The parable you just heard is the last of four parables our Lord spoke in response to the complaint of the scribes and Pharisees, who accused him saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus shows how he lovingly goes after the lost until he finds them. In the Parable of the Lost Coin, he explains how he often works through his Bride, the Church. And in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, he assures the repentant sinner that when he returns, he will be welcomed back as a son and heir of everlasting life. This final parable, however, has a different focus: it teaches Christians how to properly care for their faith so that they do not become lost but remain faithful to the Lord even unto death.

Consider the question the steward in the parable asked his master’s debtors, a question worth asking yourself: “How much do you owe your Master?” There are two ways to view this question. One is in light of all that your heavenly Father has given you. He gave you life itself—without his power working through your parents, you would not exist. Having given you life, he preserves it, providing daily all you need to stay alive, and as Americans, more than what you need. He also protects your life, keeping many dangers away and delivering you from those he allows to come. In that sense, you owe him everything, because all you have comes from him. The other way to view this question, however, is in light of the debt you have accumulated with God—your sin. Some might object, saying, “But what about the good things I do?” Such reasoning fails to grasp the depth of sin, for as Scripture says, “There is no one who does good, no, not one.” The self-righteous, whom David calls “the haughty,” refuse to accept that everything we do is tainted by sin. Thus, even our thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds only increase the debt we owe God.

So, it is not only the scribes and Pharisees who are guilty. We too are the steward in this parable, having wasted our Master’s goods in a life of sin. And on Judgment Day, when our Lord and Master calls us to give an account of our stewardship, the verdict should rightly be, “You can no longer be steward. Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Do you believe this? You should, because it is what God’s Law declares, and God is not a man that he should lie. Therefore, instead of asking, “What about the good things I do?” the real question we must ask ourselves in light of God’s coming judgment is the one the steward asked himself: “What shall I do?”

The answer is sobering—there is nothing we can do to pay off the debt of sin we owe God. Yet the good news is that we do not have to, for Christ has already done it for us. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” In Christ, God did not simply reduce your debt, as the steward did for his master’s debtors. He did not merely begin to pay off a portion of it and leave the rest for you to finish by keeping the Law. Instead, Christ took your entire debt upon himself—he who had no sin became sin for you—and paid it off completely. “It is finished,” he declared before bowing his head and dying. The debt of sin has been paid in full by his holy, precious blood.

King David understood this, singing, “Who is a God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? God is my strength and power, and he makes my way perfect.” David’s salvation, like ours, had nothing to do with himself but everything to do with God’s grace and mercy. Faith, which is itself a gift of God, clings to this truth and acts accordingly, just as the steward did when he was fired. The master did not praise him for stealing, but for acting wisely and prudently with what was entrusted to him. He used earthly means to escape the ruin his own mismanagement had caused.

That is the lesson Jesus teaches his disciples through this parable: “Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” Faith does not live for wealth and possessions as unbelievers do, but it uses them wisely, knowing as Paul reminds us, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape.” That way of escape is found in the Means of Grace—the mysteries of God through which forgiveness and salvation are delivered to us.

Faith, therefore, desires baptism in the name of the Triune God, so that the sinner, washed in Christ’s blood, may be cleansed of all unrighteousness. After baptism, faith leads us to confess our sins and hear the absolution spoken by Christ’s servant. It hungers for God’s Word preached and yearns for the Lord’s Supper, the sacred meal of Christ’s body and blood, given for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.

Dear Christian, when you live by this faith, you are wisely and prudently using unrighteous mammon for eternal gain. On the Day of Judgment, you will not hear your Lord say, “Depart from me, for you can no longer be my steward,” but instead, “Well done, good and faithful steward. Enter into the joy of your everlasting home.”

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