Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’ “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’ “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’ “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
Luke 16:1-13

Dear God, I have never been able to get my head around this parable. I mean, you might as well be describing a scoundrel like Jacob and you would never bless…Hold it. Wait. I guess you would bless a scoundrel like Jacob.

I just looked at a biblical commentary for this passage to see what they said, and it didn’t necessarily work for me. It felt like they added some words to it that weren’t there.

I had another thought this morning as I pondered this scripture. I had lunch yesterday with a friend, and we talked about how our temptation when we read ancient texts like the Bible is to lay our 21st-century culture onto theirs. To read the stories through our own eyes instead of theirs. Maybe that’s what’s happening here too. Maybe I’m doing mental gymnastics to make this story align with my 21st-century viewpoint instead of sinking into the message Jesus says he is teaching in verses 8 and 9. The NLT translates verse 9 to say, “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”

I told another friend yesterday about Rotary International’s Four-Way Test. It is the idea that if run everything we do through a simple filter of honesty and good will then good things will follow–even if it costs me something personally. Here’s the Four-Way Test: Of all of the things we think, say, and do,

• Is it the Truth?
• Is it fair to all concerned?
• Will it build good will and better friendships?
• Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Of course, this parable violates the “truth” part of this test, and it isn’t necessarily embracing fairness, and even the beneficial to all concerned is sketchy. But the shrewd manager certainly built good will and better friendships.

I don’t know, Father. This parable immediately follows the “Parable of the Lost Son.” But I can’t tell if Jesus is saying you are the rich man in this parable or not. If it’s your nature to reward this scoundrel. And maybe there’s a cultural layer I’m missing. Maybe there are unspoken nuances that someone in the audience would automatically know that I don’t. Either way, I think my role today is just to listen to the Holy Spirit as best as I can and then be responsive. To go when He says, “Go!” To wait when He says, “Wait!” So please give me ears to hear and eyes to see.

I pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen