Today's Devotion

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy - Tuesday After Easter 5, May 12, 2026 - Luke 16:1-18

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Once again, our Lord has conflict with the Pharisees. He doesn’t back down from them. Jesus has been teaching about the kingdom in parables, and the Pharisees “ridiculed Him.” The reason they do not take our Lord’s teachings to heart, the reason they reject Him as the Messiah – even in spite of His miracles and fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures – is that they were “lovers of money.” These were the religious leaders, the experts in the Scriptures, and the virtuous people that everyone looked up to. But, as Jesus points out, it was all just a facade, all just a show put on by hypocrites. Our Lord tells them plainly without resorting to a parable: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

There is a trap that the Pharisees – and indeed all of us who live in this material world – easily fall into. Since we need material things to live, we are justified in working and earning the things we need. And it is wise to save rather than to spend. And there is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of one’s labor and making a good life for one’s family. But when those things become more important than the kingdom, that is when one becomes a “lover of money.” And rather than confess this as a sin, it is easier to simply “justify oneself.” And eventually, someone who has replaced God with gods of gold will “ridicule Him,” the Christ, the one who has come to call us to repent of our idolatries, the one who brings pardon and peace by means of His blood, the one who shrewdly receives us into the kingdom.

Jesus told the story of the dishonest manager. For in this fallen world, dishonesty is a virtue. Making friends in high places is more important than honor. Self-preservation, even if it hurts or cheats others – is the most important thing of all. And in the story, the owner of the business, even though he is being cheated, looks upon the dishonest manager with awe, “the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.” Jesus preaches against the Pharisees: “one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Jesus exhorts us to be shrewd in the kingdom, but not dishonest. And it is Jesus, our Master, who Himself acts shrewdly, tearing up the bill of our unpayable debts – not through dishonesty, not because of greed, but rather by means of His payment of our bill in full, doing so because of grace. The world sees material wealth as a sign of God’s favor. But Jesus teaches us that what the world exalts, God considers to be an abomination.

All of us poor, miserable sinners are exhorted to be shrewd and to be received into the eternal dwellings by the shrewdness of our Master, who, at the cross, outmaneuvers the devil, who proves the god of the Pharisees to be false, who explains: “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached.”

Now that the Gospel is preached, attempts to force our way into the heavens through dishonest means, through hypocritical claims to have kept the law, by looking out only for the self rather than showing love and mercy to our neighbors, by justifying ourselves – will all fail, just like “unrighteous wealth.” The Pharisees (along with the devil, the world, and our sinful nature) all ridicule Jesus because they are as unfaithful with worldly wealth as they are with “the true riches.” So let us repent. Let us put away the abominable false gods. Let us not attempt to serve two masters.

May this Gospel be preached to all creation! Let us believe in the shrewdness of our Master! Let us confess and praise Him in the words of the hymn: “All our debt Thou hast paid; Peace with God once more is made. O Lord, have mercy!”

Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.