Dishonest Business Practices? A Parable of Jesus
The Parable of The Unjust Steward or Manager Jesus' parable of the unjust manager is one of the most striking in all the Gospels. According to commentators, the parable is about an agent who, knowing he is about to be fired, asks the debtors to pay up. Obviously, it would be pressing the parable beyond the point of comparison to interpret it as a story about dishonest business practices. But what’s the point of the parable? It seem so unlike other stories Jesus shared. Jesus told this story in early 30 A.D. before his arrest and crucifixion. The primary audience for the Unjust Steward Parable is Jesus' disciples (Luke 16:1). Luke’s writing says so: Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions…. But there’s additional audience members noted at the end of the story. While it’s a fairly simple story, it’s also a somewhat unorthodox, parable from Jesus. In most of Jesus’ parables, the protagonist is either repre