By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
“No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Luke 16:13
I must admit that the gospel lesson appointed this Sunday is one of the most difficult passage to develop a palatable message even at a time of practical living even from the Christian point of view. One preacher observes that for many the term “shrewd Christian” is an oxymoron as these two terms just seem to be so opposite in their minds. But in the parable of the unjust steward Jesus calls on his disciples to become as shrewd in doing good as others are in doing evil. According to Webster’s dictionary shrewd means “keen-witted, clever, or sharp in practical matters.” We have often used the word in its secondary sense of cunning and in a context where one has used their intellect to take advantage of a person or a situation in an unethical way. Jesus calls us to be as shrewd in ethical ways as others are in unethical ways.
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The manager in Jesus’ story is a shrewd fellow in the worst sense of the word. He has misused his master’s resources. We don’t know the exact nature of the crime but he has obviously been converting his master’s resources for his own use. He has been placed in charge of wealth to manage it for the owner and, instead, has been skimming for himself. When he gets caught he does not repent or change his ways. Instead, he ups the ante and goes all out on the course he has begun.
Calling those who were in debt to his master he proposed to change their bills so that they would owe less. In this way he hoped to make friends of these folks so that he could be taken care of after he was dismissed. As he himself noted he was too weak to dig and too proud to beg. He also entangled them in his dishonesty so that he could use their complicity in his dishonesty again.
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So the deals have been consummated. And the manager was fired. Yet we find in the story that the master commended the steward for acting shrewdly. What is happening here? The master was cheated yet he commended the servant that cheated him! This is where the parable can get really confusing. We all expected that the master would have been angered with the cheating manager. Normal sense of reason would make any person to feel furious. Money had been lost and also trust has been betrayed between the steward and the master. In our faith application today we ask how this could be relevant or uplifting.
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Jesus was commending the shrewd steward for finding a place when he was losing his current job. He had foresight to set up the situation so that he had somewhere to go when he will lose his job. He had foresight to set up the situation so that he had somewhere to go when he was no longer the manager. He was using his existing resources to provide for a time when he did not have those resources. While not all of us approve to this scheming of the shrewd manager there are lessons that this parable teach us in our faith journey today.
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God has made us stewards or managers of our lives on this earth. We are responsible for ourselves to live a godly life and use God’s creation wisely. We do that in two ways: First, we are to use our wealth wisely, not storing it in a bank or under mattress or bamboo banks where only we can benefit. We are to plan ahead for the times that things will not be as good, being prudent in the good times so that there is no lack in the bad times. It is quite obvious that we are failing in taking care of God’s creation (5th Mark of Mission of the Anglican Church). Think of the Open Pit Mining that destroys the earth. What about our greed that is causing the extreme shifts in the environment and triggering climate change? Some people are working aggressively in trying to preserve God’s creation. Are we actively involved? In what way? We have to be decisive and intentional!
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Secondly, what we do during our lives should please God. Instead of hoarding physical wealth, we should be storing up eternal treasure.The friends that the manager made in the parable were gained dishonestly; when the manager was no longer of use to them, he would be discarded. But if we make friends of God, we will never be discarded. (cf.esermons)
Let us pray.
Grant us, Lord, not be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen (ECP-BCP p136)
