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 representative of God, Christ, or some other positive character. In this parable the characters all seem to be rather negative or manipulating or scheming — the steward and the man whose possessions he manages both appear as, well, unsavory characters.
The simplicity lies, and we should be alerted to the fact, that Jesus is not exhorting us to emulate the behavior of the characters. There is a larger moral principle that Jesus is exhorting us into. Don't miss it.
The parable begins with a rich man calling his steward before him to inform him that he will be relieving him of his duties: "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 steward in this story is a person who manages the resources of another. The steward had authority over all of the master’s resources and could transact business in his name. Mathematics has its immutable laws. The amount due to the landlord would have had to be paid by someone - otherwise the landlord would have suffered a loss. Is accounting really at the heart of this illustration, Jesus' story, his parable? No.
This might be a very key piece to this parable: The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus...He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
The Pharisees considered wealth to be a reward for keeping the law, and they sneered at Jesus’ teaching. Jesus replied that God was not impressed with their show of righteousness, for he saw their pride-filled hearts.
Maybe the Pharisees were grappling with the old era of the law was passing and the kingdom announced by John was arriving;
Maybe we can understand this story through the lenses of: Greed, or job insecurity, shrewd business practices or ridicule;
Maybe of motivation should be considered. The laying up treasures in heaven by what we do in this life with our resources. There's more to this story than that of serving two masters.
Maybe this parable is about choices: how we reflect our theology in daily affairs; stewardship; that the eternal is better than the temporal.
It's possible that Jesus wanted His disciples to gain treasures that lasted. True riches. Eternal dwellings. Being people of the light, not of the world. Just a thought...
