Lk 16:1-8
1[Jesus] said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. 2He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ 3The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.
4I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ 5He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ 7Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ 8And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
“For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
Reflection:
The master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. Jesus asks his disciples to be cunning as serpents. He advises them to know the wise ways of the children of this world. We are always to come clean, of course, and to be honest. But we are not asked to be dumb and stupid, to let ourselves be set aside, ridiculed, and left behind. We are called to conquer the world, to set it on fire, to keep our lamps burning bright for the whole world to see. We have been commissioned to make disciples of all nations. It is not enough to be simply good; we have to be wise, yet kind.
It is said that there are three kinds of people in the world: those who watch what happens, those who wonder what happened, and those who make things happen. Jesus is one who makes things happen!
Gift your boss today!