The Dishonest Steward

We are introduced in today’s Gospel to one of the stranger characters to appear in any of Jesus’ parables: the dishonest steward. This steward has a problem: he is about to get fired. He has been acting on behalf of a rich man, but the dishonest steward has squandered the property entrusted to him. The rich man has caught on, and wants a full accounting of what this dishonest steward has been doing with his goods. A steward who is known to have been dishonest in his dealings is not likely to get another position. This steward doesn’t have the strength to dig, and is unwilling to beg. So what can he do?

               He comes up with a creative scheme: he reworks the accounts so that he will be viewed favorably by other potential employers. He goes to all his master’s debtors, and cuts what they owe. His good sense is then commended by the rich man he is working for, with no resolution to whether or not it has saved his job.

               On the surface, this doesn’t seem to make sense: all we are told is that he’s reached agreements with all of the rich man’s debtors to lower what they owe him so that he will be viewed more favorably by them after he is presumably fired. Why would the rich man be happy about this? Isn’t the dishonest steward further defrauding him when he does this?

               An explanation I’ve heard for this says that the amount that the dishonest steward is writing off is the interest he added to the amount lent out. Although the Old Testament instructed the Jewish people to not lend to each other at interest, usury, the lending at exorbitant and exploitative rates, was not uncommon, as we hear denounced by the prophet Amos. A steward who was managing the wealth of a rich man could exploit that position and supplement his own income by lending the rich man’s goods to others, asking them to repay those goods, along with an exorbitant and exploitative interest, that the steward would then keep for himself. Perhaps this was being done behind the back of the rich man, or on a scale the rich man would not approve of, which would explain why a full account of the steward’s management would likely result in the steward being cast out from the household of the rich man. So, the steward’s plan is to write off the interest he is owed so that he can be viewed more favorably by the various debtors when he is fired. This is what is praised by the rich man. He is praised for giving up his share: the interest on what was loaned, while keeping the rich man’s goods somewhat in order. It isn’t made clear whether or not the steward was fired, but it seems likely that he was at least given another chance to show that he would no longer be a dishonest steward.

               After giving this parable, where we would often expect some kind of explanation, we instead hear a series of confusing statements on similar themes leading up to a conclusion that seems to say almost the opposite of what the parable said. After considering the naivete of the “children of light,” Jesus says “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” This seems like very strange advice. We then get some discussion of the connection between trustworthiness in small matters and trustworthiness in larger ones. I’m not sure where this leaves our dishonest, untrustworthy steward, who was just commended by the rich man. This is analogized to being trustworthy with what belongs to another, which seems to take the position of the small matter, or the dishonest wealth, in order to be given what is yours, which takes the position of a larger matter, and true wealth. This again seems to be a strange thing for Jesus to say.

               This brings us to the final conclusion, which, on the surface, other than referring to material wealth, seems to have nothing at all to do with the rest of what Jesus said. “No servant can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Mammon is an interesting word that I think I’ve only ever heard in contexts that allude to this reading: it refers to material wealth, but has a negative connotation: material wealth as a source of greed and occasion for sin. Obviously, you cannot both devote yourself to the greedy, sinful acquisition of material wealth, and truly devote yourself to God. That would be self-contradictory. But what does any of this have to do with the dishonest steward? To connect these two parts, we will reread the parable, and this entire passage, in a moral sense, as indicating something about how we should act, and telling us something about our relationship to God.

               Let’s start by considering who might represent us collectively. We are in debt to God: God created us, and keeps us in existence. God loves us, in a way that we cannot repay. So, all of us as a group are the debtors. This leaves God as the rich man, which would make sense. What about the dishonest steward? We not only owe our entire existence to God, but we are also all sinners: we have all damaged our relationship with God, and turned our back on him through our actions. But some of our sins do not just damage our relationship with God, some of them also break it. They turn us completely against God. So our dishonest steward, with the dishonest wealth he has acquired, is also us, but us, each as individuals, with our sins.

               As things stand at the beginning of the parable, the dishonest steward has devoted his life to mammon. He has dedicated himself to illicitly acquiring wealth at the expense of the rich man’s debtors. This is a common theme in our sins as well. Our sins are often at the expense of our neighbors, failures to love our neighbors: we mistreat each other, in order to pursue our own interests, leaving ourselves in the service of sin. The dishonest steward realizes that he is soon to be called to account, so he alleviates the harm he is doing to the rich man’s debtors. His motives are fear and shame: he can’t do physical work, and he doesn’t want to beg. Nevertheless, he does give up his service to mammon. He does the right thing, albeit not for the entirely right reason. This earns him the commendation of the rich man. He has not yet truly taken up service to the rich man, but he has taken a necessary first step.

               This tells us something about how we should act. We have sinned against each other, breaking our relationship with God, and fracturing our relationships with each other. Any of us could be called to account for our lives at any moment. This ought to make us think. Like the dishonest steward, we cannot serve both sin and God. Even if we don’t have perfect motives when we give up our sins, the very act of giving them up is commendable: it is a starting point to truly serving God, a starting point that makes true conversion possible.

               This helps point to the rest of what Jesus is saying, as well. “Make friends with dishonest wealth.” Love your enemies, even if they sin against you. Desire the good even for those who don’t desire good for you. It’s not just the right thing to do, but it can also clear naivete about sin. You can see what sin creates inside a person who commits it: it does not bring the joy, happiness, or pleasure that it was committed for. Sins is always a dishonest kind of wealth: it does not fulfill what it promises. Ultimately, it only produces pain and destruction, in this world as well as the next.

               Be trustworthy in small things: be honest in your dealings with others, regardless of what they are about. Don’t sin, even in small ways: we are formed by what we do. Giving up service to sin is a necessary prerequisite to serve your one true master: God.

               This may seem overwhelming, and, in purely human terms, it is. However, God has given us a gift: a gift that brings forgiveness for our sins, and permits us to enter His household, not as slaves or even stewards, but as Sons and Daughters, who belong permanently to His house.

               This gift is His Son, Jesus Christ: who was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. He died on the cross for our sins so that our sins would no longer permanently separate us from God. He rose from the dead so that even death could not separate us from God’s household. This gift is made present to us in the sacrifice of the Mass, offered today, and every day. It is applied to our sins, so that we can be restored to God through the sacrament of Confession. Through these sacraments, we receive the true wealth and are prepared for what is truly ours, what we were made for, and what has been prepared for us: eternal life with the saints in God’s household.