Luke 16:1-8 is sometimes referred to as “The Shrewd Manager,” while other translations use the title “The Dishonest Steward.” This Scripture usually leaves me scratching my head at its meaning. My pastor recently offered life-changing spiritual advice when he recommended facing a passage that confuses you, is new to you, or that you’re very well acquainted with but would like a new insight into, by enlisting specific assistance from the Holy Spirit. Ask the Spirit to clear your mind from any obstacles to grace, and then illuminate the words of Scripture to reveal the truth they hold within. I did, and the Spirit, as usual, did not disappoint!
First, the Spirit showed me the clarity of Jesus’ audience — he was speaking to His disciples. Next, knowing Jesus would never lead us astray from virtuous behavior, we can be assured we are not to imitate this unsavory behavior, which all these characters of the parable display. There is a bigger-picture lesson Jesus is looking to teach. The steward is a manager or a keeper of another’s resources, and his crime is mismanagement. Keep that word in mind.
The steward is guilty of squandering the rich man’s property and is told to prepare a complete account of his dealings. Each of us will have to make a full account of the gifts, resources, and talents bestowed by God for our use during our lifetime. Every word, action, and non-action will need to stand before Jesus one day; this is His warning to us to be very careful not to mismanage these gifts.
Jesus points to the shrewdness shown by the manager and others like him out of self-preservation; the children of this world (non-believers) are more prudent in dealing with their generation than the children of the light (believers). However, unlike the children of the world who hold tightly to the materials of the here and now, our call as disciples is to put the heavenly before the earthly.
The material world is tangible, ever before us, at times making it difficult to ignore in light of the invisible glory to come. A prime, albeit embarrassing example, happened to me one Sunday. Kneeling in my pew, having just received the Eucharist, my watch vibrated with a message from my son. The response needed to be timely, but it certainly could have waited less than ten minutes until the end of Mass. Yet, I caved to the immediate and (probably not so) slyly pulled out my phone and texted my son!
Saint Clement I sums up Jesus’ moral of this parable and the struggle, which is so very real, with these words, “This world and the world to come are two enemies. We cannot, therefore, be friends to both; but we must decide which we will forsake and which we will enjoy.” Which “shrewd” moves will we make this day to become friends with the things of heaven and thrive as children of light?
Daily Reading
Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 PHIL 3:17—4:1 Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us….
Saint of the Day
Blessed John Duns Scotus
Influential High Middle Ages philosopher-theologian, Blessed John Duns Scotus, shaped Catholic and secular thinking profoundly.
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