Friday, 7 November 2014

THE PARABLE OF THE DISHONEST STEWARD

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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