The parable of the unjust steward is one of Saint Luke's trickier passages. In the end, did the steward who was fired for squandering his master's wealth do right by his master or not? More precisely, did he do right at all? Drilling down, does he in anyway give us an example to emulate? After all, a 50% or even a 20% discount is pretty steep to settle duly incurred debts, even in a barter economy.
The reading I proposing below cuts against the grain more than a bit. It's interesting to engage in this kind of re-reading when it comes to ambiguous passages of Sacred Scripture. Admittedly, what follows is more of a theological reading than a strictly exegetical one.
It seems to me that the ambiguity of this passage arises from the figure of the master who had fired his steward for not acting shrewdly but expresses his pleasure after the same steward settles accounts with two of the master's debtors. How much does the master know about the details of these deals? There is nothing cut-and-dry about this pericope.
Nonetheless, the steward was commended by the same master who fired him for acting prudently in the settling the master's debts prior to his dismissal. This despite the fact that the steward was clearly acting in his own best interests, not necessarily those of his master. By giving big discounts to his soon-to-be former master's debtors, he hoped to procure employment or at least garner favor with these debtors.
This leaves open the question as to whether the master on whose behalf he was acting truly understood what this shady guy was really up to. It also leaves open the question about whether this dishonest man secured subsequent employment. I mean, who would hire a guy like that? Perhaps he wound up begging or digging ditches after all!
It doesn't seem to me that Jesus is encouraging his followers to act like this steward, even in worldly matters. Christians don't tout being wily, conniving, dishonest, and self-serving. Rather, the Lord encourages trustworthiness even in worldly affairs: "If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?" (Luke 16:11). It seems pretty clear that the steward served mammon while trying to make it look like he was serving his master. In this parable, the master is not directly analagous to God but I'll get to that in a moment.
Dishonest wealth, that is, worldly wealth, will fail you. If not before, it will fail you at death. Why? Because, as the tired cliche puts it, "You can't take it with you." But you can take with you honesty and trustworthiness. Living sub specie aeternitatis should enable the Christian to see that while being dishonest might pay now, it doesn't in the end. As the witness of many righteous people demonstrates, it is possible to serve God even when handling mammon, which we all must do to some extent.
Jesus' observation that worldly people are more adept at worldly affairs than His followers are is not an obvious exhortation to act like them either in worldy matters or matters pertaining to eternal life. Therefore, it is not an argument that undercuts what I am asserting, even if it is the tired way people have heard it preached about. It could just as easily mean the opposite.
Besides, wouldn't an exhortation to act like the shady steward be out of joint with the other teachings on money and wealth that we find in the Gospel According to Saint Luke, not mention the overall tone and tenor of Jesus' teaching on these matters? Do ends justify means? There is a lot at stake in this morally.
A two-verse extension of our reading from Luke, I think, helps us see things more clearly. As a result of the teaching set forth in our Gospel, money-loving Pharisees, Luke writes, "sneered" at Jesus. He responds to their sneering by saying, "You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). I think it a legitimate exegetical move to read back and assert something like, "While the master may not have been aware of the details of the deals his dishonest steward was cutting, you can't fool God."
That is my take and I am sticking to it. I think my take is also reinforced by the Old Testament reading from the Book of the Prophet Amos. Bear in mind that for the Sunday readings during Ordinary Time, the Church makes a great effort to harmonize the Gospel and Old Testament reading. The dishonest steward bears a remarkable resemblance to those the prophet lambasts. The main difference being, those Amos righteously castigates defraud the poor, while the steward defrauds his seemingly wealthy master.
Maybe we can harmonize this difference by saying that by being dishonest, defrauding, and finanically abusing others, especially the poor, we betray our master; God, to whom belongs everything that is. Yet, in His unfathomable goodness, the only begotton Son of the Father, as our reading from 1 Timothy reminds us, "gave himself as ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). Because of this, even dishonest stewards can have hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment