The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. Luke 16:8
You can read the whole passage from Luke by following this link:
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+16:1-13&vnum=yes&version=nrsv
Before I share my thoughts with you about this passage from Luke, I want to give credit to the source of my new understanding of this passage, Sarah Dylan Breuer. You check out her commentary on this passage on her webage: http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2004/09/proper_20_year_.html.
I have always hated this passage from Luke. It has never made a bit of sense to me, and every sermon or commentary I have read about it seemed to involve a whole lot of mental gymnastics in order to make it palatable for the reader. This time around is no exception. I read commentary after commentary and sermon after sermon, and I was left with—you guessed it—nothing. I was tempted to cut my losses (several hours of work) and turn to the Old Testament reading or the Epistle instead. But see, the thing is, I am stubborn (just ask my mother). Once I begin something, I like to see it through to the end. So I decided to do a little bit more work, and then "eureka" I stumbled upon this commentary by Sarah Dylan Breuer that you can find going to the link I listed above. Dylan Breuer opened my eyes to a whole new possible meaning, and I would like to share it with you, in the hope that it might shed new light on this passage for you as well.
Whenever I have read this passage from Luke, I have assumed that the rich man was an allegory for God, after all in verse 8 the rich man is referred to as "master", and often when Jesus has a master in one of his parables, he is referring to God. But what if the rich man isn't God. What if he is simply a rich man, and this parable isn't about God and the afterlife, but instead about the corrupt economic systems of Jesus' day?
Think about it for a moment. During Jesus' day there were a few very wealthy people and many, many, many poor people and almost no one in the middle. The idea of a middle class was nonexistent. The many poor people lived hand to mouth. Most did backbreaking labor on the land, but because the land was owned by the very few rich people, they had to give most of their harvest to the owners of the land. The very few rich didn't even manage their own land most of the time. Instead they hired stewards to do this for them, while they lived it up in the big cities, such as Jerusalem. The poor worked themselves to death so that the rich could become wealthier and wealthier. This is one of the main reasons that people were so eagerly looking for a Messiah. The believed that the Messiah would rescue them from their poverty-stricken existence just as the Israelites had been rescued from slavery in Egypt so many years ago.
The parable tells us that the steward in this story was brought up on charges of "squandering" his master's property. We don't know what this squandering was. It may have been stealing for his own gain, or perhaps he was allowing the poor tenant farmers to keep just a little bit more of what they harvested, so that they would not starve to death. Then when he discovers that the master is on to him and that he will probably lose his job, he does not steal money for himself, so that he can get by for awhile. Instead, he forgives even more of the tenant farmers' payments to the master. He is very smart. If he loses his job the tenant farmers will be on his side, because he helped them. But he has also put the rich master in a position of not being able to fire him. If he fires the steward for his generosity toward the tenant farmers, the rich master risks having a riot on his hand.
For me this helps me to understand why the "dishonest" steward is praised and held up as someone to emulate. Sometimes laws and systems are so unjust that the only solution is to break the laws and defy the system. Think about the civil rights movement for example, or the labor unrest in the early 1900's. In both cases, many of those protesting the injustices of the law and the American system had to break the law in order to bring about change.
In the next paragraph of this chapter Jesus says, "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" The wealth in this parable was not the wealth of the steward, in no place in the parable does it say that the steward was wealthy. The only person in this parable who is referred to as wealthy is the master. It is the master who is dishonest, and the steward who is faithful with this dishonest wealth. The master's wealth is dishonest because it comes from the backbreaking toil of others, and through no effort of his own. The master's wealth is dishonest because he gained it at the expense of the lives of those who work his land. You have to wonder how many of the peasants on his land have died over the years in order to make this master wealthy. Perhaps we need to rename this parable "the dishonest master."
Fortunately today, we don't live in a feudal-like society such as the one that Jesus lived in. We do have a middle class. But don't let that cause you to become complacent. We still live in a society of great inequities. We still live in a society where many do not earn a living wage, yet work full time for corporations that are making billions of dollars in profits. The church I served in Virginia served food to those in need, five days a week. The vast majority of those who came to eat in that soup kitchen were people who had full time jobs. They worked hard, but could never make enough to feed themselves and their families. It is hard to think that those they worked for were gaining their wealth through dishonest means.
Unfortunately, this parable has just as much to say to us today, as it did to those who heard Jesus tell it more than 2000 years ago. We may not be wealthy masters, but we do chose how we participate in our economic system. The question for everyone of us is this, "Have you been faithful with dishonest wealth?" for "no slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
To learn more about income inequality in America follow this link to this PBS news story posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQwTS-K6jI
Peace,
Suzannah +
You can read the whole passage from Luke by following this link:
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+16:1-13&vnum=yes&version=nrsv
Before I share my thoughts with you about this passage from Luke, I want to give credit to the source of my new understanding of this passage, Sarah Dylan Breuer. You check out her commentary on this passage on her webage: http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2004/09/proper_20_year_.html.
I have always hated this passage from Luke. It has never made a bit of sense to me, and every sermon or commentary I have read about it seemed to involve a whole lot of mental gymnastics in order to make it palatable for the reader. This time around is no exception. I read commentary after commentary and sermon after sermon, and I was left with—you guessed it—nothing. I was tempted to cut my losses (several hours of work) and turn to the Old Testament reading or the Epistle instead. But see, the thing is, I am stubborn (just ask my mother). Once I begin something, I like to see it through to the end. So I decided to do a little bit more work, and then "eureka" I stumbled upon this commentary by Sarah Dylan Breuer that you can find going to the link I listed above. Dylan Breuer opened my eyes to a whole new possible meaning, and I would like to share it with you, in the hope that it might shed new light on this passage for you as well.
Whenever I have read this passage from Luke, I have assumed that the rich man was an allegory for God, after all in verse 8 the rich man is referred to as "master", and often when Jesus has a master in one of his parables, he is referring to God. But what if the rich man isn't God. What if he is simply a rich man, and this parable isn't about God and the afterlife, but instead about the corrupt economic systems of Jesus' day?
Think about it for a moment. During Jesus' day there were a few very wealthy people and many, many, many poor people and almost no one in the middle. The idea of a middle class was nonexistent. The many poor people lived hand to mouth. Most did backbreaking labor on the land, but because the land was owned by the very few rich people, they had to give most of their harvest to the owners of the land. The very few rich didn't even manage their own land most of the time. Instead they hired stewards to do this for them, while they lived it up in the big cities, such as Jerusalem. The poor worked themselves to death so that the rich could become wealthier and wealthier. This is one of the main reasons that people were so eagerly looking for a Messiah. The believed that the Messiah would rescue them from their poverty-stricken existence just as the Israelites had been rescued from slavery in Egypt so many years ago.
The parable tells us that the steward in this story was brought up on charges of "squandering" his master's property. We don't know what this squandering was. It may have been stealing for his own gain, or perhaps he was allowing the poor tenant farmers to keep just a little bit more of what they harvested, so that they would not starve to death. Then when he discovers that the master is on to him and that he will probably lose his job, he does not steal money for himself, so that he can get by for awhile. Instead, he forgives even more of the tenant farmers' payments to the master. He is very smart. If he loses his job the tenant farmers will be on his side, because he helped them. But he has also put the rich master in a position of not being able to fire him. If he fires the steward for his generosity toward the tenant farmers, the rich master risks having a riot on his hand.
For me this helps me to understand why the "dishonest" steward is praised and held up as someone to emulate. Sometimes laws and systems are so unjust that the only solution is to break the laws and defy the system. Think about the civil rights movement for example, or the labor unrest in the early 1900's. In both cases, many of those protesting the injustices of the law and the American system had to break the law in order to bring about change.
In the next paragraph of this chapter Jesus says, "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" The wealth in this parable was not the wealth of the steward, in no place in the parable does it say that the steward was wealthy. The only person in this parable who is referred to as wealthy is the master. It is the master who is dishonest, and the steward who is faithful with this dishonest wealth. The master's wealth is dishonest because it comes from the backbreaking toil of others, and through no effort of his own. The master's wealth is dishonest because he gained it at the expense of the lives of those who work his land. You have to wonder how many of the peasants on his land have died over the years in order to make this master wealthy. Perhaps we need to rename this parable "the dishonest master."
Fortunately today, we don't live in a feudal-like society such as the one that Jesus lived in. We do have a middle class. But don't let that cause you to become complacent. We still live in a society of great inequities. We still live in a society where many do not earn a living wage, yet work full time for corporations that are making billions of dollars in profits. The church I served in Virginia served food to those in need, five days a week. The vast majority of those who came to eat in that soup kitchen were people who had full time jobs. They worked hard, but could never make enough to feed themselves and their families. It is hard to think that those they worked for were gaining their wealth through dishonest means.
Unfortunately, this parable has just as much to say to us today, as it did to those who heard Jesus tell it more than 2000 years ago. We may not be wealthy masters, but we do chose how we participate in our economic system. The question for everyone of us is this, "Have you been faithful with dishonest wealth?" for "no slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
To learn more about income inequality in America follow this link to this PBS news story posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQwTS-K6jI
Peace,
Suzannah +