Luke 16

vs 1

As opposed to managing them with due diligence, we assume.

vs 2

He has no chance to save his job - he will give an account, and then lose his job regardless. Obviously the owner did not just here some scattered remarks, he must have heard some good evidence for him to make such a bold move.

vs 3

I am also not strong enough to dig, and I wouldn't want to have to go out and beg. But you have to make a living somehow. And with an "inefficient manager" stamp on your CV, you might have to wait a while till you get another job. There's no social security, and no unemployment benefit, so until then, he's going to starve. He's probably got a family to feed too.

vs 4

So he hatches onto a plan. That plan relies on having good relations with people so that, if he were to suddenly find himself out of work, they would show him hospitality and friendship.

vs 5

He finds the people that, in his position, he can help out - those people who owe his master.

vs 6-7

For the first debtor, he drops his debt by 50%, and the second he drops by 20%. This is obviously going to make those who are indebted to the manager's master very happy, and he is hoping that their sudden removal of 50% of a debt will persuade them to be friendly towards him.

vs 8-9

The word used, Phronimos, is also translated as 'prudent' and 'wise'. So Jesus is saying two things in this verse - one, that the rich man commends his manager because of his wisdom in fortifying his own position. Secondly, Jesus says that kingdom people generally aren't quite so wise and prudent as wordly people.

I think the meaning here is that the manager in the example used worldly wisdom to feather his own nest and benefit his position on earth. Meanwhile, kingdom people tend to be far less prudent in securing for themselves a beneficial position in eternity. Now of course we know that you can't buy your way into heaven. That's not the suggestion here. To make that suggestion would be to suggest that the manager was buying a place into his master's debtor's houses. He wasn't. He was using his wealth to improve relationships, and it was the improved relationships that secured his position. We in the same way shouldn't try to buy a comfy bed in heaven - it doesn't work that way. Instead, we should be using our wealth to influence people down here, so that they will be more open to the ministry of God, and that will give us further security on our heavenly dwelling.

vs 10

So honest people are honest and dishonest people are dishonest, regardless of value or importance. This truth does not stand on its own - you have to read it with the next verse for it to make sense.