Is Shrewdness a Virtue? —Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 15C (Luke 16:1-13)

Andrey Mironov, "The Parable of the Unjust Steward"

Luke 16:1-13 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

16 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. ² So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ ³ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ ⁷ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ ⁸ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. ⁹ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

¹⁰ “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ¹¹ If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³ No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

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                I’m not an accountant or a property manager, but surely what Jesus says in this parable, found in Luke 16, which is part of this week’s Gospel reading (Revised Common Lectionary), is not good managerial practice. Even if you get fired because you’ve squandered the property or money of the person you’re working for, surely you wouldn’t want to compound your problem by cheating that person so that you can make friends with the person’s creditors. But that seems to be Jesus’ message. Then again, the last paragraph would seem to run counter to that message when he speaks of being faithful with money and the problem of wealth. So, what is Jesus doing here? Could he really be encouraging subterfuge and financial malfeasance? Could he be playing Robin Hood with this parable? After all, Jesus rarely had nice things to say about rich people.

                This is an odd parable, but I don’t believe Jesus would encourage financial or managerial malfeasance. He might challenge people about the pursuit of wealth, but surely he wouldn’t encourage dishonesty. There is the possibility that what Jesus is doing here is uncovering the propensity for evil that is present in the real world. As they say in sports, if you don’t get caught, it’s legal! So, might we simply note here that Jesus had a good understanding of human nature, including our propensity for self-serving behavior, especially when money and wealth are involved. However we interpret the parable, at least on the surface, we can agree with the note in the Jewish Annotated New Testament that it “defies any fully satisfactory explanation” [Jewish Annotated New Testament, p. 134]. If this is true, then why are preachers being saddled with such an odd parable by the creators of the Revised Common Lectionary? Why not skip over it to the next parable, the one about the Rich Man and Lazarus? I realize that this is the reading for next week, but why not push it up a week? Preachers would appreciate it, though it also speaks of the problem of wealth. Nevertheless, this is the Gospel reading given to lectionary preachers.

                It’s interesting that according to Luke, Jesus directs this parable to his disciples. Jesus isn’t sharing this parable in a public setting. It’s a limited audience. I’m wondering if Jesus is sharing this and some of the other parables only with his disciples because he and his followers are drawing closer to Jerusalem, where Jesus will be executed, to prepare them for what is about to happen. The key dynamic here would seem to be faithfulness, not dishonest manipulation of available resources.   

                There are three sets of characters in this passage. There is the “rich man,” the dishonest manager, and the creditors. The rich man fires the manager because the manager squandered the property/money entrusted to him. We might not like the rich man because of his riches, but surely, we can’t embrace the dishonest manager, even if he did what he did so he could survive after being fired. He simply sought to ingratiate himself with the creditors so he wouldn’t become homeless once he left his “master’s” employment. As for the creditors, they’re not going to say no to the proposal that the manager cut their bills in half. Are they being dishonest by agreeing to the deal? Probably. So, when it comes down to it, is there any character in this parable we might say is virtuous? Surely none of these characters represent God. From my vantage point, the answer to all this is no, so why did Jesus tell this parable? Is he suggesting that shrewdness is a virtue?

                Jesus ultimately gets to what appears to be the point, which is a call to faithful stewardship of God’s resources. In fact, the story itself may not even be that central to the conversation. It gets us thinking and wondering, but Jesus seems to be focusing on faithful use of resources for the sake of God’s realm. So, if we are faithful in the little things, like handling money, we can be trusted with the big things involving God’s realm. Fred Craddock writes concerning the message of the passage: “The life of a disciple is one of faithful attention to the frequent and familiar tasks of each day, however small and insignificant they may seem. The one faithful in today’s nickels and dimes is the one to be trusted with the big account, but it is easy to be indifferent toward small obligations while quite sincerely believing oneself fully worth of major matters” (Luke, pp. 191-192). So, perhaps the dishonest manager doesn’t model for us faithfulness. Don’t do as the manager did, rather when it comes to “dirty money” act faithfully. Be a good steward. Then perhaps you will be entrusted with bigger things.

                While the parable is oddly written and difficult to interpret, Jesus’ follow-up message, perhaps having caught the ears of his audience, he then addresses the elephant in the room. That is wealth/money, which can easily become our master. As Gordon Gekko, a character in the movie Wall Street, famously declared, “Greed is Good.” From what we read here, Jesus would no doubt disagree! At the same time, Jesus does speak of good stewardship practices, so that if we are faithful in using “mammon” or wealth, then we can be trusted with greater treasure. While Jesus seems to have had a less-than-positive view of wealth, at least some of his followers were wealthy (and supported his ministry), as was true of at least some of the members of the early church, as seen in some of what Paul and James, and others had to say about the use of wealth. So, perhaps this word of wisdom from John Wesley, given in the context of a sermon on Luke 16:9, might be of help in our response to the passage:

Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your neighbour, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and with all the understanding which God has given you; —save all you can, by cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire; to gratify either the desire of flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life; waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or folly, whether for yourself or your children;—and then, give all you can, or, in other words, give all you have to God. [http://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-50-The-Use-of-Money].

If you are wealthy (and most of us in the United States, or at least those reading this passage, would be considered at least moderately affluent), then utilize what you have for the benefit of others. With that in mind, the passage with Wesley’s interpretation in mind provides the foundation for a good stewardship message. After all, Wesley encourages his hearers to work hard, make money, live frugally, and then give all that they can to the cause of God.

                When it comes to shrewdness, there is some virtue involved. We should not be naïve about the ways of the world. We need to approach the things of this world with discernment. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples that the days were coming when they would endure persecution, so they needed to be prepared. Thus, we hear Jesus say to the disciples: “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). While the ones Luke’s Jesus calls the “children of light” can be naïve in their innocence, that naivete can be a problem, especially in an age when conspiracy theories and “alternative facts” are spread through all kinds of venues, but especially social media. When government officials seem to be the source of misinformation, who do we trust? Distrust and suspicion, of course, are not the same thing as discernment. So, when it comes to the use of money and other resources, be as wise as a serpent while being as innocent as a dove. Be shrewd but not disingenuous. Be faithful and honest in all your dealings (not like the dishonest manager).

                The final word is a difficult one for those of us who live in a consumer society that is built on the premise that we should buy, buy, buy so the economy will soar. It’s almost as if spending money is our patriotic duty. The fact is, since we live in this kind of context, money is necessary. This is not the world of Star Trek’s Federation of Planets. But Jesus has other ideas. Don’t be a slave to money/mammon/riches, because you can’t serve two masters. Thus, you can’t serve both God and wealth. Wesley charged us with working hard, earning as much as possible, and then giving as much as possible. That seems like a good idea, but the pursuit of wealth can easily corrupt a person, which seems to be Jesus’ final message here. So, when it comes to money, let us be wise (shrewd) and make use of whatever comes our way for purposes of God’s realm. As Donald McKim notes, “Being a disciple of Jesus Christ demands a full loyalty to Jesus. We must sit loose with whatever wealth we are given and never let it lessen our love and commitment to Jesus” [Connections, p. 334]. At times, Jesus seems to define discipleship in terms of the severe kinds of asceticism embraced by Francis of Assisi, involving giving away all our wealth so we can follow him. There are downsides to such a path. It might be a path for some, but perhaps not for everyone. Nonetheless, we should be wise stewards of what we have so that we can be of service to God’s realm.