The great problem in preaching many Scripture passages is that we think we already know what they mean—usually an interpretation we find easy and comfortable—so we don’t need to listen to them. That is not the problem this morning. Luke 16:1-8 is a problem parable, and our problems begin with the way our Bibles present it to us. The chapter break at 15:32 leads us to separate this parable from the one immediately before it and connect it instead with the poem that follows. We fail to see the deep connections between it and chapter 15 because, hey, it’s a different chapter! We take 16:9-13 as an interpretive key to our parable this morning—see the lectionary, which actually assigns all thirteen verses for this Sunday—when it’s actually transition and introduction to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. As a consequence, we read verses 1-8 as a parable about money, which completely jams us up, because on that basis it seems clear Jesus is praising the crook for being a good crook. That is not what’s going on.
