The Story of the Clever Manager

16 Jesus told his disciples another story. He said, “There was a rich man who had a manager. Some said that the manager was wasting what the rich man owned. ² So the rich man told him to come in. He asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Tell me exactly how you have handled what I own. You can’t be my manager any longer.’

³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig. And I’m too ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I’m going to do. I’ll do something so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called in each person who owed his master something. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶ “ ‘I owe 900 gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill. Sit down quickly and change it to 450 gallons.’

⁷ “Then he asked the second one, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“ ‘I owe 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill and change it to 800 bushels.’

⁸ “The manager had not been honest. But the master praised him for being clever. The people of this world are clever in dealing with those who are like themselves. They are more clever than God’s people. ⁹ I tell you, use the riches of this world to help others. In that way, you will make friends for yourselves. Then when your riches are gone, you will be welcomed into your eternal home in heaven.

¹⁰ “Suppose you can be trusted with something very little. Then you can also be trusted with something very large. But suppose you are not honest with something very little. Then you will also not be honest with something very large. ¹¹ Suppose you have not been worthy of trust in handling worldly wealth. Then who will trust you with true riches? ¹² Suppose you have not been worthy of trust in handling someone else’s property. Then who will give you property of your own?

¹³ “No one can serve two masters at the same time. Either you will hate one of them and love the other. Or you will be faithful to one and dislike the other. You can’t serve God and money at the same time.”