Mismanagement in serving, and who, or what, and how, do we serve?

Scripture: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 and Psalm 79:1-9  •  Amos 8:4-7 and Psalm 113  •  1 Timothy 2:1-7  •  Luke 16:1-13

What a parable we have to study this week! The parable of the dishonest manager. This follows Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. What are we to make of the parable of the manager, who, caught with his  hand in the cookie jar, then "cooks the books," slashing debts owed to his master. And what does his master do!? In both parables we have someone who is trusted with another's possessions and squanders them or gives them away. What does that say about the manager? The master? Us?

Of course Jesus has some other things to say, such as we cannot serve two masters, God and Mammon (wealth). What does he mean?  Consider the perspectives of John W. Martens in “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Lk 16:13)and The Rev. Rick Morley's "squandering right - a reflection on Luke 16:1-13."

What do you think about this parable?