Luke 16:1-13
How astonishing is this master who approves his dishonest servant! Just as astonishing is the Lord’s conclusion: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness" (v. 9). But this last word provides us with the key to this parable. Nothing down here belongs to man. The riches he claims to own all belong in reality to God; they are therefore unrighteous riches. Put on the earth to administer it for God, man has behaved like a thief. What God put in man’s hands for His service, man has used for his own profit, to satisfy his greed. Yet he can still repent and use for others, and with a view to the future, the property of the divine Owner still entrusted to his care.
The steward of Luke 12:42 was faithful and wise; this one is unfaithful, yet he also acts wisely and his master acknowledges this quality. If the people of this world show such foresight, should not we who are "children of the light" show even more care over the true riches? (v. 11; Luke 12:33).
V. 13 reminds us that we do not have two hearts: one for Christ, the other for mammon and the things of this world. Whom do we want to love and serve? (1 Kings 18:21).