From: Luke 16:1-13

The Unjust Steward

[1] He (Jesus) also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a ste-
ward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. [2]
And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear from you? Turn in the
account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ [3] And the ste-
ward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship
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 people may receive me into their houses when
I am put out of the stewardship.’ [5] So, summoning his master’s debtors one by
one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ [6] He said, ‘A hun-
dred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly
and write fifty.’ [7] Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said,
‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
[8] The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence; for the sons
of this world are wiser in their own generation that the sons of light. [9] And I tell
you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that
when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.

[10] “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dis-
honest in a very little is dishonest also in much. [11] If then you have not been
faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12]
And if you had not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that
which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1-8. The unfaithful steward manages to avoid falling on hard times. Of course, our
Lord presumes that we realize the immorality of the man’s behavior. What he em-
phasizes and praises, however, is his shrewdness and effort: he tries to derive
maximum material advantages from his former position as steward. In saving our
soul and spreading the Kingdom of God, our Lord wants us to apply at least the
same ingenuity and effort as people put into their worldly affairs or their attempts
to attain some human ideal. The fact that we can count on God’s grace does not
in any way exempt us from the need to employ all available legitimate human re-
sources even if that means strenuous effort and heroic sacrifice.

“What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honors, striving for ri-
ches, bent on sensuality. Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged
and young and even children: all of them the same. When you and I put the
same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and operative faith:
and there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic underta-
kings” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 317).

9-11. “Unrighteous mammon” means temporal good which have been obtained
in some unjust, unrighteous way. However, God is very merciful: even his unjust
wealth can enable a person to practice virtue by making restitution, by paying for
the damage done and then by striving to help his neighbor by giving alms, by cre-
ating work opportunities, etc. This was the case with Zacchaeus, the chief tax
collector, who undertook to restore fourfold anything he had unjustly taken, and
also to give half his wealth to the poor. On hearing that, our Lord specifically de-
clared that salvation had that day come to that house (cf. Luke 19:1-10).

Our Lord speaks out about faithfulness in very little things, referring to riches —
which really are insignificant compared with spiritual wealth. If a person is faithful
and generous and is detached in the use he makes of these temporal riches, he
will, at the end of his life, receive the rewards of eternal life, which is the greatest
treasure of all, and a permanent one. Besides, by its very nature human life is a
fabric of little things: anyone who fails to give them their importance will never be
able to achieve great things. “Everything in which we poor men have a part — even
holiness — is a fabric of small trifles which, depending upon one’s intention, can
form a magnificent tapestry of heroism or of degradation, of virtues or of sins.

“The epic legends always relate extraordinary adventures, but never fail to mix
them with homely details about the hero. May you always attach great impor-
tance to the little things. This is the way!” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 826).

The parable of the unjust steward is a symbol of man’s life. Everything we have
is a gift from God, and we are His stewards or managers, who sooner or later
will have to render an account to Him.

12. “That which is another’s” refers to temporal things, which are essentially im-
permanent. “That which is your own” refers to goods of the spirit, values which
endure, which are things we really do possess because they will go with us into
eternal life. In other words: how can we be given Heaven if we have proved unfaith-
ful, irresponsible, during our life on earth?

13-14. In the culture of that time “service” involved such commitment to one’s
master that a servant could not take on any other work or serve any other master.

Our service to God, our sanctification, requires us to direct all our actions to-
wards Him. A Christian does not divide up his time, allocating some of it to God
and some of it to worldly affairs: everything he does should become a type of
service to God and neighbor — by doing things with upright motivation, and being
just and charitable.

The Pharisees jeered at what Jesus was saying, in order to justify their own at-
tachment to material things; sometimes people make fun of total commitment
to God and detachment from material things because they themselves are not
ready to practice virtue; they cannot even imagine other people really having this
generosity: they think they must have ulterior motives. See also the note on Mat-
thew 6:24.

[The note on Matthew 6:24 states:

24. Man’s ultimate goal is God; to attain this goal he should commit himself en-
tirely. But in fact some people do not have God as their ultimate goal, and instead
choose wealth of some kind — in which case wealth becomes their god. Man can-
not have two absolute and contrary goals.]

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Mass Readings

First reading	Amos 8:4-7 ©

Listen to this, you who trample on the needy

and try to suppress the poor people of the country,

you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over

so that we can sell our corn,

and sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?

Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,

by swindling and tampering with the scales,

we can buy up the poor for money,

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’

The Lord swears it by the pride of Jacob,

‘Never will I forget a single thing you have done.’

Psalm	Psalm 112:1-2,4-8

Second reading	1 Timothy 2:1-8 ©

My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our saviour: he wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth. For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all. He is the evidence of this, sent at the appointed time, and I have been named a herald and apostle of it and – I am telling the truth and no lie – a teacher of the faith and the truth to the pagans.

In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument.

Gospel	Luke 16:1-13 ©

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer.” Then the steward said to himself, “Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes.”

Then he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, “How much do you owe my master?” “One hundred measures of oil” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty.” To another he said, “And you, sir, how much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of wheat” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond and write eighty.”

‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.

‘And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?

‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’

Alternative gospel	Luke 16:10-13 ©

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?

‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’

our Lord presumes that we realize the immorality of the man’s behavior

I would add though that the manager is later praised by the owner. That is because discounting debt is a valid business practice. More accurately would be to say that the manager seeing the business failing, undertook to accelerate payments by discounting the principal. Even though his motivation was selfish, and he acted without authorization by the owner, his acts improved the business and he was praised for it.

Therefore the parable does not seek to condemn the manager either. Rather he is shown as an unwitting model of righteous Christian behavior. We are invited to do likewise and so "make friends for [ourselves] with dishonest wealth".