Some parables in the Bible are easy to understand. The characters are relatable, the plot follows familiar rhythms, and the takeaway is simple and applicable to our lives. (Looking at you, parable of the prodigal son.)
And then, there are the other parables.
You know, the ones that leave you scratching your head, trying to make heads or tails of what’s happening, who you should be rooting for, and what on earth you’re supposed to take away from it all.
These parables are harder to approach. But there’s a wealth of wisdom we can glean if we’re willing to sit with these stories and chew on them for a while.
And the parable of the shrewd manager? This is one of those parables. Some theologians have even said that no other parable has been the subject of as much controversy as this one.
So let’s chew on it for a while and see what we learn.
What Is a Parable?
A parable is a simple story that uses everyday imagery to reveal deep spiritual truths. Jesus didn’t invent parables, but He was a master parable teller, using them to teach timeless lessons about God’s kingdom.
Parables invited listeners to lean in, reflect, and wrestle with what Jesus was really saying. For those with open hearts, these simple stories revealed deep spiritual truths. But for those who resisted, the meaning remained hidden.
Where Does the Parable of the Shrewd Manager Appear in Scripture?
The parable of the shrewd manager appears in just one of the four Gospels. You can find it in Luke 16:1-15.
A Parable of the Shrewd Manager Summary
In this parable, a rich man discovers his manager has been wasting his possessions. So he calls for the manager to turn in an account of his management.
The manager knows he’s in trouble. So before he meets with his employer, he sits down with his employer’s debtors. He tells each one to drastically reduce the amount they owe, knowing that these people will owe him once he’s out of a job and will be able to give him a place to stay.
When the rich man discovers what his manager has done, he commends his shrewd—or clever—behavior.
Who’s Who in the Parable of the Shrewd Manager?
Every parable contains people, objects, or animals to which Jesus gives spiritual meaning. This parable is no different. So before we explore what this parable means, we need to find out who and what each thing in this parable represents.
- The rich man represents God, the ultimate Judge and authority, who will one day call all people to give account for the things they have done.
- The manager represents people of the world.
- The debtors represent other people within a person’s sphere of influence.
- The account of management represents the account all people will one day give before God.
- The reduction in bills represents how the people of the world treat one another with shrewdness.
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager Explained
In this parable, Jesus highlights the manager’s clever actions—not his dishonesty—and uses the story to teach a deeper point.
Jesus encourages us to be wise with what we have, to be faithful with small things, and to choose God over money. His parable is an invitation to consider the ways we use our time, money, and influence and whether our values line up with what matters most to God.
The Context of the Parable of the Shrewd Manager
This parable wasn’t written to us, but it was spoken to real people in a real moment. Understanding that moment helps us see what Jesus meant more clearly.
Jesus told this parable to His disciples and the religious leaders of His day, and He followed the story up with some teaching. You can find the highlights of what He told the crowd below:
- Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves. If you do this, then when your money is gone, you’ll be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
- If you can be trusted with a little, you can be trusted with much. If you’re dishonest with a little, you’ll be dishonest with much.
- If you’re not trustworthy with worldly wealth or someone else’s property, no one will trust you with real riches or property of your own.
- No one can serve two masters. You can’t serve God and money.
- God knows your hearts. Many things that people value highly are detestable in God’s sight.
The difficulty with this parable comes when you try to apply these teachings to the parable of the shrewd manager. Maybe some of the following questions and thoughts came to mind as you read through the bullet points above.
- Does worldly wealth really have anything to do with being welcomed into eternal dwellings?
- The shrewd manager wasn’t trustworthy, but he was still commended by his employer.
- The shrewd manager certainly wasn’t trustworthy with someone else’s property, and yet others were still going to care for him.
- Was the shrewd manager trying to serve two masters? That doesn’t seem clear in the parable.
- What do the things we value have to do with this parable?
These are the types of questions that have caused so much controversy over the centuries as people have attempted to wrestle with this parable and pinpoint Jesus’ meaning. So where do we go from here?
The Wider Context of the Parable
Let’s take a step back from the parable of the shrewd manager and take a look at what happened before and after its telling. As recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was on a parable roll.
He had just finished telling His followers three of the most widely known parables—the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. And after the parable of the shrewd manager, He would go on to tell another of His most famous parables—the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
What could those parables tell us about what Jesus might have been communicating to His followers?
What These Stories Reveal About God’s Values
The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son are all about what God values. Again and again, we see that He’s willing to leave everything behind to bring home His beloved children.
From the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we learn more about what God values. Lazarus, who experienced nothing but pain and hardship during his lifetime, receives God’s comfort in paradise following his death. But the rich man, who lived in luxury while alive and never did anything to help Lazarus, suffers in Hades following his death. Here, we see how much God values caring for those who are suffering in this life.
Now let’s come back to the parable of the shrewd manager. Immediately following the parable, Jesus told His disciples, “What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” With this in mind, it seems likely that this parable has something to do with the things we value coming into tension with the things God values. And judging by the reaction of the religious leaders, who began sneering at Jesus when He told them that they could not serve both God and money, they certainly felt that tension.
What the Parable of the Shrewd Manager Means Now
So with that in mind, what does this parable mean for us today? I’m not going to pretend as if I have all the answers here—I still have a lot of questions about this parable, and I think it’s unlikely we’ll ever be able to answer them all in this lifetime.
But when we consider the question of what we value and what God values, one reasonable explanation that other theologians have put forward is this: The manager, a dishonest man, might have been charging his employer’s debtors more than they actually owed in order to line his own pockets. He valued money more than he valued people.
But when his employer called for him to turn in his accounts, he knew his time was up and decided to make things right. When he reduced the amount the debtors owed, the amount left over was only what they owed his employer.
This decision came with a benefit—the manager knew these people would likely offer him housing in the future—but he still lost money. His actions showed that he realized relationships were more valuable than money.
A Question for Us All
This parable invites us to consider the things we value and the things God values.
This parable invites us to consider the things we value and the things God values. In what ways do our values line up? Where is there tension? How could we show more love for God and people while placing less of a priority on things like money?
This is one possible meaning you could glean from this parable after chewing on it for a while. But it’s far from the only one! There are many, many different explanations out there. So the next time you read the parable of the shrewd manager, take your time and consider what God might be saying to you through its words.
2 Truths From the Parable of the Shrewd Manager
- God values people greatly.
Again and again in the parables, we see the love and care God extends to His people. He calls us to prioritize extending this same love and care to others. - There’s always more to unpack in the Bible.
The parable of the shrewd manager is one of those weird Bible stories that brings up so many questions, but the longer we chew on it, the more we can learn about what God might be saying to us through it. This isn’t just true of this parable—it’s true of the whole Bible.
Next Steps
Reflection Question: What might you be prioritizing over your love of God and people? How could you shift your priorities and place more value on your relationships with others?
Pray: Father, thank You for loving me so well. I know I’m Your beloved child, and I’m amazed that I have the opportunity to share Your love with other people. Would You help me to make relationships my main priority this week and show me how I can extend Your care to the people around me? In Jesus’ name, amen.
Action Step: Spend time reading and meditating on the parable of the shrewd manager below. Ask God to show you new things He might be saying through Jesus’ words.
Read the Parable for Yourself
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
The 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. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Whoever 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. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
No 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.”
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” Luke 16:1-15 NIV