Bargain Hunters

It’s common in India for vendors to hike the prices of items, knowing that bargain hunters will haggle to bring the price down. Once, when we asked for a discount, the gentleman said, “I can double the price of this item and give it to you for half the price, but I’ve not done that.” Perhaps he was honest – we didn’t know.

One parable Jesus told his disciples greatly troubles most theologians—the parable of a dishonest oikonomos who acted unrighteousnessly when caught in his deception (Luke 16:1–9). A oiko-nomos was a combination of oikos, “a house,” and nomos, “law,” meaning this servant managed the entire household affairs like Joseph at Potiphar’s house. He was second in command in his master’s house.

This story troubles theologians because this oikonomos was clearly a bad guy, and the master and Jesus seemed to promote his actions. Thrice the hearers were told that the servant was bad: others accused him of squandering his master’s wealth (v. 1); the master wanted an account of his actions before he fired him, which the master considered unrighteous(v. 2 and 8); and he rewrote the accounts (v. 5–7). Clearly, he was a bad administer or oikonomos. Yet, when caught,

“The master praised the oikonomos of unrighteousness because he acted wisely.” (16:8).

Since it troubles the theologians, they give various explanations, including what the oikonomos did was to “save the face” of the master by lowering people’s debts. They argue that the master was charging the borrowers more interest than he should have, and by the oikonomos lowering the debt, the borrowers would think the master was generous and would praise him. Because the servant saved the face of the master, the master praised him. But Jesus told the disciples that the master understood his reworking the books as an “unrighteous” act (v. 8).

Further, Jesus seemed to ask the disciples to follow the unrighteous servant’s example:

“The sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light for their own generation. I tell you: make yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteous so that when they are spent, you will receive yourselves into the eternal tents” (v. 8b–9).

What’s going on? Was Jesus saying that his disciples should use unrighteous means to gain friends?

The key to understanding this parable lies in two phrases: “oikonomos of unrighteousness” and “mammon of unrighteous.” Jesus placed these phrases in exact Greek forms, paralleling them, indicating they refer to the same person, the unrighteous servant. You see, Mamonas was a Syrian deity, the god of riches; the servant acted like he worshipped him. Jesus wanted his disciples to become friends with those who loved money so that when their wealth was spent, those money lovers would return to the disciples and take them into their “eternal tents,” most likely a metaphor for their hearts/lives. Just as the unrighteous servant knew how to make friends, the disciples needed to know how to befriend the unrighteous or money-greedy or Mamona-worshipping people. That’s how they would make their way into their hearts and lives.

Christians often get caught in a paradigm of speaking against the rich while wanting their support with ministries. The Lord told the disciples then and is telling us now, “Befriend people who love money; they, too, need friends, especially when their money runs out.”