Luke 16 Bible study

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The Gospel of Luke Chapter 16:1-31 Stewardship 16:1-2 Jesus also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who was informed of accusations that his manager was wasting his assets. So he called the manager in and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Turn in the account of your administration, because you can no longer be my manager.'

Chapter 16 begins with another parable, this time addressed to his disciples. A rich man had appointed a steward to manage his estate, but later this steward was accused of being a bad manager, squandering his master’s wealth—we are not given details of the charge; it may have been a case of ill-judged investments or over-priced buying rather than of theft. As a result, the rich man asked for a full account of his manager’s dealings and gave him notice of dismissal.

16:3 Then the manager said to himself, 'What should I do, since my master is taking my position away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm too ashamed to beg.

The steward was now in a difficult position. Without his current job, and without a good reference, he would have no means of support. He had never done any physical work and so was not strong enough to take on a laboring job. Since there was no social security system, he would then be forced to beg, something which his self-esteem could not countenance.

16:4-7 I know what to do so that when I am put out of management, people will welcome me into their homes.' So he contacted his master's debtors one by one. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' The man replied, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' The manager said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' The second man replied, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' The manager said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

Instead, he came up with a dishonest plan to ingratiate himself with local business people, so that he might find another position when dismissed. So, contacting his master’s debtors, he wrote off a significant portion of their debt. The first one owed seven and half gallons of oil, and the steward halved his bill. Another who owed a hundred bushels of wheat was charged only for eighty bushels.

16:8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the people of light.

Instead of being angry with the unjust steward for being dishonest, his employer was actually impressed by his shrewd business sense. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he kept his job, nor that his boss approved of him writing down his debtors in this way. Jesus point is that we must also be shrewd in dealing with money. However, Jesus has a very different motive in mind. Jesus acknowledges that unbelievers are more shrewd in their dealings with others (mainly because they have less experience of love and trust), but by his command he wants his followers to turn shrewdness on its head.

16:9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

The unjust steward dealt wisely with others for his own benefit—Jesus is here asking us to be shrewd with others for their eternal benefit. Our attitude to worldly wealth must be to see it as a means to an end – the gift of God enabling us to serve his people in need and to evangelize the lost in Jesus’ name. These are the two sides of mission – to practically help the church of God and to invest our time and money in outreach and discipleship. There can be no greater investment, for although we may see no financial return in this life, we will be surrounded in heaven by the result of our labors. The New Living Testament has "Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. By doing so when you no longer have a need for money you will be received and welcomed by those that you have helped in this life into the heavenly home.” Of course, God intends for us to provide first for ourselves and our families (1 Tim. 5:8). He intends that our first priority in mission should be our own local church (Neh. 10:35-37), just as God warned the people again and again about this lack in their service (Mal. 3:8-10; Neh. 13:10). But he also promises that we shall have sufficient for all our needs and enough left over to help the poor saints (2 Cor. 9:8) and to share with others in need (1 Tim. 6:18; Heb. 13:16).

16:10 The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

You see, the principle is clear, those who are faithful in the small things that God entrusts them with can be relied on to be faithful in the greater things he commits to them. The opposite is also true, for whoever is dishonest in small ways will be prepared to act dishonestly in a greater way. The ‘little things’ Jesus is talking about here is our attitude and use of money. If our pockets cannot be sanctified then there is very little hope of any other part of our lives being consecrated to God’s service.

16:11-12 If then you haven't been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches? And if you haven't been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you your own?

If the ‘little things’ involve the things of this world, the ‘great things’ or ‘true wealth’ represents God’s spiritual blessings. If you have been untrustworthy in worldly matters, is God going to trust you with the eternal riches? If you have been unfaithful in another person's property, will God entrust his riches to you?

16:13 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.

No servant can commit himself to serving two masters completely. It’s just a fact of life that if you have two jobs, you won’t be able to give your best to either of them. One or the other master will suffer loss when you give more devotion to one activity than the other. In the same way, if we dedicate ourselves to gaining worldly wealth then we are taking away our attention and service from God. That is why Jesus says we cannot at the same time serve both God and riches. We must consider ourselves to be God’s stewards, putting our energy into his interests.

The Law and Prophets Fulfilled 16:14 The Pharisees (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed him.

The Pharisees who had been listening to Jesus’ parable began scorned his teaching because they were lovers of money. (This verse serves as a clarification that Jesus has been teaching against the love of money).

16:15 But Jesus said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in men's eyes, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God's sight.

The Pharisees professed themselves to be just and upright before men, but God saw the true condition of their hearts. Financial security is prized by people, and those who are well off are admired and envied—yet these things which seem so important in the world’s eyes are of little value before God. The riches of true heart righteousness and spirituality are beyond worth.

16:16 "The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it.

The Pharisees (as Paul did) made a great boast in their observance of the ritual law (Phil)—although in actual fact they had added to and modified this law considerably. Nevertheless, Jesus insists that this law was only in force until John the Baptist announced his coming. With the arrival of Jesus Messiah, the Kingdom of God is at hand (Matt. 3:1-3). Jesus preached this kingdom, exhorting everyone to strive eagerly to enter into it (strive ye, we exhort all men, we beseech you be reconciled).

16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter in the law to become void.

The Law is no longer the basis by which Man has relationship with God—for now Christ has come in fulfilment of the Law, so that our relationship with God is mediated by him directly (One mediator) (Matt. 5:17). Even so, whilst the ceremonial law is no longer in force, and the Law is no longer to be regarded as the basis of our covenant relationship with God, Jesus is careful to explain that not one aspect of the moral law has been annulled. In this sense, not one word of it will pass away although the heavens and the earth will (Matt. 24:35).

16:18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

For example, the law of adultery still stands, as do the other commandments. The example Jesus chose is a pertinent one, for although the Pharisees boasted about the Law, yet they had lessened the law on divorce. They had said that whoever wanted to divorce his wife could do so, but Jesus here refutes that view, insisting that whoever divorces and marries again commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus 16:19-21 There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores. Who longed to eat what fell from the rich man's table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores.

If this account meant to be a parable it is unusual, for it is the only parable in which Jesus names and gives personal family details about someone. For those of us who accept that Jesus knew and understood himself to be the incarnate God, it does not seem impossible that what Jesus is recounting here may have been actual events known to him in detail.

Jesus first draws a comparison between these two men while they were alive. The first man was rich man and wanted for nothing—eating more than enough of the best food, wearing the finest clothes and living in an expensive home. The second man was a poor beggar whom Jesus names—Lazarus.

Being covered with sores he would probably have been unable to walk properly. He had come to the gate of the rich man’s home hoping that—from their surplus—the rich who went in and out of that gate each day might make him some gift to relieve his poverty, hunger and sickness. Jesus tells us that in fact it was only what was in the dust bin—the scraps that fell from the table, which was usually eaten by the dogs—that Lazarus hoped for. That no one gave him anything is made clear by Jesus’ phrase ‘he longed to eat’ in other words, he was not given them.

It appears that no one in this rich man’s house gave Lazarus anything; it is not that they did not notice him--it is clear that the rich man knew him by name (v. )—it is rather that they were too hardhearted to help him. The irony of Jesus statement that even the dogs came and licked his sores is that the dogs1 showed more compassion than the people of the rich man’s household.

16:22 Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

In the second part of the parable, Jesus contrasts the state of the two men after death. Rich men and poor men alike will die. The rich man probably had an elaborate funeral, but this is of so little importance that Jesus neglects to mention it—clearly nothing which happened in that service was of any use to his immortal soul, and the tone of the parables intimate that nothing done after death could alter the state of the deceased—that had been decided in life. Lazarus' body was most probably thrown into the Kidron Valley, which was the common cemetery for the poor. But as was the case for the rich man, what happened to his body after death was of no consequence to the condition of his soul, which was carried by the angels into Paradise.

1

Note, I do not think this is intended as a reference to the Gentiles. Luke has (perhaps deliberately) omitted the material from Mark’s Bethsaida section where Gentles are referred to as ‘dogs’, and this is not a theme which develops anywhere else in Luke-Acts.

16:23-26 And in hell, as he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side. So he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this fire.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.'

The rich man's soul, on the other hand, went to hell. Hades, was the place of the dead. Greek legend held that it consisted of two sections separated by a great gulf – the one was a place of paradise and the other a place of punishment and torment. This view is clearly upheld by Jesus, with certain changes. Jesus leaves us in no doubt as two which side of the gulf these two men were on. The rich man was in agony and torment whilst Lazarus enjoyed peace and comfort in Abraham’s bosom—a reference to the fact that Abraham was seen as the first Jew who hoped for an eternal place of rest (Heb. 11:10).

There are several sobering factors about Jesus’ description of hell. Firstly, the rich man, although dead, and his body buried, was 100% conscious after death. He was aware of what was happening to him; he was in severe distress which he describes as like being perpetually burned in a fire (although since he is not in his body this cannot be a reference to physical pain in the way we understand it); he could see and recognize Lazarus; and remember his relative’s details. This is of interest since the Jewish hope was of a resurrection at the last day, but clearly what Jesus is describing here is not resurrection. Sicne Jesus certainly did believe in the resurrection, we understand that what he is saying here is what happens to departed spirits between the time of death and resurrection—no one is asleep in the ground, but very much conscious in their temporarily dis-embodied state. It is the New Testament which tells us what happens after resurrection. As the parable intimates, those who are damned will remain damned and those who are saved will remain saved (Rev. 20:11-15).

As the rich man cried out to Abraham for mercy, Jesus clearly shows that there was none available, and no hope for relief from his torment and his doom was permanent —as is shown by the gulf between those in hell and those in paradise being eternally and irreparably fixed. Abraham's reply was to remind the rich man of the good time that he had in life—an indication that longing and regret will be part of the suffering in hell. The fact that Lazarus, to whom he had failed to show mercy, was now being comforted while he was tormented may be a reference to the justice of the rich man’s sentence.

16:27-28 So the rich man said, 'Then I beg you, father — send Lazarus to my father's house (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don't come into this place of torment.'

Realizing that nothing could be done to relieve his own suffering, the rich man begs Abraham to send someone to his father's house to warn his five brothers of what will be their eternal destiny if they do not repent and believe.

16:29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.

Abraham tells him that they already have the Law and the Prophets to warn them, and they should take heed to these; for Luke, these scriptures reveal the way of salvation through Jesus Christ (Luke 24:44-47) .

16:30 Then the rich man said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

Knowing his brothers only too well, the man knew that they would not heed the scripture, and so asks that someone from the dead be sent to them as a sign so that they might repent and be saved.

16:31 He replied to him, 'If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " Abraham replied that if they refuse to hear God speaking through the Law and the Prophets, then they will not be convinced even if someone was raised from the dead (the message of the gospel, that Christ is risen).

This is the most vivid picture that the Lord Jesus Christ gave of what happens after we die, and reveals that our eternal destiny depends on whether we will repent and believe in him as the scriptures have said. If we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, that He died on the cross for our sins, and that he has opened the door of heaven for us, then we will be saved from the rich man’s fate. To reject Christ means that we will go to hell, and it will be too late to do anything about it after we are dead.

Having gone through to the end of the parable, it is well to return to its beginning, where there rich man failed to show mercy to the poor man. For although no one is saved by good works (Tit. 3:5), the Bible is clear that genuine repentance will result in good works of kindness and compassion. We are not saved by good works but in order that we may do good works. © Derek Williams & Mathew Bartlett 2015 Bible Studies Online UK www.biblestudiesonline.org.uk You may copy, print or distribute our studies freely in any form, just so long as you make no charges. Sign up today for our FREE monthly Bible study magazine “Living Word” Scriptures taken from the NET Bible www.bible.org