Luke 16

Luke 16:1

Luke: The Man Christ Jesus Jesus on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Luke 9:51 to 19:44

www.easyenglish.info Ian Mackervoy This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 16 The wise manager – Luke 16:1-18 v1 Jesus also told the *disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager. But someone told him that his manager was wasting the rich man’s possessions. v2 So, he called his manager in. He said to him, “I have heard about you. Give to me an account of all that you have done. You cannot continue as my manager.”

v3 The manager thought, “I must do something. My master has taken my job from me. I am not strong enough to dig. And I am ashamed to ask people for money or food. v4 I know what I will do. Then, when I lose my job, I will have friends. They will receive me into their homes.”

v5 Then he called in each person who was in debt to his master. He asked the first one, “How much do you owe to my master?”

v6 And he replied, “100 *baths of oil.” The manager told him, “Sit down quickly. Take the statement of your account. Change the amount to 50 *baths.”

v7 Then the manager asked another person, “How much do you owe?” And he replied, “100 *cors of wheat.” The manager said to him, “Take the statement of your account. Change the amount to 80 *cors.”

v8 The manager was not an honest man. But the master praised him because he had been wise. People who care only about this world show great wisdom among themselves. Often, they deal with their wealth more wisely than the people who know God. v9 I tell you, use the wealth of this world to make friends for yourselves. When your wealth has gone, they will receive you into *eternal homes.

v10 Whoever you can trust with a little, you can trust with a lot. Whoever is not honest with a small amount will not be honest with a large amount. v11 If you have not been honest with this world’s wealth, nobody will trust you with true wealth. v12 If you are not honest with somebody else’s property, nobody will give to you property of your own.

v13 No servant can serve two masters. He will hate one and he will love the other one. Or he will be loyal to one and he will dislike the other one. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

v14 The *Pharisees loved money. They heard what Jesus said. And they laughed at him. v15 Jesus said to them, ‘You make yourselves to seem so good to other people. But God knows your hearts and minds. God hates that which people make important.

v16 The law and the *prophets were until John. Since that time we *preach the good news of the *kingdom of God. And everyone is pressing into it. v17 But the smallest detail cannot drop out of the law. It would be easier for heaven and earth to disappear than that.

v18 Suppose that a man divorces his wife. If he marries another woman, he is guilty of *adultery. If another man marries that wife then he is guilty of *adultery.’

Verses 1-2 Jesus told this story to his *disciples. The *disciples here probably included those people who followed Jesus and not just the 12 *disciples. Jesus spoke about a rich man who had a manager. A manager was often a slave but here this manager was not a slave. He was responsible for all the financial affairs of his master. He had the authority to make legal agreements on behalf of his master.

Someone told the master that his manager was wasting the rich man’s possessions. The master took the job from the manager before he looked at the evidence. The manager may not have been guilty but he could not defend himself. But he had time to act while he prepared the accounts.

Verses 3-4 There was no hope of another job like this one. He was not strong enough for hard labour. He would not ask people for money. He had to find another way to live. He decided to get friends who would provide for him.

Verses 5-7 The manager spoke to each person who owed money to the master. He told them to bring the records of their debts. Then he told them to reduce the amounts. He was able to do this because he still had the authority as the manager.

A bath was about 5 gallons (22 litres) of liquid goods. A cor was about 220 litres of dry goods.

In those days people returned kindness because of any kindness that they had received. In this act, the manager obliged these persons to do something for him. When he left his job, they would receive him into their homes.

Verse 8-9 The manager was not an honest man. The word for ‘not honest’ could mean ‘of this world’. The manager was a man of the world and not one who believed in Jesus.

Maybe the manager should not have changed the agreements. Perhaps in this, he had done what was wrong. He had reduced the amount that the master expected to receive. But the master praised him because he had been wise.

Clearly, the master had lost money. He did not praise the manager because of this. He praised him because he had been clever. People would imagine that the master was a generous man. And they would consider the manager to be their friend.

Of course, really the master did not approve of these reductions. However, he could not now complain. Because of these reductions, people thought well of him; he would not want to change that. He would seem very foolish if anyone discovered the truth about this matter. For that reason, it would now be very hard for him to remove the manager from his job.

People who do not believe in Jesus use their possessions for their own benefit. With wisdom, they try to increase their wealth. They seem to be more eager to achieve their purpose than Christians are to achieve theirs.

God’s people should use their resources better to bring people into the *kingdom of God. At death, a Christian will lose whatever wealth he has in this world. But he will receive a warm welcome to his *eternal home in heaven. That welcome may be from those people whom he had helped into the *kingdom.

Verses 10-13 A person who is honest in small matters will be honest in large matters. You would not give responsibility for large matters to a person who is not honest. Jesus contrasts this world’s wealth with ‘true wealth’, in other words, the wealth of heaven that only God can give. God expects his people to be responsible with the money that he has given to them in this world. If they want God to give them responsibility for great things, they must first be responsible with small things. They must be responsible in the use of their money and other possessions.

We may think that we own our possessions. But all that we have is as a loan from God (1 Chronicles 29:14). We are like managers of what God has put in our care. When we die, we can take nothing with us. Then God will give rewards to those people who trust in him.

Those people to whom wealth is of first importance in effect make wealth their god. It has become their master. Nobody can be the servant of two masters. He will serve one master better than he serves the other master. Although we may have both God and money, we cannot serve them both.

Verses 14-15 The *Pharisees heard what Jesus had said. They laughed at it because it was true about them. They appeared to be loyal to God and to serve him. But many *Pharisees loved money. The love of money is a cause of much evil (1 Timothy 6:10). They tried to serve both money and God.

We see the outside of a person but God knows the heart. Much that people consider important, God hates.

Verses 16-17 Until the time of John the *Baptist, God spoke to his people by the law and the *prophets. The law and the *prophets mean the whole of the *Old Testament. But from that time, God has spoken by Jesus who is his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus *preached about the *kingdom of God. The good news is that, by belief and trust in Christ, people can enter the *kingdom. The *kingdom is the rule of God in the lives of those people who believe.

Crowds of people were eager to hear Jesus. They tried to get into the *kingdom by various means. The *Pharisees tried to stop them because the *Pharisees opposed the good news. They thought that Jesus *preached against the law and the *prophets.

Jesus told them that every detail of the law was permanent. The whole law was as permanent as the earth and heaven. What Jesus taught was in no way against the law.

Verses 18 God introduced marriage so that the man and the woman should become as one. God intended marriage to be a union for life.

The law allowed men to divorce their wives because of some causes (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). The causes are where the woman has not been loyal to the marriage (Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:8-9). The *Pharisees and their traditions made it much easier to divorce a wife. They had many small reasons that they accepted for divorce.

The man, who divorced his wife, should not marry again. If he did, he would be guilty of *adultery. If a man marries a woman after her divorce, he is also guilty of *adultery. The rich man and Lazarus – Luke 16:19-31 v19 ‘There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest and most expensive clothes. He lived in luxury every day. v20 Also there was a very poor man whose name was Lazarus. He had sore places all over his body. He lay at the gate of the rich man. v21 Lazarus desired to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and they wiped their tongues over his sore places.

v22 One day the poor man died. The *angels carried him to Abraham’s side. Also, the rich man died and people buried him. v23 In hell, where he suffered, the rich man looked up. He saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus at Abraham’s side. v24 So, he called out, “Father Abraham, pity me. Send Lazarus to put his finger in some water and to make my tongue cool with it. I am in great pain in this fire.”

v25 But Abraham replied, “Son, remember. When you were alive, you had everything good. But for Lazarus, everything was bad. Now he has comfort here, but you are suffering. v26 In addition to that, there is a great gap between us. Nobody can cross that gap to come to us. And nobody from here can cross that gap to come to you.”

v27 The rich man answered, “Then I ask you, father Abraham, to send Lazarus back to my father’s house. v28 I have 5 brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not come to this place of pain.”

v29 Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the *prophets. Let them listen to them.”

v30 But he said, “No, father Abraham. But if a dead person goes to them, then they would *repent.”

v31 Abraham said to him, “They do not listen to Moses and the *prophets. So, they would not believe even if a dead person comes back to life.” ’

Verses 19-26 Jesus told this story of a rich man and a poor man. The rich man lived in luxury. The poor man lay at the gate of the rich man. The rich man had more than enough. The poor man had nothing. He was starving and he had many sore places on his body.

The poor man’s name was Lazarus. Lazarus means ‘God has helped’. It was a common name. Probably Jesus used it in this story because of what it meant.

Both of these men died. The people buried the rich man probably in his own special grave. There would have been a great funeral for him. The story does not say that anyone buried Lazarus. If he did have a funeral, it would have been very poor. *Angels took Lazarus to be with Abraham. But the rich man went to hell.

By ‘hell’, Jesus meant the place of punishment. He described a place where the fire burned like the valley called Gehenna. Gehenna was where people burned the rubbish outside Jerusalem.

From that place of punishment, the rich man could see Abraham and Lazarus. They were a long way off. Lazarus lay close to Abraham. This could mean that they were eating a meal together. The rich man called out to Abraham. He called Abraham ‘father’. He supposed that as a *Jew he belonged to the family of Abraham. He asked Abraham to pity him. But he did not pity Lazarus when they were on earth. Then he asked Abraham to send Lazarus with a drop of water to cool his tongue.

Abraham would not do what the rich man had requested. He gave to him two reasons. The rich man had so much wealth when he was alive on earth. But he had been a proud and selfish man. He had not been a good manager of his wealth; he did not use his money responsibly. The second reason was that there was a gap between the two places. It was not possible for anyone to cross over that gap. As for Lazarus, he had a poor experience while he was alive on earth. Now he was happy with Abraham in the best place.

The rich man did not suffer because he was rich. Abraham too was a rich man. The difference was in their attitude to God and to other people.

Verses 27-31 The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his 5 brothers. But Abraham would not do it. All that they needed to warn them was in Moses and the *prophets. They should listen to and they should obey the words of the *Old Testament. Even if some dead person came to live again, they would not believe.

Jesus told this story to the people and especially to the *Pharisees. Many of the *Pharisees were showing the same attitudes as the rich man’s brothers in the story. They believed in life after death and in a future judgement. They thought that as the family of Abraham, they would be safe. They had the *Old Testament but they did not obey it. They loved money and they loved to receive honour from the people. They would not help the poor people. Even when Jesus came to life again after his death, many *Pharisees would not believe in him.

© 2013, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2013

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