Unaware Until It Hurts

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

September 21, 2025

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

Luke 16:1–13 (ESV)

¹ He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. ² And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ³ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ ⁵ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. ⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. ¹⁰ “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. ¹¹ If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in that which is anther’s, who will give you that which is your own? ¹³ No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

I have struggled with this parable over the years. Since being here at Willow Creek I have given a message on this passage at least three times. Each time I have told you how much I struggle with this parable. It seems to go against everything we say we believe, and yet here it is in the pages of scripture. I actually think Jesus intended for this parable to leave everyone scratching their heads. I think he did this to show us that what we believe in our heads do no always play out the way we expect. I think he left this parable morally questionable to show us that life is messy sometime. That there are times where what appears to be right on the surface might not be right in the eyes of God, even when we can support it with scripture.

This hits us right in the gut of righteousness. Jesus in this parable is praising someone that has been participating in fraud. How do we process this? How do we come to terms with this moral discord?

This points out the weakness of some of our fundamentalist and evangelical ideas. We like to say that we believe the Bible to be the inerrant word of God. We claim that scripture never contradicts itself, we claim that if the Bible commands we should follow with unquestioned devotion. This passage challenges us in these areas, because we have to let the words soak into the crevices of our brains because we cannot simply look at the surface. Why would Jesus praise someone who has clearly participated in something every ounce of our being says is wrong?

I am going to encourage us to think about some things today. I am going to say some things that will probably make us squirm a little bit, but I want you all to know before we move forward that I love scripture, I love God, I love the church, and I love the testimonies of passed down within the various branches of the Society of Friends. I am going to say these words because I believe that if we do not wrestle with some of these things we will not be able to move forward because we are being held captive by our self-imposed perceptions.

The first thing I want us to wrestle with is the commandments we find in scripture, the Law. Most of my life I have believed that the commandments are absolute. I always read the, “thou shalt nots” as being non negotiable. I want to be very clear the commandments are very important, all of scripture is. The more I have studied the more I read I found that there is something interesting about the words and the meanings. If we were to look at law today, you basically need a degree to even read a simple contract. Which is good if you are in the legal field. Our laws are written in specific ways. There are articles, sections, subsections each defining and specifying aspects of what is intended. And if an aspect is not found in these massive tomes, chances are it is not illegal. The commandments in scripture are not written like this. It is as if they were intended to be left vague. Take some of the ones that seem pretty easy, “You shall not steal.” I bring this in because it pertains to today’s passage.

You shall not steal, seem very straight forward. You should not go into a store and take something off the shelf and take it home without obtaining permission through a transaction. In the context of the commandments in Exodus 20, it appears to make complete sense. But in the ancient cultures the commands were not known as commandments instead they were teachings. The idea of commandments as we understand them comes from Greek philosophy. Prior to Alexander the Great’s conquest east through Turkey, Israel, down through Egypt and throughout Persia, and to what we know today as India there were legal codes in every culture, but the idea of a system of law that the western world eventually came to know as Rule of Law, was largely unknown. What we see as the ten commandments in ancient times would have been called the sayings, or the teachings of God. What does this mean? There is more to this law, there is more to this commandment than simply taking something without permission.

The concept of teachings or words of wisdom is important. The teachings of scripture are intended to be a framework or guide to build our lives, not legislation. The commandments are an introduction to a discussion on how we interact with each other. The word is translated properly, it means do not steal, but it also can be extended to deception and trickery. Interestingly it can also mean kidnap. So when the teacher of the law comes to the children and the adults and reads this word of wisdom. It should start discussion. It begins with you should not take something that is not yours without permission. Then the teacher might say but what if you sell it to someone, do you still have any say in how it is used? Then they might ask again, what if you knowingly sold someone something that you knew was broken? Or what if you change the terms after a transaction occurred?

Suddenly the word of wisdom becomes a bit more unclear, it gets a bit messy. What was once so simple, simple enough a child could understand is now so complex that we need training and scholars to determine what the meaning is. This is why scripture is fascinating, why religion is frustrating, and why Jesus often debated with the Scribes and Pharisees. These were the people, the scholars that discussed the teachings. They were the ones that directed how people within that community would justify activities with one another. But there is one simple way that we can get to the heart of the teachings of scripture.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was he said two things. The first is “Hear O Israel the lord your God is one, you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself.”

The core or the heart of every teaching is to love God, or love your neighbor. The teachings on theft, lying, adultery, and murder are all good. They are the most important teaching and commandments in life. Why would Jesus or any of the scribes and Pharisees argue about these things?

Who is your neighbor?

Which brings us to today’s parable. The manager was in trouble, he had been charged with wasting his master’s possessions and the master wanted an accounting of his work. We can go many different directions with this passage. In the past, I took the time to figure out the value of everything listed in the parable. As I considered it, I came to the conclusion that the amount owed was approximately 1/3 of the value of a year’s crop. Which is typically the same standard used today. And when I spoke then I said that the manager was basically reducing the rent for the tenants, allowing them to keep more of their profits, and thus becoming very popular in the eyes of the community. I still think that is a worthwhile explanation. But perspective is key. What if we look at things from a different perspective?

We are not told how these people became indebted to the master. This means that there could be any number of explanations or scenarios we could read into these words. I grew up on a farm, I am familiar with the customs surrounding agricultural land rental, so of course as I read this my mind places this story on a farm, but it does not have to be on a farm. He could be a man living in the city, or in a manor house. How did he become rich? He could just own an abundance of land, or maybe he was a merchant shipping cargo across the empire. We do not know. But scripture contains teachings about debt, that we can refer to.

I looked up debt in the Lexham Bible Dictionary and it said, “Most of the biblical treatment of debt is within the civil law of ancient Israel, and all biblical instruction concerning debt is in a context of charitable, benevolent lending to relieve distress. Commercial lending, in which a business borrows cash to finance its operations, was well known in the ancient world but does not appear in Scripture.” This mentions the civil law of ancient Israel, which we might not understand. Christians have divided the teaching of the Old Testament into various categories: ceremonial, civil, and moral. We do this because we need to know how people who are not part of Israel, but are grafted in, follow God? We do not have a temple so the laws dedicated to that were categorized as ceremonial, and are not generally applicable. The moral laws are familiar. They apply to justice and are pretty much what CS Lewis would call natural law. Meaning basically every human and culture has these laws in some form. The civil law is the gray area. At times they seem as if they do not apply but at other times the teaching within are useful. This is why Paul taught his disciple Timothy that “all the law is useful for instruction.” And this is why scripture can be used to justify both sides of almost any argument.

The civil law in scripture are often presented not as specific list we can point to, instead they are usually found within stories, psalms, or discussions. Debt falls in this category. Remember the core of the teaching of God are to Love God and Love our neighbor. Civil law or the civil teachings are to show us examples of how do this.

The primary teaching on debt is that repayment must be made. Failure to repay a debt is wickedness. If it is not settled the what was offered as collateral. And if they could not even give the collateral, the individual, could be sold into temporary slavery. God cares about the repayment of debts. We could stop there, and we could tell all the people complaining about student loans to just pay the bill, but there are more teachings. Basic necessities could not be taken for collateral. The one that owed the debt had to bring the collateral to the lender going so far as saying that the lender could not enter the house to find items of value to take for themselves. Suddenly the teachings take a different turn.

If they happened to get to the point of debtors slavery, this too was only temporary. Israelites could only enslave other Israelites for a maximum of six years, or until the Year of Jubilee whichever came first. And they were not allowed to charge interest to their countrymen.

I want us to think about these teachings for a moment. The world teaches us that the lender has control over those that are owed to them, and there are constant penalties that continue to compound. The teachings scripture provide for debt are largely focus on the rights of the one in debt, not on the one giving the loan. I think this is the place we need to be in as we consider the parable that Jesus shared.

This steward mismanaged the master’s possessions, this is true. We are not told how this happened, or even what he did exactly. The story eludes to the possibility that there was a liquidity problem. The master needed something and when he went to look for it, his stores were empty. One could also potentially assume that perhaps the manager was providing loans in the master’s name while collecting a form of interest. Or perhaps the manager gave loans to people knowing they were not in a position to repay the debts. Perhaps the community in which they lived was in an economic recession and the various businesses were on the verge of what we would call bankruptcy. There could be many ways to look at this, and none of them are very good for the manager.

This manager is in a panic. Everyone is about to find out how corrupt he has been. He has made a life for himself taking advantage of those around him in some way. He has participated in theft, he has broken the commandment, strayed away from the teachings of God. And everyone will soon know the full details of his sin. What does he do?

He calls all the business associates together one by one, he brings each person with an outstanding debt. And he begins to make amendments to the contracts with each of them. He has the power to do this as the manager. As far as anyone knows he is still working for his master. The signatures on the deeds only contain two names his and the one that owes the debt. If both parties agree on new terms it will hold up, unless the master can prove otherwise.

He brings them in. He asks them how much do you owe? And they tell him. This is not a conspiracy because the one that has the debt is not aware of the manager’s position, nor are they aware of the debt owed by the others. As far as they are concerned the master’s steward was directed to make these revisions.

This man then tells the man owning one hundred measures of oil to write fifty, why fifty? We do not know. Maybe that is how much he had already paid or how much the man has on hand. Another man owes a hundred measures of wheat and his bill was adjusted to eighty. Again we do not know the reasons behind the numbers. But we know the results. What was done could not be changed, and the master is aware of the trickery but no longer has reason to escalate the situation, without bringing shame to his name.

Now we get into the parts that become strange. Jesus seems to praise this dishonest manager. He seems to condone his misdeeds. “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

Jesus is telling us that the economy of this world is a tool. It is a tool of human desire, human need, and human expression. The study of economics is the study of human nature and action. Those in the world, or as Jesus says the sons of this world, look at these things, they study it and they know what the people want. They then use this information to grow their wealth and power within the world. To the world everything is economy based. Just look at the news. Every day they share the Dow Jones Industrial average. Every time the news of our nation is broadcast that number will be in the report somewhere. It does not matter if it is ABC, MSNBC, or Fox News, they all give us this information. The next thing most news reports will mention is the price of fuel. And during the election for some reason we all needed to know what the price of eggs were. What do these things tell us? They are all indicator of the state of our society. How much it costs to live, and if making a living will be easier or more difficult. But these are only indicators, because economics studies how we live, the economy is the field we work in, and currency is the tool of that livelihood.

Jesus says, “The sons of the world are more shrewd, or wise, in dealing with this generation than the sons of light.” We as the faithful, are unaware, we are ignorant of the conditions our society are facing every single day of their lives. And we have become ignorant because we have placed more importance on the indicators and the tools. We have become more absorbed by the transactions instead of the hands of the participants.

I like economics. It was one of my favorite subjects in school. My primary focus was on crop science and genetics, but I had enough economics classes that I probably could have also obtained a degree in economics if I wanted to. The other surprising thing is I also too several art history classes. I have a very eclectic background in my journey for knowledge. But what is this quest for knowledge except asking questions and attempting to find answers? And as I have made this journey I have found that there are times where we are asking the wrong questions. That is the case when I have looked at this parable, over the years. I have been asking why Jesus seemed to praise the dishonest manager. Why would Jesus seemingly promote fraud among his disciples. I have been asking the wrong question.

I have learned that the commandments are deeper than right and wrong. Instead they are a conversation about how we are to interact with the people around us. Of course we should not steal. But we should also not be deceptive in our business dealings. Nearly every company participating in our economy is deceptive. They lower the quality and keep the price the same. They decrease the size per unit while not reflecting that decrease in their price. Or more recently you own the hardware but you do not own the software to make the hardware work. And the company can change the functionality of that software at any point and force you to pay more or subscribe to unlock the features. If you do not believe me just go to a lumber yard, and measure a 2×4 is it really a 2×4? We as a culture condone theft every day calling it good business practices. We even praise individuals that are the best at this sort of deception. But the commandments are concerned with something more, something deeper. They are concerned with humanity and how we interact with each other.

Jesus tells this story to his disciples as they leave the company of tax collectors and sinners. He tells this story shortly after the scribes and Pharisees grumbled about Jesus receiving and eating with the tax collectors and sinners, and how or why they were aware that Jesus was among that company is a bit suspicious. While he was in the company of the crowds he shared the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son that had gone out to the far off country. As they leave and are alone, he tells his disciples this parable. What does that tell us?

The study of economics is the study of human behavior. Through it we can find what is most important to the members of our society. We can build an understanding of who is participating and who is not and from that understanding we can promote change within our society. Jesus told this parable at this time to these people because he wanted his disciples to know where the true indicators of the health of a society were. It is not among the people that have it all, it is with the people often neglected and demonized within a culture. He is telling them to look at the sinners what are they doing and focused on, what are they exploiting and how are they being deceived? They are the one that see a need within the community and they hope to gain wealth. This is not necessarily wrong, but what do people consume? Why are they consuming it? And should we as bearer of the name of God engage?

This week we are still gripped with tension over the events that have unfolded around us. We are still struggling to come to some sort of understanding as to who is responsible and why things have happened the way they did. Today’s parable is one that does not sit well with me. I do not like it. I think it is one of the worst portions of scripture within the bible. But it is important. It is important because we live in a world that is the way it is. What questions are we asking, why are we asking them? Are we even asking the right questions? Who are the sinners of our society? Who are the hated tax collectors? What are they focusing on? Are they making money on it? Are they hurting or deceiving others to make this gain? Where is the money coming from? Are their interests different than our own? What are we missing?

All too often we are blinded by ourselves. We do not know the questions to ask, and because of that we get answers that do not help. We want to blame the dishonest manager, but that man in the parable saw something that the master missed. The people of his community were struggling and he was unaware until it affected him personally. Let us learn to see the needs of the people, and ask how we can share righteousness into it.

Previous Messages:

Ransomed to Love

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…

by jwquaker April 19, 2026April 18, 2026

Born Again to a Living Hope

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…

by jwquaker April 12, 2026April 11, 2026

Broken Dreams Restored

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…

by jwquaker April 5, 2026April 4, 2026

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