Is Jesus commending dishonesty in the Parable of the Shrewd Manager? No. Stewards in those times acted as agents for their masters. Usurious practices were common to such agents. In this story, the steward padded the original debt unjustly to make more money for himself. When he asked his customers to rewrite the promissory notes with smaller amounts, he was not cheating his master. He was only returning his unjust commission to the debtors. In so doing, he was actually repenting. So this steward made friends with people who would later treat him back with kindness for his supposed changed ways.

Genuine repentance not only restores your relationship with God. It also mends your friendship with people. A lonely Christian is an oxymoron. Holiness is evidenced by friendliness. You may not win the Miss Congeniality award, but the fruit of the Spirit makes you a great friend to people. This makes you irresistible, whether you like it or not.

Making friends is the wisdom that Jesus is commending in this parable.

Jon Escoto (jonmaris@yahoo.com)

Reflect

Is there someone you need to restore relationships with? Is there a new person that you need to show kindness to? Is there someone to make friends with today?

Jesus, show me the person that I need to show Your kindness to today. Amen.

Saint Engelbert, pray for us.

Today’s reading shows us how Saint Paul took his apostolic mission seriously and executed it with diligence and zeal. He did not, however, rely on his own strength or power to fulfill his mission. He drew from the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to make his apostolate fruitful and effective. Let us imitate Saint Paul and rely solely on the power that God provides us. 

¹⁴ I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. ¹⁵ But I have written to you rather boldly in some respects to remind you, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in performing the priestly service of the Gospel of God, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast in what pertains to God. ¹⁸ For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to lead the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have finished preaching the Gospel of Christ. ²⁰ Thus I aspire to proclaim the Gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another’s foundation, ²¹ but as it is written: Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

R: The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

¹ Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds. His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. (R) ² The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. ³ He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. (R) All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. ⁴ Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. (R)

Gospel | Luke 16:1-8

Today, Jesus tells a strange story. It seems to be praising unscrupulous dishonesty. The steward who is about to be dismissed defrauds his master in order to gain the favor of his clients. This way, they will look after him when he is out for work. However, the point that Jesus makes is not to applaud the dishonesty of the steward but to highlight how he used his situation to his advantage. Let us also use our positions to further the work of God.

Gospel Acclamation 

Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him.

¹ Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. ² He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ ³ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ ⁷ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ ⁸ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 16 - 20 today.

When Jesus told this story of a master who praised a dishonest steward for “acting prudently,” was He teaching His disciples to be dishonest? Was He giving His followers license to use the master’s resources for personal gain?

It may seem that way, but how wrong that would be, I thought, as I prayed on this Gospel story. I wrestled with this text in prayer and resisted it for some time, not understanding how such seeming injustice could be part of Jesus’ curriculum for His disciples. But then I realized that I had to train myself to think as the master in the story thinks. And these few questions helped me to see this parable in a very different light:

What if the master wanted the steward to be generous and kind to those who borrowed from them in the first place?

What if the master himself was compassionate and kind and did not want to see the steward squander away this wealth for himself, but was happy to see it benefiting others?

What if, by this story, Jesus was giving us the license to be generous with all that we have been entrusted with?

In the end, don’t we believe that our Lord and God is in fact this kind of a gracious Master? Read today’s Gospel again in this light and see if it changes how you understand the parable. 

Fr. Mark Lopez, SJ

reflection questions

How has God been generous to you? How are you being called to be generous to others today?

Lord, teach me to be generous with my time and talents in the service of others; with the resources entrusted to me for our stewardship; and in ways that allow people to see the true source of all graciousness: You, my Master and Lord, who can never be outdone in generosity. Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________________