Real Urgency

Luke 16:1-18
Note: Today’s reading makes us think! To help me work through my own confusion, I read through the notes in my study Bible and 3 commentaries. Each of the commentaries in some way describes this parable as “difficult to interpret.” I found William Barclay’s, The Daily Bible Series: the Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition (1975), to be quite helpful.

Today we begin in the same setting as yesterday; Jesus is with a group of his disciples, and the Pharisees are listening in. Yesterday, we heard three stories about God’s urgent and passionate pursuit of the lost. As we begin today, it seems Jesus is giving us a picture of worldly urgency.

It is clearly a priority of God’s to reach the lost, and Scripture reminds us in several places that He desires no one to perish. But our priorities are often selfish. We get distracted and pursue worldly security. In business, finances and relationships, we can be ingenious and instinctive in finding creative solutions to get what we want, to protect ourselves, to create a sense of security. But when it comes to the Kingdom of God - reaching the lost, investing in discipleship, or loving others - we are often hesitant, quick to doubt, and slow to obey.

I believe this passage is a scathing criticism of the Pharisee in each of us. In verse 14, we hear the Pharisees scoff at Jesus, and in verse 15, we hear Jesus say to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts.” It’s interesting that this group, who would not betray the law to heal or rescue someone on the Sabbath, would soon begin scheming like this shrewd manager and justify breaking many laws for the sake of protecting their power and their way of life, as they hire someone to betray Jesus, throw together an illegal trial in the middle of the night to convict him, misrepresent his “crimes” in order to convince the Romans to execute him, and pay soldiers to lie about someone stealing Jesus’ body.

Let us not be so artful in scheming to protect ourselves, secure worldly interests, or justify our actions. Let us not defend ourselves from the piercing conviction of God’s law, but allow it to break us again and again, that we might experience more fully the grace and love of Jesus and our great heavenly Father, who pursues us even while we are a long distance off!