6-Nov-15

Gospel LK 16:1-8
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 he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’
He replied, ‘One hundred measures 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 the children of light.”
Reflection:
Today's gospel passage involves something that we hear about in the news every day: a person's dishonesty, deceit, and conspiracy in his business dealings.
The steward in the parable, learning that he had been discovered in his dishonesty, immediately began to "feather his nest" with his master's debtors.
By doing so, he would have some place to turn for a job after he was fired. No doubt he believed that involving others in a conspiracy to cheat his master would provide him with the opportunity to coerce them into giving him a job.
Learning of the steward's scheme to further cheat him, the master commends him for his cleverness. "For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”
Jesus is saying that if only good men were as ingenious and diligent about living in accordance
with the ways of God as the steward was about being dishonest in his business dealings, then the world would be much better off.
If the dishonest steward had been wise enough to apply the same cleverness, nerve and commitment to doing good that he did to defrauding his master then he surely would have ended up at the gates of Heaven.
"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." Thomas Jefferson