomed, for one reason or another, by the men in charge of 'any' ruling system in the world (political or religious). But, at the same time, I didn't hear yet of a ruling system which dares considering the printing of the Gospel (hard copy or e-book) as a crime against its law.

By the way, I used hearing from friends that they cannot agree with me on any logical answer I may present if it is not approved first by the men in charge of their Church. The irony is that this happens to me even in science. Being a designer in electronics, I had the chance to discover some novel solutions which I use in my applications when necessary. But when I try sharing any of them with other engineers, they don't (or avoid to) give me their own scientific opinion about it (positive or negative). They just tell me: "Sorry, we didn't hear of it".

 

[DAN P]

Interesting parable. The Nelson Study Bible compares the money matters to spiritual matters. Not being able to handle mammon/spiritual matters is not good.

Hi and I see 2 other things here .

#1 It is speaking to Israel .

#2 , The Greek word stewardship is the Greek word OIKONOMIA / DISPENSATION .

dan p

 

[nikolai_42]

Hi All,

I am new here.

To me in the least, one of the crucial parables by which Jesus Christ presented, in simple words, the ‘spiritual realm’ in our ‘life reality’ is what is known as the parable of the Unjust Steward {Luke 16:1}.

That is indeed an interesting parable. It says some unusual things....but I see some problems with the way you read it.

The following is what I learnt from it. So please don’t hesitate to correct anything I say that doesn’t look logical to you.

[1] The rich man refers to God (the One Will/Power of the Father in Heaven and Jesus; unified by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit)

There are a few problems I have with this - and it ties in with some of your other reasons below :

- the verse refers to the master as "a certain rich man"...Luke uses that term a lot and if you look at the uses of it, it seems to refer to a person or thing without revealing the identity. It means a specific individual - but whose identity is not revealed unless the individual is not named;
Luke 1:5 a certain priest who he actually names (Zacharias)
Luke 6:2 and certain of the Pharisees asked Jesus about working on the Sabbath (because He let the disciples take grain from a field to eat)
Luke 7:19 John the Baptist (in prison) called two of his disciples to question Jesus; the disciples aren't named but Luke uses the word to specify how many of his disciples go to Jesus
Luke 8:2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils; part of a list that details who went with Jesus and the disciples while they travelled about preaching; the term certain contrasts with someone being named (others are named in the list)
Luke 9:7 and some said that John was risen from the dead
Luke 10:30 a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho (the parable of the Good Samaritan)
Luke 13:6 a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard

There are other examples, but this should be enough to establish that when Luke uses the term for "certain", the identity of the individual is at least less important than the point to be made (and possibly that the identity doesn't matter at all). Luke 13:6 certainly looks to be Jesus speaking of Himself as the certain man, but the point to be made is the lack of fruit found in Israel during His ministry - not that God is being referred to.

Another reason is here:

Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
Luke 16:3

The steward's trying to figure out what he can do after being fired has him saying he can't dig and is too proud to beg. How does this tie in to losing something given by God? If this is a firing in the spiritual realm, is this man really going to find something from someone else besides God? That's what's implied in the next verse :

I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Luke 16:4

Should we read that as saying that now that God is no longer this steward's master, there is benefit to finding another master? An individual?

And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Luke 16:6

Now...how can one decide that another person owes God (if the Master is God) less? Because that is who these debtors owe - the Master, not the steward.

Finally:

And I say to you, Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Luke 19:9

Here is where it gets interesting. How are THEY letting you into everlasting habitations? What benefit are you getting by being kind to others if you abuse your stewardship with God?

[2] The steward refers to my being (or any other human being).
[3] The stewardship refers to the temporary life that was given to me by my Creator, God.
(4) The ending of the stewardship refers to the death of my mortal living flesh.
(5) The goods that the steward is responsible of refer to whatever I may have in my life.
(6) The lord’s debtors refer to the other human beings whom I may meet.
(7) The mammon of unrighteousness refers to any of the things I may have in life because it is not mine in the first place. I mean if I have something in this world really, I would be able keeping it forever. But, as it happened to the steward in this parable, I will lose, sooner or later at the death of my mortal flesh, all things that were supposed to be mine.

I guess, you may know now why Jesus says:
“… And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely”.

Jesus even explained it by adding:
“Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations “.

Naturally, I try always my best, till my actual stewardship ends, to be like this ‘unjust steward’ and be generous (as possible) towards all others, friends and enemies, with what I got from God since my birth.

Kerim

I have more to say, but I have to run...

 

[DAN P]

That is indeed an interesting parable. It says some unusual things....but I see some problems with the way you read it.



There are a few problems I have with this - and it ties in with some of your other reasons below :

- the verse refers to the master as "a certain rich man"...Luke uses that term a lot and if you look at the uses of it, it seems to refer to a person or thing without revealing the identity. It means a specific individual - but whose identity is not revealed unless the individual is not named;
Luke 1:5 a certain priest who he actually names (Zacharias)
Luke 6:2 and certain of the Pharisees asked Jesus about working on the Sabbath (because He let the disciples take grain from a field to eat)
Luke 7:19 John the Baptist (in prison) called two of his disciples to question Jesus; the disciples aren't named but Luke uses the word to specify how many of his disciples go to Jesus
Luke 8:2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils; part of a list that details who went with Jesus and the disciples while they travelled about preaching; the term certain contrasts with someone being named (others are named in the list)
Luke 9:7 and some said that John was risen from the dead
Luke 10:30 a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho (the parable of the Good Samaritan)
Luke 13:6 a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard

There are other examples, but this should be enough to establish that when Luke uses the term for "certain", the identity of the individual is at least less important than the point to be made (and possibly that the identity doesn't matter at all). Luke 13:6 certainly looks to be Jesus speaking of Himself as the certain man, but the point to be made is the lack of fruit found in Israel during His ministry - not that God is being referred to.

Another reason is here:

Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
Luke 16:3

The steward's trying to figure out what he can do after being fired has him saying he can't dig and is too proud to beg. How does this tie in to losing something given by God? If this is a firing in the spiritual realm, is this man really going to find something from someone else besides God? That's what's implied in the next verse :

I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Luke 16:4

Should we read that as saying that now that God is no longer this steward's master, there is benefit to finding another master? An individual?

And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Luke 16:6

Now...how can one decide that another person owes God (if the Master is God) less? Because that is who these debtors owe - the Master, not the steward.

Finally:

And I say to you, Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Luke 19:9

Here is where it gets interesting. How are THEY letting you into everlasting habitations? What benefit are you getting by being kind to others if you abuse your stewardship with God?



I have more to say, but I have to run...

Hi and most do not reply as to why , in Luke 16:2 why the Greek word DISPENSATION is translated STEWARDSHIP , ?

And in Eph 3:2 that a DISPENSATION was given to him ( PAUL ) to give to us , the BODY OF CHRIST ?



dan p