Sunday Meditation: The Unjust Stewart

I know, it’s not Sunday.  It’s Wednesday.  Were you as confused about this past Sunday’s Gospel reading as I was?  Normally if I miss posting a “Sunday Meditation” I usually let it go for the week.  But I had to come back to the Parable of the Unjust Stewart.  I guess I have never understood this parable before because I didn’t understand it now.  Not just not understand it, but completely baffled by it.  So I had to turn to Brant Pitre for an explanation, and you will see he does not disappoint.  It was so enlightening I thought everyone should understand it, and so I posted this “Wednesday” meditation! 

 

First the Gospel reading, but only the parable first.

 

Jesus said to his disciples,

"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 the steward said, 'And you, how much do you owe?'

He replied, 'One hundred kors of wheat.'

The steward 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.

Lk 16:1-9

 

So the steward is fired for being a lousy steward, then cheating his master to ingratiate himself with others, and yet the master commends him?  To add to the confusion, Jesus then goes into a series of wise sayings without any transition from the parable.  Here is how this passage ends.

 

“The person who is trustworthy in very small matters

is also trustworthy in great ones;

and the person who is dishonest in very small matters

is also dishonest in great ones.

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth,

who will trust you with true wealth?

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another,

who will give you what is yours?

No servant can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other,

or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and mammon."

        Lk 16:10-13

These sayings, on the issues of trustworthiness and money, seem to be directed at the steward.  But the steward is neither trustworthy nor ascetic with money.  He seems to be a disciple of mammon. So why is the steward commended?  At this point, I needed help, and who best than Dr. Pitre.

 

Get that?  You are to pay off spiritual debts—sins—with the Lord’s money, so that those you whose debts you pay off will welcome you into eternal happiness. 

Interesting.  In a way it sounds a lot like works righteousness, only Jesus is not so much referring to works that you are storing up but to some sort of spiritual currency.  The bitcoin of heaven!