Reflections on a Difficult Gospel Passage: The Unjust Steward
By: Saundra L. Washington
The parable of the unjust steward as recorded in Luke 16: 1-8.
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
” ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’
“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
”‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
It is immediately clear that in this parable, Jesus is not extolling the dishonesty of the unjust steward. Jesus wanted to teach His audience an important truth and the scope of this illustration seems to be focused on encouraging expedient forethought. The element in the action of the steward which precipitated the master’s strong recommendation was of forethought, foresight, and the keen awareness of the need to plan so that when the need arose (which the steward apparently saw rapidly approaching), he would be accepted into the homes of his master’s debtors.
It would appear that the message our Lord wanted to convey was concerning the Kingdom of God. He was trying to inculcate in the listeners an awareness of the imminence of the Kingdom and the necessity for them to keep their eyes open and be alert and prepared for the ushering in of the new government.
Dwight Beck, states that the main idea of this passage is that “men should utilize forethought for their spiritual and eternal welfare with as much ingenuity and preparedness as keen witted men plan their future with material things.” John McKenzie makes an interesting observation when he adds that the contrast between dishonesty and foresight point to the fact that Jesus wanted us to ponder the idea that the honest sometimes fail in that virtue which the dishonest manifest.
Dishonesty requires a certain degree of shrewdness and it is this ability to be cleverly astute that we are urged to use in preparing for the great day of the Lord. Dishonest behavior is nowhere praised in this parable.
NOTE:
This is 1 of 10 difficult passages found in the New Testament Gospels which I will be reflecting on. I will share my interpretative understanding as well as the respected works of others as delineated below.
In the final analysis however, the whole of God’s word speak and you will discover, as I have, that when I have an ear to hear, obscure Biblical verses are not troubling and does not deafen me to the voice of God almighty.
Reference Sources:
William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark
Karl Barth, Prayer
Curtis Beach, The Gospel of Mark
Dwight Beck, Through the Gospels to Jesus
John McKenzie, Light on the Gospels
Robert Stein, Difficult Passages in the Gospels
J. Jocz, s.v. The Last Supper
B. Van Elderen, s.v. Peter, Simon
Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach which can be reviewed on her site. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, though delayed in publication, is expected to be available early 2006.
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