So it is in today’s parable where Jesus speaks of a financial crisis maybe echoing one that was in the daily news of the time. “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.” Maybe the Feds had caught up with him or the auditor had notified the owner that something was amiss. The rich man acts quickly and summarily dismisses the manager while requesting a full accounting of his management. We are left with a bunch of questions about the rich man’s judgment. Was it fair? Did he investigate properly? Or was he just taking one person’s word that this was so? In any case what does “squandering his property” actually mean? Is it simply mismanagement or is there something criminal involved as in embezzlement?

What is fascinating on the surface is the phrase “squandering his property” which has just been used in Luke in the immediately preceding parable of the Prodigal Son. You will remember the Prodigal having taken his share of his father’s money “squandered his property” in riotous living. In our Sunday readings from St Luke we skipped the Prodigal Son because of its use in the Lent readings as Fr McPherson reminded us last Sunday. But the dramatic focus of today’s parable turns to the manager, often called the “dishonest steward”. He is in a real predicament in light of losing his job. “I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.” He is a realist in that. But quickly he makes a decision which seems on the surface outrageous, that is he makes deals with all his master’s debtors by reducing the amount owed and thereby settling the debts. All very well except it is not his money in the first place and who loses out but his master? Or does he?

It would appear that as manager or steward of his master’s property he had the right to certain percentage; he got his “cut”. What he appears to have done is to forgo his “cut” which was rightly his and given the master the full amount expected. Well be that as it may the rich master commends him which leaves us slightly flabbergasted. What is going on here? One minute the manager is dismissed for squandering the rich man’s property and the next he is being commended for what looks a pretty shady deal no matter what gloss you put on it. The master commended him for his shrewd actions adding “the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” And Jesus adds “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

This must be one of the more obscure parables that Jesus tells and the commentators have always struggled with it. Let us contextualize the parable for a moment. It is the opener for Luke chapter 16 a chapter all about money and how you use it; a chapter which begins with the parable of the Dishonest Manager or Steward and closes with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. And as I have said there are parallels with preceding parables including the Prodigal Son in chapter 15 and the Great Dinner Party in chapter 14. This is not stand alone teaching but part of series of parabolic teaching making related points. And what are they you may well ask? The first is look at the master in today’s parable who at first seems peremptory in his judgment but then profligate in his commendation. What comes to mind immediately is the action of the father with the Prodigal who forgets all his wayward son has done, in his squandering and riotous living, and embraces him, kisses him and throws him a party. Or perhaps we think of the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard where the owner pays the latecomers the same as those who have endured the heat of the day. There is something extravagant, even profligate, in the these actions which points towards the profligate love of God revealed to us in Jesus’ death on the Cross. “What wondrous love is this?”

The second point Jesus makes is not quite so obvious. What does he mean by “making friends with dishonest wealth”? What is that all about? It is important to say at the outset that this is a parable and not a piece of moral teaching. It is easy to say look Jesus here is allowing all sorts of shady practices and questionable investments and the like. But that is to miss the parabolic point. What the dishonest steward appears to have done by his debt reduction scheme was to at least recover some or all of his master’s property maybe at some cost to himself but in the process gained a group of people indebted to him; people who might support him in his endeavor to reestablish himself without resorting to manual labor or to begging. It is that action of “buying favors” that is commended by the master who uses it as an illustration about the children of this age compared with the children of light. After all Jesus is addressing “his disciples” who were precisely “the children of light.” Jesus is saying “if this rogue can act so promptly and effectively in the face of crisis how much more should you the children of light act in face of the crisis of the coming of God’s kingdom?” He acted promptly and effectively, can’t you do the same?

But “make friends with dishonest wealth?” That seems an odd thing for Jesus to say. Perhaps Jesus is saying to the disciples use your money, your wealth, in such a way that you will have friends in eternity. In terms of the Jewish practice of almsgiving maybe he is saying do that in such away, giving to those who owe you nothing and have nothing to give in return, that they may be friends in the future. There is a parallel here to the Parable of the Great Dinner Party. Remember Jesus there said don’t invite those who will invite you back but invite the “poor, the lame and the blind”, those with nothing to give in return. Establish with them some sort of kingdom commonality, putting them on a similar footing as yourself.

This unusual parable and its subsequent sayings have much to teach us as we prepare to reflect on the stewardship of our money as a parish. What comes across loud and clear not only from today’s first reading and the gospel passage but much more broadly in the Bible is that the way we deal with our finances, how we use our money, is a spiritual issue. How we use our money provides a useful spiritual barometer. You cannot divorce your financial dealings from eternity; that is the teaching of today’s gospel. Rather says Jesus use your financial dealings, use your money in such a way that it begins to reflect kingdom values rather than simply the values of this world.

We are not like the dishonest manager of the parable in that we are children of light who know that “God is our Savior” and that there is one God and also “one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.” That is what we affirm in our baptism and at every eucharist. But the dishonest manager is commended because even he recognized the need to use his resources to good effect even if not for eternity. What matters in the end of course is not our money, after all as we say “we cannot take that with us”. But for Luke the issue is our “treasure in heaven.” So the gospel contains that saying “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches.” It is obtaining these true riches, this “treasure in heaven”, that is the central concern as we focus on our personal stewardship once again. Amen

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