Luke 16:3 Commentary and Bible Study

That is the summons. But then we see the response of the estate manager, the steward in the parable. Now, of course, the situation was so bad that it was a foregone conclusion. He hasn't been fired yet. He hasn't been declared guilty yet, but he knew the game was up. He knew it was inevitable that he would have to go. The man knew he was guilty as guilty could be. There was no question of him concealing it. There was no question of him getting away with this. He doesn't attempt to defend himself. He doesn't think, ‘Well, I can put a fair gloss on this. Things aren't too bad. If I just rush round and make a few alterations and straighten out a few affairs, I shall be able to go before the landlord and tell him that I am sorry about this.’ He doesn't attempt to say that. He sits down and puts his head in his hands, and he says, ;What am I going to do, because this is the end?’ He knows he can't make any credible defence of himself. All is hopeless. His mismanagement has been too great. His embezzlement, or whatever he has done, has been far too great for that. He has got to think of some way out other than justifying himself before his employer, the landlord. What could he do? What could he say? His response is very interesting. He says, ‘I cannot dig.’ We can be generous to the steward, and assume that the reason he could not dig, was not because he considered it to be beneath him, but because he had pampered himself for so long and he had gone soft; he had done a manager’s job for so long that he was not strong enough to do physical labour. ‘To beg I am ashamed.’ He is not talking about begging from his master to show him leniency; he is thinking ahead to the situation after he has lost his job, which will certainly soon be the case. He is thinking about how he is going to survive after he has lost his job. This is a view into the man’s private thoughts, which he would not have been willing to share publicly, but it is an accurate description of his thinking. He is not going to beg, because that would be too great a humiliation, too great a come down from his elevated position of honour on his lord’s estate. He simply couldn’t face the shame. Could he go and beg from those who previously had been his master’s traders, people he had lauded it over, and who had looked up to him as a man of power and influence? No, that was out of the question.