V 1, 2.
He said to his disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a steward, and he received complaints that this man was squandering the property. So he sent for him and said, "What is this that I hear?  Produce your accounts, for you cannot be manager here any longer."
NLT. Jesus told this story to his disciples: "A rich man hired a manager to handle his affairs, but soon a rumour went out that the manager was thoroughly dishonest. So his employer called him in and said, "What's this I hear about your stealing from me?  Get your report in order, because you are going to be dismissed.

The rich employer seems to be doing the right thing when he calls his manager to account.  Jesus' listeners would have been nodding their heads in approval at this point.

It appears thst the manager may have been doing one of several things - all of which were at least 'border-line' if not downright dishonest in his business practices.  He may have been keeping back part of the profits for himself.  He may have been over-charging for the goods he sold on his employer's behalf, either in lieu of charging interest on giving credit (charging interest  was illegal in that society).  He may have been mis-managing the affairs of the property in some other way that Jesus didn't feel he needed to specify (NIV: wasting his possessions; The Message: taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses).  Whatever he was doing, someone had complained that he was dishonest in a way that made him liable to lose his job.

Tha fact that someone complained about him tells me that he was not popular with the customers.  He had done nothing to make friends with or gain the respect of the people he dealt with.  He was in a position of some power - maybe deciding on the terms for people who had no choice in asking for credit - or maybe acting arrogantly towards them in his business dealings. Perhaps he had been misusing that power as well as the employers' possessions.

Or, perhaps what he was doing was not much different from what other business people were doing and the employer was aware of it, but in this case a complaint had been made, so the employer had to investigate.

V 3, 4
The steward said to himself, "What am I to do now that my employer is dismissing me?  I am not strong enough to dig, and too proud to beg. I know what I must do, to make sure that, when I have to leave, there will be people to give me house and home."

The manager was now in a predicament.  He knew very well that when he produced his accounts, whatt he had been doing would become immediately obvious and he would be out on his ear!  What was he going to do for a living?  He had no other skills and his pride wouldn't let him become a beggar.  No welfare services to provide unemployment relief in those days!  He knew very well that none of the people he'd been dealing with would rush to his aid.

But he had a 'creative mind' and a good idea came to him...........

Jesus' listeners would be leaning forward, iintrigued to know what the 'hero' of the story would do.  What would they have done in that situation?  What would we do?

V 5 - 7.
He summoned his master's debtors one by one.  To the first he said, "How much do you owe my master? He replied, "A thousand gallons of olive oil."  He said, "Here is your account.  Sit down and make it five hundred; and be quick about it."
Then he said to another, "And you, how much do you owe?"  He said, "A thousand bushels of wheat", and was told, "Take your account and make it eight hundred."

I'm not sure what he was actually doing here.  He may have been simply bringing the price back to the correct level - taking off the illegal 'interest' or his own 'cut', or he may have been reducing the profit that the business would earn from those transactions.  Whatever he was doing, Jesus didn't think the details were important enough to elaborate - or perhaps the practice was common enough that his listeners would immediately understand exactly what was being done.  In any case, the manager was making sure that the customers owed him a favour which he could 'call in' after he'd been sacked.

V 8.
And the master applauded the dishonest steward for acting so astutely. For the worldly are more astute than the other-worldly in dealing with their own kind.
NLT.  The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd.  And it is true that the citizens of this world are more shrewd than the godly are.

When the employer found out he was not angry as we might expect.  What a surprise!  Instead, he commended the shrewd manager for his plan.  The employer wasn't commending the manager for his dishonesty, but for the creative way he dealt with his problem.  He admired the manager's astuteness.  It may be that the employer wasn't himself always strictly above board in his own business dealings, so he didn't really expect his manager to be either.  What he expected was that his manager wouldn't get caught at ti!  He expected his manager to be able to keep the customers on side in whatever way he could think of.  And that is what the manager had done.  The employer - a worldly person (NIV person of this world) - fully understood and appreciated another 'worldly' man, whereas those who like to think they are more godly or honest are more likely to be critical.

I wonder if Jesus wasn't talking about the godly or other-worldly with his tongue in cheek - as he so often seemed to do.  Who of any of us is completely above reproach in everything we do?  Very few are totally and completely honest.  We all bend the rules a bit at times.  But we conveniently forget that when we're judging other people who are caught bending the rules.  Was Jesus saying something similar to his disciples as he did to those who dragged to him the woman caught in the act of adultery: 'Let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!' (NLT. John 8: 3 - 11)?

In this way, the employer was a bit more honest than we often are.

V 9.
So I say to you, use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves, so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal home.
NLT.  I tell you, use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends.  In this way yur generosity stores up a reward for you in heaven.'

Jesus' advice: use our material resources unselfishly in this world and that will earn us a reward in heaven.  Did he mean that we can earn our heavenly rewards?  I don't think that is what he meant.  Jesus knows well how humans function!  When we share unselfishly, we become less self-centred.  We begin to put the welfare of others before our own.  We begin to love others (our neighbour) as much as we love ourselves. (also see Matthew 22: 39)  We begin to change inot the kind of people God wants us to be - the kind of people he can build a relationship with.

In Matthew 6: 1 - 4, Jesus tells us not to make a big show of doing good, but to help people in secret. 'Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.' (NLT)

V 10 - 12
'The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted also in great; and the man who is dishonest in little things is dishonest also in great things. If, then, you have not proved trustworthy with the wealth of this world, who will trust you with the wealth that is real? And if you have proved untrustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

This seems like common sense.  Is it about stewardship?  Is Jesus telling us that we must prove that we can handle the small responsibilities of life before God will trust us with big jobs for him?

Getting back to the employer who understood that he also may not have been completely honest and appreciated the astuteness of his manager, rather than condemning him for what was probably a comon type of dishonesty....God wants us to learn to be completely honest and straighforward with him.  He wants us to recognise our failures and come to him for forgiveness before he is able to use us for greater things in his kingdom.

V 13.
No servant can be the slave of two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and think nothing of the second.  You cannot serve God and Money.'

We cannot serve God properly if we are focussed selfishly on our material possessions or blind to our own failings.