Luk 16:16 “The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the excellent message of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it.
Luk 16:17 But it is easier for the sky and the land to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter in the law to become void.
Luk 16:18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
conflicting commitment
This little section of chapter 16 fits in with Luke’s overall purpose of the chapter: showing that the Pharisees were missing the gospel. They had made a show of marrying by their outward acceptance of the law, then they divorced from that marriage and married another — money, instead. The law advocates total commitment to God, and the Pharisees would be judged by it.
LORD, purge us of our conflicting commitments — keep us faithful to you.
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Luk 16:14 The Pharisees (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed him.
Luk 16:15 But Jesus said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts. Because what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight.
high society low lifes
Jesus had been teaching about embracing God as a priority instead of money. He had taught that this life was a test, and that passing the test meant using your worldly wealth to gain something more permanent. To the Pharisees, this was ridiculous. They were the success stories of their generation — high society low lifes. They were highly prized among men, but utterly detestable in God’s sight. Many people today live for their society’s approval, and give no thought to God’s approval. Some of us are trying to serve God first. You are invited to join us.
LORD, give us the courage to be ridiculous in the world’s sight, and the wisdom to seek your will in our lives.
Luk 16:10 “The one who proves faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
Luk 16:11 If then you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches?
Luk 16:12 And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own?
the now test
We are being challenged to stop seeing money and possessions as merely a means to pursue happiness. Wealth and things are not true riches, those can come later. But if we are blessed with wealth and possessions, they might just be given us now for a test. We are being tested by wealth to see if we will be faithful with it. We cannot keep it; it is someone else’s. But if we manage it properly, investing it in those the Father wants to love, then the true riches will come later.
LORD, show us how to wisely invest all that you give us today, so that we are proved faithful stewards of it.
Luk 16:1 He also said to the disciples, “There was some rich man who had a household manager, and was informed of accusations that his manager was squandering his assets.
Luk 16:2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in the ledger of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’
Luk 16:3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my employer is taking my position away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m too ashamed to beg.
Luk 16:4 I know what to do so that when I am put out of management, other people will welcome me into their homes.’
Luk 16:5 So he contacted his employer’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my employer?’
Luk 16:6 The man replied, ‘A hundred measures of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.’
Luk 16:7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man replied, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ The manager said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
Luk 16:8 The employer commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. Because the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the people of light.
Luk 16:9 And I am telling you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the permanent households.
thinking about later
This parable is one of a number that use money management as a metaphor for spiritual vitality. The important thing to keep in mind for the dishonest manager is that he thought about his current assets (his management of the rich man’s household account) and he applied those assets to his future situation as being soon unemployed. The rich man in the later parable did the opposite. He never thought about his future state. In fact, he thought it would remain the same after his death. If the rich man of Luke 16:19-31 had taken the dishonest manager’s wisdom to account, he would have taken care of Lazarus, and thus gained a friend in “Hades.” Neither of these are true stories, but as parables both remind us of the wisdom of thinking about later instead of always focusing on today. Today can be deceiving.
LORD, give us the wisdom to invest our todays in what we will need for tomorrow.
Luk 15:25 “Now his older son was in the field. As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
Luk 15:26 So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening.
Luk 15:27 The slave replied, ‘Your brother has returned, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he got his son back safe and sound.’
Luk 15:28 But the older son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and appealed to him,
Luk 15:29 but he answered his father, ‘Look! All these many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could party with my friends!
Luk 15:30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him!’
Luk 15:31 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours.
Luk 15:32 It was necessary to have a party and be glad, because your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.'”
where the line is drawn
The older son could only see his brother’s mistakes. He failed to appreciate the miracle of restoration that was taking place, and he even blamed the father for lavishly showing love and grace. He considered himself entitled but his brother reprobate.
This world is made up of the haves and the have-nots. But the line is drawn at the border of the father’s house.
LORD, thank you for loving the lost back to yourself.
Luk 15:17 But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger!
Luk 15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against the sky and against you.
Luk 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”‘
Luk 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him.
Luk 15:21 Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against the sky and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
Luk 15:22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Hurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet!
Luk 15:23 Bring the fattened calf and slaughter it! Let us eat and celebrate,
Luk 15:24 because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again — he was lost and is found!’ So they began to party.
inadequate repentance
The prodigal’s plans to earn back the money he squandered were hopelessly inadequate. Some people can only see the repentance of the prodigal as the moral of the story. But if you look carefully, you will see that the prodigal does not even have a chance to recount his plans of restoration. Instead, the father showers him with grace and love immediately.
So it is with us. If you think you have to get yourself right with God before you can return to him, you never will. Turn back to your heavenly Father today. Your plans for repentance are inadequate, but his love is not.
LORD, we cannot undo our sin, but we trust your grace, Restore us to you.
Luk 15:11 Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons.
Luk 15:12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them.
Luk 15:13 After a few days, the younger son collected all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle.
Luk 15:14 Then after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need.
Luk 15:15 So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
Luk 15:16 He was yearning to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
wasted wealth
Comparing the parables of the lost sheep and coin with this parable, one can see a number of similarities. The one that sticks out the most to me is that all three lost things were of great value to the one who lost them. But the point is not that the prodigal lost all his wealth by wild living. The point is that the father lost his son, and wanted him back. The valuable treasure that the father wanted back was not the property that the son squandered. It was the son himself. We waste our intrinsic wealth when we spend life on ourselves, rather than investing life in the father’s service.
LORD, thank you for loving us no matter how lost we are, how distant from you. Draw us back.
Luk 15:8 “Or which woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it?
Luk 15:9 Then when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin that I had lost.’
Luk 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
lost beauty
The parables of the lost sheep and lost coin say the same thing, but there is a slightly different emphasis. While the shepherd and the woman both rejoiced because they had found their lost property, the woman also rejoiced because her jewelry could be repaired. Peasant villagers wore necklaces made from coins, and if a coin were to be lost, it would mar the beauty of the necklace. Because of this, “the loss is more than the value of the single coin” (Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet and Peasant; And, through Peasant Eyes: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1983), 157).
God, our creator, has made a world in which each one of us contributes to its splendour and beauty. He wants to save us all, because to lose a single soul would be to lose one of his valuable and wonderful works of art.
LORD, help us to restore the beauty to your fallen creation by seeking to save those around us who are lost.
Luk 15:1 But all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to listen to him.
Luk 15:2 And the Pharisees and the experts in the law were whining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luk 15:3 That was when Jesus told them this parable:
Luk 15:4 “Which man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it?
Luk 15:5 Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, jubilant.
Luk 15:6 Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, telling them, ‘Party with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’
Luk 15:7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in the sky over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
the shepherd’s priority
The religious elite could not understand Jesus insisting on spending his quality time with the marginal crowd. Jesus explained that he was approaching ministry like a shepherd. A shepherd feels most responsible for the sheep with the most needs. The shepherd feels the most joy when he has restored the lost sheep.
The CEO spends the most time with his strong team members. The shepherd spends the most time with the needy sheep.
LORD, forgive us for approaching ministry like CEOs and not like shepherds.
Luk 14:31 Or what king, going out to face off with another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to contend with the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32 If not, he will send an ambassador while the other is still a long way off and request terms of peace.
Luk 14:33 In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own things.
Luk 14:34 “Salt, then, is good, but if the salt becomes tasteless, how can it be salted?
Luk 14:35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is to be thrown away. The one who has ears to listen should listen!”
handling life
Jesus is speaking directly to the people in the crowd who carried a quiet confidence about their eternal destiny—people who believed they could “handle this” on their own. They assumed that their moral record, their religious background, or their general decency would be enough when the kingdom finally arrived. But Jesus dismantles that illusion with two sharp images: a king with too few troops and salt that has lost its flavor. In both cases, the message is the same: you do not have what it takes to win this battle on your own.
Those who rely on their own strength, goodness, or effort are like a king marching into a war he cannot possibly win. They are like tasteless salt—present, but powerless. Jesus is not trying to shame them; he is trying to save them. He is exposing the danger of self‑reliance so they will turn to the only One who can actually deliver them.
Renouncing all our things—our self‑confidence, our imagined sufficiency, our illusion of control—is not something reserved for spiritual heroes, saints, or martyrs. It is the basic posture of every disciple. The gospel is not a ladder for the strong; it is a lifeline for the helpless. There is only one way into the kingdom, and that is through faith in Jesus alone. He went to the cross alone. He paid the full price alone. He finished the work alone. Anyone still trying to “handle life” without him is standing outside the camp, carrying burdens they were never meant to carry and fighting battles they cannot win.
Jesus’ words are not meant to crush us but to free us. When we stop trying to manage our own salvation, we finally discover the rest he offers. When we stop pretending we have enough troops, we finally run to the King who cannot be defeated. When we admit our salt has no flavor, he fills us with his Spirit and makes us useful again. The gospel is not a call to try harder; it is a call to surrender sooner.
And surrender is not loss. It is life.
LORD, forgive us for trying to handle life. Teach us to trust in you alone.
Devotions 