asked him: ‘What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service for
it is about to be terminated.’
The steward thought to himself: ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me.
I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do:
I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be some people to welcome me into
their house.’
So he called his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first who came: ‘How much
do you owe my master?’ The reply was: ‘A hundred jars of oil.’ The steward said: ‘Here
is your bill. Sit down quickly and write there fifty.’ To the second he put the same question:
‘How much do you owe?’ The answer was: ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ Then he said:
‘Take your bill and write eighty.’
The master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the people of
this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light.
Reflect
Peopleoften misunderstand this parable, thinking that Jesus is somehow praising the
deviousness of the dishonest steward. Clearly, neither Jesus not the master is praising
the steward for his dishonesty. The master is firing him for that behavior! Instead, the
master commends him for making a smart choice when faced with losing his job. The
steward sacrifices his excessive commissions on his master’s loans in the hope that
the debtors will be so grateful that they will take care of him when he is unemployed.
The steward was willing to treat the debtors fairly when he thought that would be to
his advantage. But the call of a disciple is different. We are called to do the right
thing not because it will benefit us or because we fear punishment for doing something
bad. Instead, we strive to do what is right because that is what pleases God, the source
of all that is good. Because we love God, we want to do what pleases him. In this lies
our joy.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2023