Luke 16

Luke 16 is about serving God vs serving money.

The rich man called his manager to account for wasting his resources, and what did the manager do in response - he wasted more. On the surface this parable sounds strange, but the rich man is God, and we are the manager wasting His resources. We are not going to live forever (going to get fired), so there's no reason to hold tightly onto every penny in this world. Instead let us generously forgive the debts that others owe us so that we will have that many more friends now and when we get to heaven. Be generous when it comes to both forgiveness and money and you will gain favor with your friends and neighbors, and that is much more valuable in the long run.

When we are faithful it means we are trusting in God. When we trust God even though we have little He will bless us with much, but when we do not trust God even what we have will be taken from us. Remember that everything we have is from God, and He has plenty, so we will never be poor as long as we rely on Him.

Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisees. He saw that they were requiring every, literal and metaphorical, penny to be paid back in full. They were exacting the full toll on everyone not only financially, but religiously as well. And Jesus said that they in turn would be held to account according to the full measure of the law. Jesus likened their unfaithful behavior to adultery.

Then we get a story that is unique to Luke. It's an illustration of one of Jesus's favorite sayings - the first will be last and the last will be first. Those who are least on earth will be greatest in heaven. The story ends with the main takeaway - everything that we need in order to believe in God is already written in His word. If you don't believe God's word, then nothing else will convince you.