The Hero is a Crook!

"Give account of your stewardship..." Luke 16:2

The parable of the dishonest, devious, shrewd, unrighteous steward can be puzzling. After he connived with his master's debtors by reducing their debt, the Master commended him!!! He gave his dastardly manager credit for being enterprising! The hero of this story is a crook!

At its simplest, it seems to me that Jesus wanted to point out that the steward was taking care of his future, so that when he lost his job, he would have people who would welcome him, and receive him into their homes. Jesus was bemoaning the fact that "the children of this world are wiser than the children of light." (Lk. 16:8)

To Jesus, we should be shrewd enough to take care of what will happen to us when we leave this world. But are we? Do we study our manual, the Bible, in search of instructions on what to do to ensure a welcome in our heavenly home? Do we realize that we should be exactly like the steward? What we have, our money, our home, even our children, are not really ours, but God's. He is the Master in the parable. We are mere stewards and here, Jesus is saying, use the Master's money and resources. Be generous with it! Be wise with what God has loaned to us here so we can have a secure future in heaven!