I can’t hide what I’ve done… Luke 16:3 (TPT)
Honor and Wealth – Small Things Series – Part 2
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
Just like us, for the Ancient Hebrews, honor and wealth were not small things. But arguably unlike us, the value went in that order: honor and then wealth. For the rich man, in the ‘Parable of the Dishonest Manager' (Luke 16:1-13), reputation was just as important, if not more, then his financial position. Wealth wasn’t something you only counted with coins and treasure; it was in the way others saw and thought of you, too.
It was fairly common in the time of Jesus for rich people to have a manager or agent look after their business. And it wasn’t so much a 2IC thing as it was that the manager or agent acted on the Master's behalf. They ran the business, all of it, for the financially richer man. When the manager made business deals and decisions; how they treated people and went about their work in towns and homes and marketplaces; they acted on behalf of the ‘Master,' as if they were the master.
What the manager did and how they did it directly impacted the bank levels of the Master's greater wealth: honor.
When the rich man in our parable heard that his manager had been “wasting money,” he wasn’t as concerned with the loss of income as he was with the loss of honor. We don’t know how the Manager wasted money. The word used here is the same word used in the ‘Parable of the Lost Son' when Jesus said that “he wasted all his money on wild living.” (Luke 15. And note that it's also a Lukan – recorded by Luke – parable and that what the father stood to lose was his honor and position as a father. It was never about his wealth.)
Did the manager use company funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle? Did he misappropriate finances so he could add extra to his own pockets? Did he make poor business deals that resulted in a loss for the Master? We don’t know. Whatever it was, the rich man wanted him gone to minimize the shame brought on him and his name.
“What’s this I hear about you? You’re fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.” Said the rich man to the soon to be unemployed manager.
What would you do in this situation?
Me? I would have grovelled. Begged. Or ran; arrogantly stormed off, made excuses, taken no responsibility, protested or passed blame. I may have even quit then and there, refusing to do those last few tasks for my employer.
But not the manager:
“My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg…” (Luke 16:3 NIV.)
The Passion Translation says: “Now what am I going to do? I’m finished here. I can’t hide what I’ve done, and I’m too proud to beg to get my job back…”
In the cultural context of this verse, the manager's words include an ancient Aramaic figure of speech: “I can’t dig,” which means: I can’t bury or hide it. (1.)
He had done something shameful, and everyone knew it, there was no covering it up, and he was about to be fired.
Shame in all the corners of his life.
Anne Lamott wrote:
“I decided that the most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed.” (2.)
I can’t help but wonder if what the dishonest manager did next came from that same small revolutionary, subversive place inside himself that was unwilling to let shame have the last word.
Go to Part 3 – Personal Responsibility »
Written by Lizzy Milani
1. Luke and Acts: To the Lovers of God, the Passion Translation.
2. Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year. Anne Lamott.
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