By: The Very Rev. Canon David Roseberry
The parable of the dishonest steward gets the prize for being the strangest of all the stories of Jesus. What does it mean to make friends for yourselves using dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, others may welcome you into heaven? Really? Is Jesus commending dishonesty? Is he praising bribery and payoffs?
The outline of the story is simple enough. A dishonest manager is going to get fired for “squandering” his owner’s property. When the man discovers that he is going to get sacked, he invents an elaborate scheme.
Since he is too weak to dig and too proud to beg, he ingratiates himself to a sizable list of vendors byproviding steep discounts on their accounts payable. He helps them out so they will help him out. He is doing favors now in the hopes of getting favors in the years to come.
The owner hears of this and then confronts the employee: “Your scheme is brilliant! If you had shown half that initiative in building up my assets as you have just shown building up yours, I would have promoted you! Where was this fresh, creative, ingenious, initiative when you were working for me? Well done! You are still fired, but well done!”
Jesus is making this point: The people of this world do not just let their future happen as passive agents. No! They plot and connive. They scheme for it. They are taking no chances; they know they will need some help of some sort in the future. They reason that it is best to have friends in high places so that they won’t have to live in the low places. That’s brilliant!
But some Sons of Light are not that crafty. They don’t think in those strategic terms. They are ‘ornaments’ of grace and love…but not, sadly, instruments. They are saved and secure, but lazy! Jesus commends a faith that is focused, strategic, resourceful, and effective.
Here is a provocative question to ask of this unusual parable: Do you want to have lots of friends in the Kingdom of God? Are you going to stand there are just let it happen? No! Be smart. Be creative. And be resourceful. Do what you can to obtain for the next life what you can in this life.
Obviously, Jesus is exaggerating to make a point. He uses hyperbole often to create stark contrasts. So, perhaps one way to say it is this: we are not saved by good, creative plans and schemes, if we were, we’d be doomed!
So Jesus is making a serious point. Is there something that you are doing that, were it to be counted in your favor, would make a HUGE difference to you in the age to come? Anything?
What if you could, as an active instrument of grace and mercy, change a mother’s mind, protect an unborn life, change a teen’s perspective, or even persuade a person not to end the life of a baby, but instead to allow that life to flourish! Wouldn’t that make a big difference? You’d save a life and help protect a woman
from a lifetime of regret and sorrow? Wow!