Luke
16:9-15
People always say that the end does not
justify the means. But Jesus seemed to have allowed the use of illegal means
for a noble end. Today’s
gospel is the continuation of yesterday’s passage in which Jesus admired the
dishonest steward, not because of his dishonesty, but because of his being
smart and wise. He was such a clever because he took effective steps to
guarantee his future by using his master’s wealth. And in today’s passage Jesus
exhorts his disciples and us to follow in the footsteps of this dishonest
steward who used his boss’s money generously to make friends for himself.
Jesus says: “make friends for yourselves with
dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal
dwellings.” The main point in this passage is not about being dishonest
for a good purpose; but rather about cleverness in providing for the future. This
man was able to discover in time that friends last longer than money; he realized that sharing is better than accumulating.
Telling this passable, Jesus gives us two
lessons: the first one is that Jesus exhorts us to be zealous in working for
our salvation, just like we labor for profit in our different jobs. The second lesson
is that our wealth is not our master. It is our servant and we have to us it
for our salvation. Jesus is telling us that our attitude towards material wealth
should influence our regard for true and everlasting wealth. We have to use our wealth for
our future eternal life. He invites us to make friends with our wealth.
It is about sharing our possessions.
It is amazing and distressing to know how
much we spend for car gadgets, recreation, sports and travels and how little we
give to charities, to the suffering and the needy. Let us bear in mind once again
that what we have is a blessing from God and it is given in the spirit of
stewardship. We are called to use this blessing to reach out to others.
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