Friday – 31st Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 16:1-8

Payback without Interest

Old City Market, Jerusalem

I have to admit this parable has always confused me.  It seems as if a dishonest steward ends up being congratulated and rewarded for forgiving debts to his master.  Why should the master be happy to now be owed less measures of olive oil or wheat?  Doesn’t he come out of this ‘forgiveness’ with less than he started?  Isn’t that what’s going on here?  Hmm, well maybe not!

The steward, at the time of Jesus, is essentially a business manager; he takes care of all the finances and business transactions, making sure that the master earns a profit.  But the steward has to earn a living too; so with any loan, he adds in fees or extra interest to make his ‘commission’.

So now the master has learned that the steward has been ‘cooking the books”.  He has been stealing from the master’s property and wealth, what he already owns.  And the master plans to fire him.  The steward then goes off and forgives (lessens) the debt that others owe his master.  What he is actually forgiving is his own commission and fees.  The master loses nothing; the steward loses all his fees for the loans.  No payback!  No interest! 

Granted, he is not doing this for the best of reasons – his own job, his own self-interest.  But he does realize what he has done and how he has hurt his relationship with his master.  And he deliberately chooses to punish himself for his misdeeds.  He goes to great lengths to give up his own profit.  What has the master lost?  Nothing!  What has he gained?  A faithful servant!

We all know how to finagle a good deal, how to get the best price for something we feel we really need!  We scour the web for coupons, for the vendor with the cheapest price.  Anything to save a few dollars!  That’s a lot of time and energy! 

How much more time and energy then should we exert in serving our Master?  Should we not be giving Our Father our greatest energy, our best effort, the most of our time, in the hope that, when we finally come before Him for an accounting of our labors, we do so with humility and grace!

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