And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon - Jesus

Hi All,

This evening we met to discuss Luke 16, particularly versus 1 through 13. This is a continuation of our "The Tough Sayings of Jesus bible study". In Luke 16 Jesus tells the story of a manager who "mis-manages" his master's estate. The master of the estate is ready to fire the manager, but retains him when he discovers that the manager has cancelled part of the debt of people who owe the master money. The master in this story praises the manager for acting so shrewdly.

Jesus then says, "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails, they may recieve and welcome you into everlasting habitations" (Amplified bible, Luke 16:9)

Make friends with unrighteous mamman?! We spent the rest of the bible study exploring what Jesus could have possibly meant by this.

Versus 1 to 13 are not easy passages to understand, and there is certainly more than one way they can be understood. We talked and and prayed over several ideas. In one sense, it seems as though Jesus is actually encouraging us to behave like the dishonest manager.

We discussed in what sense Jesus would want us to be shrewd like the manager was. Doing "whatever it takes" to get the job done in service of Christ, ministering to others and being faithful stewards of the gifts God has given to us were all ideas that came to mind by the members of the group in light of what was read. The passage talks about being faithful with unrighteous mammon so as to be entrusted with the true riches.

There is much food for thought (and spirit) here and we are by no means done with these passages. We will continue discussion and thoughtful prayer and discussion of Luke 16 next bible study.

Everyone have a great week and a fun memorial day weekend

- Chris