Jesus said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’”Our Lord tells of a steward, a manager, who has wasted his employer’s resources. His employer – a rich man – heard that this steward was doing some dishonest things, not reporting accounts accurately, so he calls the steward in and immediately dismisses him. The steward sees that this is the end of the road for him; he doesn’t want to do manual labor, he certainly doesn’t want to beg. At this point, he has nothing to lose, so he decides that he might as well do something daring. Rather than leaving the estate, as he was told to do, instead the disgraced steward calls the largest debtors that his employer has, and he cancels a substantial portion of each debt. He has a plan – a desperate one, certainly – but he is hoping to accomplish a couple things. First, maybe the rich man will be grateful to get something, rather than having to write off the debts completely. And the steward is buying a little insurance for the future. If he is really being turned out on the street, perhaps these debtors will remember that he gave them a deal, and they will do him a good turn when he is unemployed.
- St. Luke 16:1,2
When we first hear this story, we might expect that Jesus would condemn what seems to be a dishonest, almost underhanded, approach by the steward. But Christ doesn’t. In fact, He actually praises the steward in the story, and in so doing He makes a point. He says that the children of this world are more resourceful – more clever – than the children of light.
Now we should understand, it’s not the actual conduct of this steward that Jesus wants us to admire; rather, it is his boldness and his resourcefulness. He was able to tackle a serious situation in an organized and intelligent way. Our Lord wants us to show the same kind of intelligence and boldness in our service to God. So He urges us, “Make friends for yourselves through your use of this world’s goods, so that when they fail you – whether it be money, or power, or position – because you have used those things wisely, you will have a place in eternity.”
Of course, there are many people who do depend on those things for security, because they think of security only in terms of this world, for this life. But the things of this world eventually are going to fail us. We cannot take them with us. We won’t be presenting them to Christ on the Day of Judgement. What we will be presenting is how we have used those things. If we have been wise in using our possessions, our money, our position, our influence, by using those things in God’s service, and for the good of others, it will serve as a favourable reference on our behalf to God our Father. Obviously, we cannot “buy” ourselves into heaven – but Jesus is giving us a concrete application of the parable. What the steward did becomes a lesson: he used his abilities now, so that he might gain something later. Our Lord is telling us that if we detach ourselves from a consuming over-dependence on our possessions now, we will be able to have a share in His kingdom.
We all know that money and possessions are a necessary part of life. We have responsibilities to discharge, and there is nothing intrinsically wrong in making our lives enjoyable. But legitimate responsibilities can be twisted into an obsession with having nothing but the best, and lots of it. Enjoyment can become a constant search for new things and new experiences, as ends in themselves, and these things can gain an unhealthy control over our lives. And when this control is given a free rein, then our lives become warped.
We don’t have to look very far around us to see how easily man is corrupted by the things of this world, and how all too often people really don’t care who gets hurt in their clamour to reach the top of what the world would call success. Now, some of us might be thinking that since we’re not among the great financiers of the world, and since we don’t have lots of power over other people, perhaps this doesn’t really apply to us. But Jesus thinks otherwise: He says that the person who is faithful in little things will also be faithful in greater things; and that the person who is untrustworthy in little things will also be untrustworthy in greater things. And He goes one to say that if you cannot be trusted with the things of this world, then how will you be trusted with the things of eternity?
So, we must make a choice – a choice between two demanding masters that are incompatible with one another. We must choose either God or money, between our eternal good, or the temporary pleasures that we can buy in this life. And as we make this choice, and carry through with our choice, we must show the same intelligence and resourcefulness that was shown by the steward in the parable. Obviously, money and things in this world are part of our lives, and it would be absurd to deny it. But we must observe certain guidelines in using our possessions, because if we don’t operate properly in our life here on earth, then there is a distinct possibility that we will make ourselves unworthy of eternal life. In fact, the lesson is really quite simple: money must be mastered; it cannot be allowed to master us in the slightest way, because if it does, it may well spoil eternity for us.
The bottom line is this: that we must choose to serve God exclusively. All that we have, all that we are, comes from Him, and He urges us to invest what we have wisely – not on temporary things, but on things which matter. We are to invest in the things of God – which means taking care of our personal and family responsibilities, of course – but also using our resources to care for others outside our immediate circle; to invest in the spread of the Gospel; to support the means of helping others grow in their faith and knowledge of God.
So we must choose who is our master. If our master is mammon, money, the things of this world – if our vision is so stunted that it sees only the things we want for ourselves in the here-and-now – then we are in for a lot of disappointment. But if our master is God, then He is the one we want to please. And in doing that, we will be even better than the steward in the parable, because rather than just investing in our future in this life, we’ll be investing in our eternal life with Almighty God.
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Image: "Christ Tempted By Satan"
by Georg Karl Franz Cornicelius (1825–1898)