Repentance and Money

<p>Many find this text confusing and it has given rise to many discussions as to its meaning and interpretation. I find that the understanding of this text is seen in two particular aspects:  first, the cultural setting in which the story is told, and second, the reaction of the Pharisees at the end of the story.  These two clues point to a dynamic in the Kingdom of God that Jesus sees as critical for the spiritual growth and development of his disciples.</p><p>First let us examine the cultural background of the text, then the revelation concerning the Kingdom of God, and lastly the application to the lives of any disciple of Jesus.</p><ol><li> The rich landowner is a righteous man. The amount of riches a person has does not determine either the extent of the blessing of God in a persons life, the righteousness of their walk with God, or their faithfulness and submission to the will of God.  You can be righteous before God, waking in holiness and be rich or poor in the world’s eyes.  It is not possessions that make you rich, it is your submission to both God’s will and character in your life that makes you rich in both spirit and truth.  The rich man is not righteous because of his wealth, but because of his character!  Some dangerously and falsely assume that wealth - as a sign of God’s blessing - determines righteousness. Righteousness is determined by our faithfulness to God, regardless of our circumstances. </li><li>The manager is a person who is unrighteous not because of his possessions or lack of them, but because of his love for money, and his corruption in his dealings with money. He assumes that he can abuse his relationship with the landowner and that he has a right to his employers wealth!  This leads to his being fired! </li><li>The manager sees the doom of his impending future, so he acts in such a way as to ingratiate himself with the tenants, and procure a future for himself in a legal way.  The righteous employer sees how shrewd the manager has changed his perspective (repented) from seeing wealt