The Unjust Steward

One

The Parable of the Unjust Steward

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16, Jesus tells a very interesting parable. It’s called the parable of the unjust Steward.

A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 

Two

A Strange Parable

Why would the Lord tell us a story where an incompetent Steward goes from squandering his master’s property to actively defrauding him? Why would a guy like this be held up as a kind of a model? What are we supposed to take away from this story? What are we supposed to do with it?

Well, Our Lord tells us the point of the parable at the very end, where He says, “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth”

So, apparently, the point of this parable is to get us to “make friends with our money.”

How do we do that?

Three

Generosity

We are God’s stewards. Everything we have really belongs to God.

We sometimes make the awful mistake of thinking that our possessions are ours absolutely, we forget that everything we have ultimately is the Lord’s. We’re just stewards.

And who are our Master’s debtors? Who else is in debt to God? Everyone!

So when you give money to the poor, what are you actually doing? You’re giving God’s stuff away and they are getting help from God. That’s the sort of thing that pleases the Lord!

Four

The Strangeness of the Parable/Strangeness of the Providential Arrangement

It is a very strange parable, the parable of the Dishonest Servant. But, of course, it’s a strange providential arrangement that the Lord has instituted.

God has decreed that those who give His stuff away will be precisely the people He praises and approves of.

God has made you His steward precisely so you can receive the joy of giving and you should take comfort in reflecting on the truth that what you’re giving away doesn’t even belong to you. 

A steward doesn’t get to keep what belongs to his boss. And you aren’t going to be able to keep any of the material wealth that’s currently at your disposal. At death, it will all pass out of your hands.

So why not give away as much of it as you can, and so please your master, and make friends for yourself?

Five

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

There’s another important part of the parable. At the beginning, the Master has been displeased with His Steward. And we have displeased God. We have displeased Him with our sins, with all the ways we have misused His gifts, His resources, and His opportunities.

So how can we please the Master? How can we make up for our poor service?

Well, at the end of the Book of Tobit, the Archangel Raphael says this, “Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin.” (Tobit 12:8-9).

So if you want to please your boss, who is God, and whom you have offended, be generous with your wealth, give especially to the poor, and you will save yourself from death, and purge away your sin.