Luke 16

Chapter 16 of the Gospel of Luke belongs to the teaching Jesus gave on his journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51 onward). The preceding chapter, Luke 15, contains three parables about recovering what was lost. Chapter 16 follows with two narratives centered on wealth.

Outline

• Verses 1–8: The Parable of the Unjust Steward. A steward who is about to lose his position because of reports that he has wasted his master's goods alters the bills of those who owe his master. He has them change a hundred measures of oil to fifty and a hundred measures of wheat to eighty. The master commends him for having acted wisely.
• Verses 9–13: Teaching on wealth. Jesus tells his hearers to make friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, says that whoever is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and declares that no one can serve both God and mammon.
• Verses 14–15: When the money-loving Pharisees deride him, Jesus rebukes them as those who justify themselves before men.
• Verses 16–18: Jesus states that the law and the prophets were until John and that not one tittle of the law will fail. He also declares that whoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery.
• Verses 19–26: The Rich Man and Lazarus. A rich man who was clothed in purple and fared sumptuously every day and a beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores, both die. Lazarus is carried to Abraham's bosom, while the rich man is in torment in Hades, and a great gulf is fixed between them.
• Verses 27–31: The rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to his five brothers. Abraham replies that if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.

Key Verses

• Luke 16:10 "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much": This verse distills the principle of faithfulness in handling what has been entrusted.
• Luke 16:13 "Ye cannot serve God and mammon": Wealth is portrayed as a master competing with God. The same saying appears in Matthew 6:24.
• Luke 16:31 "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead": The conclusion is that the testimony of Scripture takes precedence over miracles.

People and Places

• The steward: A man entrusted with managing his master's property. He is the figure behind the concept of stewardship.
• The Pharisees: The text describes them as "covetous" (literally, lovers of money).
• John: The John of verse 16 is John the Baptist.
• The rich man: He is not named in the text.
• Lazarus: The beggar who lay at the rich man's gate. He is a different person from Lazarus of Bethany in John 11.
• Abraham: He appears as the forefather of Israel who receives the dead Lazarus into his bosom.
• Moses and the prophets: In verses 29 and 31, this phrase refers to the Old Testament Scriptures as a whole.
• Hades: The place where the rich man suffers torment after death.

Points for Reflection

• The commendation in verse 8: Many interpreters agree that what is commended is not the steward's dishonesty but the wisdom with which he prepared for the future. Interpreters differ, however, on whether the "lord" of verse 8 is the master in the parable or Jesus himself. Some also hold that the amounts the steward reduced represented his own commission or interest.
• How to read the rich man and Lazarus: Some interpreters regard the account as an actual event, noting that, unlike other parables, it names a character; others read it as a parable. In discussions of heaven and hell, opinions also divide over whether the scene directly reveals the state of the dead or borrows Jewish conceptions of the time.
• Traditions not found in the text: In Western tradition the rich man is sometimes called "Dives" (Latin for "rich man"), but this name does not appear in the text.
• Verse 18 and divorce: Unlike Matthew 5:32, this verse contains no exception clause such as "saving for the cause of fornication." Denominations therefore give this verse differing weight in determining the extent to which divorce and remarriage are permitted.
• Verse 31 and the resurrection: Verse 31 is often read in connection with those who did not believe even after Jesus' resurrection.

In the Korean Church

Verse 10 is frequently cited in sermons at ordination and installation services and in sermons on the stewardship of church officers. Verses 19–31 are taught in Sunday schools as the story of "the rich man and the beggar Lazarus."