Luke 16

1 – 2

Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man. He had a manager to take care of his business. Later, the rich man learned that his manager was cheating him. So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You cannot be my manager any longer!’

Have we wasted the spiritual things the Lord has given us? God has given you wisdom to see into His Word, what are you doing with it?

3 – 4

Later, the manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me! I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. I know! I will do something so that when I lose my job, people will welcome me into their homes.’

This man is cheating his boss and making friends with people so that later they will owe him a favor.

5 – 8

So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He said to the first man, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The man answered, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; sit down quickly and make the bill less. Write 400 gallons.’

Then the manager said to another man, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The man answered, ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; you can make it less.

Write 800 bushels.’ Later, the master praised the dishonest manager for being smart. Yes, worldly people are smarter with their own kind than spiritual people are.

Jesus is not saying that it is good to cheat your boss this way. He is showing us that the world knows how to find ways to use money to get what they need.

9. “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed in that home that continues forever.

We can use money to help people. This is why we were given the money in the first place. People who are not trusting the Lord think only of how they can get money. When we use it to bless them they are learning to trust God. They will ask us how to trust God the way we do. We can teach them that giving your life to Jesus brings blessing.

The blessing of the LORD makes a person have more than they need, and he adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

10. Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with large things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in large things too.

You will learn that you cannot be careful in how you walk and talk then you will not careful in other ways.

11. If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then you will not be trusted with the true riches.

Why would God give you more than you need so that you can keep it for yourself? He gives us extra so that we can have something to share with those who have nothing!

12. And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, then you will not be given things of your own.

We are careful about things that belong to someone else just like we want to them to be careful with our things. We can also be careful with people’s feelings as we want them to understand our feelings.

13. “No servant can serve two masters. He will hate one master and love the other. Or he will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

The Pharisees thought that having more than you need was a sign of God’s blessing. They were trying to serve God and money at the same time.

14 – 15

The Pharisees were listening to all these things. They made fun of Jesus because they all loved money. Jesus said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people. But God knows what is really in your hearts. The things that are important to people are worth nothing to God.

There is really nothing you can say to someone who is mocking you. Proverbs 9:7

16 – 17

God wanted the people to live by the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But ever since John came, the Gospel about the kingdom of God is being told. Now everyone is trying hard to get into the kingdom. Even the smallest part of a letter in the law cannot be changed. It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away.

People want to know what comes after this life. They are trying different religions to see if they have some good ideas. There is a cry in the human heart for the things of God but they cannot find what they are looking for without hearing the Words of God.

18. “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”

The Jewish leaders said you could divorce your wife for any reason. Jesus is reminding them that they are not really living by God’s Law.

19. Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes. He lived in luxury every day.

This man did not kill anyone or live in the worst sins but he did not care to think about others or about the Lord.

Hell was made for the devil not for people. People go there of there own choice. Matthew 25:41

20 – 31

There was also a very poor man named Lazarus, whose body was covered with sores. Lazarus was often placed at the rich man’s gate. He wanted to eat only the small pieces of food that fell from the rich man’s table. And the dogs would come and lick his sores! Later, Lazarus died.

The angels took Lazarus and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man died, too, and was buried. But he was sent to where the dead are and had much pain. The rich man saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his arms.

He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to me so that he can dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am suffering in this fire!’ But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life, but all the bad things happened to Lazarus. Now Lazarus is comforted here, and you are suffering.

Also, there is a big pit between you and us. No one can cross over to help you. And no one can leave there and come here.’ The rich man said, ‘Then please send Lazarus to my father’s house on earth! I have five brothers. Lazarus could warn my brothers so that they will not come to this place of pain.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to read; let them learn from them!’

The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! If someone came to them from the dead, they would believe and change their hearts and lives.’ But Abraham said to him, ‘No! If your brothers will not listen to Moses and the prophets, then they won’t listen to someone who comes back from death.’”

C.S. Lewis made up a story about what would happen if an evil person were allowed to leave hell and go into heaven. This person tried to make the people in heaven turn against God and finally they wanted to go back to hell because they could not find anything there that they wanted. The Pharisees knew that Lazarus had come back from the dead and wanted kill him. John 12:10