I have chosen this parable, not because it is my favourite one by a very long way, but because it has something to say to us in this present age when we are constantly being told that the church is in decline. Such statements have been made for the last few centuries.
This parable is only recorded by St. Luke and you will find it in chapter 16 verses 1-8. I am afraid that you will have to look at it there. The gist of the story is that a man, an estate manager, was sacked for mismanaging his boss’s property. Realising that he was facing dismissal and in order to make friends with people that he might need, he called in turn those who were in debt to his master. He then fiddled the accounts by undercharging the debtors. In this way he hoped to win them as friends for the future. The story ends with the statement “The Lord praised the unjust steward because he acted wisely; for the sons of this world are wiser that the sons of light”.
The difficulty for many lies in that last sentence. Was it the rich man or Jesus who praised the steward for fiddling the accounts? There are those who would argue that Jesus could not possibly have commended a dishonest act and therefore it must be the rich man.
We need to remember that the parable, as are all the parables, is only a story to get across a simple message. We should never press them too far in their details, as has often happened in the past.
The suggestion that it is Jesus commending the unjust steward lies in the last sentence “for the sons of this world are wiser that the children of light”. In other words Jesus is recorded as saying that His followers should learn a lesson from the sons of this world when facing a crisis. They get “the bit between their teeth” with a sense of urgency and are not afraid to put into action what they believe.
Look at the present position in this country. Business leaders are wanting to know what will happen if and when we leave Europe. At the present time, as I write this, the leaders of industry are already making plans about this uncertainty. Or watch the programme ‘The Apprentice’, which I have occasionally done, those involved get on with the task, however difficult it may be and they put things into action.
“Oh!” says the parable, “if only the followers of Jesus would learn of the need to do all in our power to further the kingdom of God”.
Chris Hawthorn.