https://assets-cdn2.dropwave.io/086174f0-efbe-400f-a3e9-b91549a26ab7/media/Trinity 9 AD 2026.mp3

https://app.dropwave.io/show/our-savior-lynchburg/trinity-9-ad-2026

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

You’ve probably heard that this parable is difficult or confusing. And it seems that everyone has their own ‘spin’ on it. So if everyone interprets the text differently, can it have any real meaning at all? Yet we know that’s not how the Bible works. Christians disagree about many things the Word of God says. Some people hear words like, “This is My Body,” or “Baptism now saves you,” and they find these words difficult or confusing. Others debate what to make of terms like “head” and “helper,” “authority” and “submission.”

In each case, the confusion isn't really about the words themselves. Jesus has given us His Word so that we would know what He says. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31). All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4).

So the issue with this text is not a matter of clarity. Jesus speaks clearly. He uses simple and plain words. He even gives the interpretation at the end. So the only reason for us to find this parable “difficult” or “confusing” is because we don’t want to accept what Jesus is teaching.

It might also seem odd that Jesus would commend a thief and a liar. But Jesus tells other parables involving wicked people: dishonest servants and ungrateful workers; a thief who comes unexpectedly and a man who refuses the wedding garment of the King. What makes this parable different, though, is that Jesus is calling us to imitate one quality of the unjust steward: his shrewdness. That word ‘shrewd’ has the sense of looking toward the future and planning accordingly. It means ‘calculating’ or ‘prudent.’

In the parable of the Ten Virgins, this word gets translated ‘wise.’ The wise virgins know that it could be a long time before the Bridegroom comes, so they bring extra oil. When He comes to take them into the wedding feast, they have enough. But the foolish ones don’t consider the future. They look only to the present. Because they see their lamps are burning now, they don’t think they have to worry about the future.

The wisdom that God wants us to exercise looks at the whole picture, not just what is immediate. You know that the immediate cost of a thing is not the same as the long-term cost. Taking shortcuts in your work often results in short-term gains. But pain will come later. You might choose to buy a cheap tool or appliance, but it won’t last as long, and it’ll cost you more in the end. You can enjoy eating junk food now, but it will catch up to you later.

This is true spiritually, too. The serpent offered a shortcut to wisdom and being “like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). He promised Adam and his wife the things of God, but apart from the means God had instituted: trusting in God’s Word and obeying His voice.

Some Christians seek spiritual “shortcuts.” They believe that they can have salvation without repentance — or that God doesn’t care about certain sins. They think they can “outsource” their spiritual nourishment to the work of the pastor or the church, as though it’s unnecessary to study God’s Word themselves. Or they think their children will learn the Bible by osmosis. Still others may believe that time for God can be relegated to Sunday, so they don’t need to hold God’s Word sacred the rest of the week.

And yet that the things of this life take effort and time and attention and dedication — even while we seek out spiritual “shortcuts.” This is how it is in medicine and law and music and athletics — and everything in this life. A marathon requires months of practice. Soldiers spend far more hours in training than in battle. Parents rearrange their schedules for their children’s activities. They drive thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars for them. People devote decades of work to prepare for retirement. They calculate how much income they’ll need, consult experts, adjust investments, and sacrifice immediate pleasure to have future security.

Yet what happens to that time and energy and attention and dedication in regard to eternal things? For heavenly wisdom? For things that will not fade away? Why do we think that it’s worthwhile to suffer and sacrifice to gain the things of this life, but when it comes to spiritual things we think it happens without any effort at all? We’ll spend a lifetime seeking earthly wisdom or gaining something temporary, but how much time do we spend seeking heavenly wisdom? An hour on Sunday morning? Maybe every other week or once a month? Is that all it takes to gain heavenly wisdom?

This is the real “difficulty” of this passage. We don’t like what it means for us. “The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8). The sons of this world are better at this than we are. They see their goal and they pursue it wholeheartedly. They put us Christians to shame. Why are the sons of this world more shrewd than the sons of light? Jesus gives us the key at the end: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).

We Christians struggle with divided loyalties. We believe that we can serve two masters. We try to live that way. We think we can be devoted to the true God on Sunday morning, and maybe other times during the week, but the rest of the time we devote to mammon. We say that we trust God, but the state of our peace seems to depend more on our bank account balance that whatever God says. We give to God only after all our other expenses are paid. We always seem to have time for the things we really want to do, but prayer and Scripture never seem to fit. We give up heavenly treasures in order to gain fleeting pleasure here on earth.

But a son of this world — one who rejects God — one who is unjust like this steward — he has only one goal and master: mammon. Because mammon is his god, his pursuit of mammon is the same thing as service to his god.

Mammon is an inferior god. Idols of money or metal or wood or plastic — these cannot save. Nor do they love you. Jesus does. He bought you with His own blood and has an eternal kingdom to give you. Your inheritance isn’t something you’ve earned. Jesus earned it. He gives it to you for free. So do not trust in mammon because it cannot save you. Christ alone has redeemed you. He alone is your Master and Lord. He alone is to receive your devotion. This means we must be masters over our mammon and wealth, and not the other way around.

We have exalted wealth and mammon in our hearts. We must cast down every idol. We must use our wealth to serve our one and only Master. Luther says, “whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god” (Large Catechism, First Commandment). We find it difficult to trust God and not mammon. It turns out that we like mammon. Mammon seems to make life easier.

Jesus tells us to use our mammon not for ourselves, but to “make friends” (Luke 16:9). The money and stuff we have in this life is supposed to be used to bring others to faith in Christ. So when the mammon we have in this life is taken from us, we retain eternal treasure: fellow saints who receive us into an everlasting home that does not fade away. Jesus tells us to use the money and stuff of this life in a certain way. We think it’s better to rely on the mammon we can see and touch and hold close than to give it up for friends we could gain in the future.