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Luke 16

Jesus exposes wealth’s claim on the heart and warns that God’s judgment overturns human measures of success.

Jesus tells his disciples about a manager facing dismissal who reduces his master’s debts to secure future help. He then teaches about faithfulness with money and the impossibility of serving both God and wealth. Money-loving Pharisees scoff, and Jesus confronts their self-justification before speaking about the law, God’s Kingdom, and divorce. He closes with the rich man and Lazarus: their circumstances reverse after death, and Abraham insists that the living must listen to Moses and the prophets.

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1He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
2He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
3“The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.
4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’
5Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’
6He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
7Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
8“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.
9I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.
10He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
11If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
13No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”
14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
15He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
16“The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.
17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.
18“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
19“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
20A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores,
21and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
24He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish.
26Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
28for I have five brothers—that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
29“But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30“He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31“He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Luke 16:13The warning about two masters makes allegiance to God the central issue beneath the chapter’s teaching on money.
Luke 16:15Jesus confronts the gap between public approval and God’s knowledge of the heart, exposing the Pharisees’ self-justification.
Luke 16:19The rich man’s daily luxury establishes the contrast with Lazarus at his gate and prepares for their reversal after death.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew shares Jesus’ teaching that God and wealth cannot both be served, along with teaching on divorce and adultery. Proverbs shares the chapter’s concern with wealth, treatment of the poor, and the difference between human judgments and God’s assessment of the heart.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does Lazarus at the gate shape your reading of Jesus’ warning about serving wealth?

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Which contrast between human approval and God’s judgment stands out to you, and why?

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Questions people ask about Luke 16

Why does Jesus praise the dishonest manager in Luke 16?

The manager’s master commends his shrewd response to impending dismissal. Jesus draws attention to his foresight, then calls for faithfulness in handling money. The story still calls the manager dishonest. How the debt reductions worked is left unexplained, so claims that he merely removed his own commission remain uncertain.

What does Mammon mean in Luke 16?

Mammon means wealth or possessions. Jesus speaks of it as a rival master that can command a person’s love and loyalty. His teaching connects the use of money with faithfulness before God and declares that serving God and serving wealth are incompatible allegiances.

What does the rich man and Lazarus teach about life after death?

Jesus depicts Lazarus comforted beside Abraham and the rich man in torment in Hades, separated by a gulf no one can cross. The account presents judgment after death as fixed and urgent. Its closing emphasis falls on hearing Moses and the prophets; it does not provide a complete map of the afterlife.

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What the Bible says about death →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).